Oddly, I’ve managed to slowly lose about 20 pounds that I needed to lose over the spring and summer. I think that perhaps my not going out for many long bike rides this year may have something to do with that, because if I ride a lot, I eat a lot, and then when the weather turns cold, the pounds come a-packing.
In any case, what was a comfortable dinner portion back in February is too much to eat now. At about 208 pounds, I could still stand to lose about 30 or 40 more, but I inevitably reach a point where the weight loss stops in its tracks. It still beats 295, as I was about six years ago, but I’d at least like the first digit on the scale to be a 1 for a change.
I feel somewhat lucky. Despite little exercise since the start of the pandemic, I’ve managed not to gain any weight (thankfully - that’s the last goddamn thing I need). I think part of it is despite fewer opportunities for exercise I’m not tempted by large and calorie dense lunches from the work cafeteria, I’m not really snacking in between meals, and there’s no buckets of candy sitting at colleagues’ desks to tempt me.
As a side note, during my work’s benefits enrollment period late last year I opted into the gym membership perk in an effort to work on my health. I sure managed to choose unwisely there since I’m paying taxes on something I’ll never use by necessity versus laziness.
The organization to make this work will require both transportation and logistical heavy lifting, but it is at the least a step. Wait until Trump hears about this one!
Back in 2004, I worked with a non-profit called America Coming Together which was dedicated to registering people to vote, then providing transportation to and from the polls on election day.
Hopefully an effort like that will be put in place.
I did that by way of walking past my county’s Democratic field office the day before the election and asking if there was anything I could do to help. And while I would never consider doing rideshare these days, there very much IS enough plastic sheeting in the world for me to turn the FarmWagon into a voter mover. In fact, I’m pretty sure that quantity of plastic is already in the shed, but I should get more anyway. This is 2020 after all, and Dextering a space always takes one more roll than you think it will, even when you try to account for this rule.
Over the years, I would try to lose ten pounds only to get stuck after two or three. OTOH, my brothers would drop pounds quickly if they couldn’t eat normally for a couple of days. I kept thinking metabolism and muscle mass were the problem until I read this:
With moving and the lockdown to deal with, I changed to eating similar things every day and cut my portions in half. Never hit a plateau until I increased the portion size, and really wished I’d tried that years ago. Even though my activity level is hitting new lows because of the virus, I’m less worried about gaining weight.
That’s exactly the approach I took when I was 295. I figured it was going to take a while, and I should just be patient. That, and I drastically cut down on snacks by way of not having them at home. It took about a year and a half to get down to something sane, and sometimes it’s a struggle to keep the weight off, but I feel a hell of a lot better for it.
The 'rona gives me more reason to try to keep the weight off.
(And @Ratel) So do the Lakers, the Clippers, the Warriors and the Kings. Portland Trailblazers are urban-ish. Washington Wizards play downtown DC…I would guess that 98% play in an urban area.
ETA: San Antonio is the only one who plays in a suburbs. The Sixers play in South Philly…urban-adjacent?
The Rose Garden (Portland Trailblazers) is very urban and, crucially, on the East Side where infrastructure is more sparse, and is right on top of a major public transit hub.
It’s also unnecessary to convert it to a polling place, because Oregon has had vote by mail for decades.
CA switched us to all mail in voting by order of the Governor back in May; I was not happy to learn this as my polling station was only a block away.
Meanwhile the mail has been wonky as fuck, thanks to DeJoy and his antics.
Ironically I’m MUCH more concerned about receiving my ballot than I am returning it; the local court house isn’t too far away for me to take it there at the official drop off.
I wasn’t declaring that the Trailblazers should do this; I was simply writing that NBA arenas are in areas that are generally considered urban areas (to counter what @Ratel had posted:
Since the Rose Garden is across the river, I used urban-ish (I didn’t want to have someone say it was NOT urban enough.)
I kept thinking metabolism and muscle mass were the problem until I read this:
