Mark Stoller moved to Falcon in 2007.†He and his wife, Andra, both U.S. Air Force veterans, enjoy life with their daughters, extended family and adopted rescue dogs in Latigo. Mark savors the privilege of his wife and daughters being his muse for topics, people to meet and places to investigate.
Happy New Year!The excess of December (read self-loathing over how much sugar and carbohydrates I consumed) brings about visions of weight loss and the belief I can make better choices in 2023.I must tell you I was a hand-eye coordination champ when it came to getting my hands on the German and home-baked sweets and treats I saw during the holiday season.Rationalization is my friend: îEat, drink, and be merry! íTis the season! Thereís no promise for tomorrow. Today is a gift. Enjoy!îA couple of years ago, I wrote a column on how to make your resolutions more meaningful to last the whole year. Letís face it ó life gets in the way.This year, I am going to keep it simple: make good food choices (pick the foods that came out of the ground or had a mother), minimize sugar consumption and get off my big fat arse to increase the number of steps I take per day.Saying the word ìdietî can be stressful, so I am going to say I have tried a few different food choice programs to share with those looking to lose weight.Noom ó I lost 30 pounds in 2020 on this program. Along with steady reduced calorie intake, it delves in to the social/psychological stimuli, which explains why, what, when and how much we eat. My sister-in-law, Suzanne, lost 50 pounds on Noom and has successfully kept the weight off.Keto gummies ó Supposedly these initiate ketoses in the body to burn fat. I finished the first bottle with absolutely no change in body weight or shape. These might work for someone but did not work for me.Lumen ó (currently trying this one) Breathe into the sensor and it measures your metabolism based on the amount of carbon dioxide levels in your breath ó it determines if youíre burning carbs or fat. When your cells metabolize carbs, they produce more carbon dioxide compared to when they metabolize fat. Their selling point is being able to ìhack your metabolism.î Based on your breath measurement, they generate a recommended amount of carbs, fat and protein to optimize your metabolism for the day. The verdict is still out for fat loss.To get most of whatever program you choose, a clean slate is best. Intermittent fasting ó no food for 16 hours and good food choices for eight hours in a day is highly recommended. The extended period of not eating allows your body to heal and burn energy from fat.From bodily cleanse, Iíll change over to whatís known as a digital cleanse.I have written about this before as I railed against cell phone overuse and abuse. That said, I totally realize cell phones are a necessary evil for voice communication, chat platform for family communication, weather updates, GPS directions, news, quick searches for that thing you canít remember but Google knows, and/or God forbid needing 911 services.You can unclutter your inbox by unsubscribing from the daily/weekly advertising emails if you delete them without reading them first. For the phone home screen, delete the apps littering the landscape of your phone if not using them.Consider a phone-free day where you just leave it on the counter and enjoy your day without it.Everything on your phone will still be there when you return to it.Donít miss out on the fleeting moments of the human experience. Spending your time to interact with family and friends is so important to overall physical and emotional health.I hope you have a successful start to the new year no matter what path, goal or program you choose.
