No, you didn’t read that wrong. Today’s topic is abs. As in “visibly tight abdominal muscles that women want to rub their faces up against.” Nobody ever said that this list was going to be exclusively for material objects what must be purchased.
Okay, to be fair, I don’t really want abs so much as I want for the abs-sence of my gut. It’s not even really that much of a gut, but it has re-inflated a little bit over the last year. I’ve been trying in vain to get it back down to 2020 levels, but I’ve developed some fairly bad eating habits this year that have been proving difficult to undo.
Most notably, I celebrate the end of the work week every Friday by treating myself to junk food. Usually a burger and fries or a donair and fries, but also sometimes most of an extra large pizza. This wouldn’t be so bad, but I also usually eat out on Thursdays and quite often am filled to the brim with junk food when I go to my parents’ house for dinner on Saturdays. So it’s a bit much!
The first step I’m trying to take is to omit the fries. They are where a gigantic portion of the empty calories lie, especially since I usually opt for the large serving. There was a long stretch of time where I would rarely order fries, and suddenly in 2021 I’m basically addicted to them. I’m also going to scale back my Friday junk food to once a month, but the weekly order has become a routine that’s proving hard to wean myself off of.
I’ve also gone through a few phases of somewhat heavy beer drinking this year. This isn’t necessarily new, but it’s certainly not helping. I’m in an “off the beer” phase right now, and the intent is to keep it that way. I do quite enjoy a nice beer, but man, it really needs to go the way of soda pop and just not be a regular part of my life.
The last thing I want to mention is that I’ve not been entirely consistent with exercise this year. I went running almost every weekend during the warmer months. Almost. Fitness Boxing on Switch is still a constant in my life, but I’ll drop off for weeks at a time. Ring Fit Adventure has gone from a weekly workout to monthly at best. I know exercise is secondary to a proper diet, but it sure wouldn’t hurt to be able to keep doing it consistently.
While I don’t expect that I’ll have a six-pack anytime soon -or ever, to be honest- I sure would like to get my eating habits under control and see my belly shrink a bit. And that’s something that I am totally capable of! I was in fairly good shape throughout 2020! But I fell off the wagon and got incredibly lazy this year. I wonder if it has anything to do with working from home???