Every year I like to do a review of the past year’s fitness goals and set new ones for the next year. This year is no different, even if I’m publishing them over a month into the year.
If you’ve followed my goals from years past, I usually focus on three areas – working out, physical activity, and diet. This year is going to be more of the same.
First, we’ll start by reviewing last year’s goals. Then we’ll move on to the goals for 2022.
2021 goals
Working Out
2021 was a bust, a total wash-out for working out. I may have worked out once or twice. Maybe.
My goal for last year was to identify a routine that did not involve going to a gym, since my local one shutdown in 2020. I was supposed to put together a routine that involved doing some sort of online video work outs combined with some light dumbbell weight work outs. Well, it didn’t happen. I’m going to chalk 2021 up to one of those things that happens and resolve to do better in 2022.
Physical activity
While I struggled working out, I did great on the physical activity side of things. I logged over 1,020 miles between walking and running.
Walking accounted for 765 miles, which surpassed my 700 mile goal. Running made up the remaining miles. And truth be told, these numbers were probably a bit understated. I didn’t track my miles walked while golfing or touring the cities of San Francisco, San Diego, and Las Vegas on foot. There’s a good chance that total activity may have been closer to 1,250 miles all in.
In addition, I completed my first 5K this past year. Amanda and Courtney participated with me, making it a fun family event. I’m hoping it won’t be my last 5K, unlike the 10K I did a few years back, which it’s unlikely I’ll do again.
Diet
I did good in 2021 sticking to intermittent fasting (14-16 hours of fasting each day) and a reduced carb diet. I say reduced rather than low because I ate a lot more bread last year. Why? I started baking my own sourdough bread and using the discard to bake other sourdough-inspired treats. I don’t feel bad eating it since I’m the one making it. Plus, it’s taught me that it isn’t bread that’s necessarily evil, it’s the way it’s made that impacts our health. I could go on, but that’s a topic for another post.
2022 goals
I’m keeping 2022’s goals simple, similar to last year.
Working Out
Until I develop my routine, I’m not going to set any measurable goals here. Well, maybe one measurable goal – have a routine by the end of the year that I can put some measurement goals around. I expect it will be a combination of online video routines and dumbbell weight workouts. Either way, it just needs to be something. Anything.
Physical Activity
The goal is 1,000 miles. I’m not breaking it down by activity, although I expect walking will make up over 70%. The rest will be a combination of running, biking, and hiking.
Diet
I’m sticking to intermittent fasting and reduced carbs as the diet foundation. I’d like to incorporate longer fasting periods of 24 hours and 48 hours, but I haven’t had much success trying to fast for longer periods in the past. Since I don’t want diet to be a stress factor, I’m going to do the longer fasting periods opportunistically. If it’s convenient, I’ll go for it. Otherwise, I’ll just continue my routine of daily intermittent fasting periods.
I’m also open to making small adjustments to my diet. As a rule of thumb, I subscribe to the theory that we are what we eat and that food is medicine. For example, to improve my gut health, I added more fermented foods into my diet in 2021. I have a couple of books on my 2022 reading list that should provide additional ideas for tweaking my diet.
Overall, I’m satisfied with where am I at with my fitness and diet.
Could I do better? Sure.
Could I do worse? Of course.
For the upcoming year, the keys are keeping my activity level up, getting back to strength and resistance training, and staying aware of what I’m eating and on the lookout for ways to tweak and improve my diet.
Generally speaking, 2022 should be more of the same in the fitness area with a few improvement sprinkled in.