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Things have been (mostly) looking up from a “decision-making” perspective. I went back to proper calorie-counting as of Tuesday, using LoseIt!, and I feel I’m doing pretty well, though I haven’t checked my weight recently. I’m not always perfect from a “hitting my macros” perspective; yesterday I decided I really needed an evening glass of whiskey, which took me to 2300 calories on the day instead of the 2000 I’ve been shooting for, but my primary goal is to just back into the habit of recording everything I eat. Historically it’s been an issue because I’ll get to the weekend and not bother to track things. I’m going to try and be very very good about tracking, even if I’m binging.

(Pointless side note: “binging” looks like the Microsoft equivalent of “googling.” It should be spelt bingeing to make it clear what the verb is. I think I’m going to start deliberately spelling it that way and step up my letter-writing to the Oxford English Dictionary people about it.)

There are a million ways to calculate what one’s caloric requirements are, but for me they tend to average out to about 2500 calories a day, if I’m “sedentary.” I’m obviously not sedentary, but my workouts are so hit or miss that I’m loathe to include them into the TDEE (Total Daily Energy Expenditure) calculations. If I shoot for about 2000 calories every day, then I’m short about 3500 a week, which is roughly enough to lose a pound a week. If I do 5 half-hour cardio sessions (which will obviously ramp up a ton as I get closer to triathlon race season), that should add between 1500 and 2000 calories burned every week, which is enough to either lose me another half-pound, or (more likely) make up for poor eating on the weekends, or if I decide to eat a bit more after lifting weights.

I’m sticking to a generally low-carb plan, and shooting for 200 grams of protein a day. Let’s call this a “New Year’s Resolution Reset” and get back to it, ‘Murica. Gotta lose dem 20 pounds by late May.

I’ve been generally good with workouts this week; I missed a swim on Monday because of the snow day, but I got in a run on Tuesday, a stationary bike ride on Wednesday, and made it to the Y for a brief swim over lunch today. I lifted weights on Tuesday as well, and of course gave myself a mild back injury ’cause it had been a few weeks since that had happened. I’m kinda getting the hang of working those mild strains out, though; I actually felt it stiffen up on my 2nd-to-last set of deadlifts, but did the last set anyway with no additional pain, and went for my run afterwards. I anticipate being able to squat heavy tomorrow, though obviously I’ll take it easy and see how things go.