2024-03-01
in
6 min read
February was a lot stronger showing than January, especially in the diet department. Whether I can keep that momentum moving forward into a much more difficult March will be the challenge.
Methodology
This is a quick refresher of how this works. The “Goal Accountability” method is to give myself five focus areas each day which help contribute to longevity. Technically it can be any five things but for me these have historically always fallen into the categories of: diet, sleep, cardio movement, strength movement, and mind exercises. For each day one is given a numerical grade like in school from 0.0 (F) to 4.0 (A). By keeping track of those things we can see how we do by week and over the year. To give myself opportunities for feeling the “new years resolution” type psychological prodding more than just once a year the whole year is broken up into four week “phases”. Therefore I can see how things are going over the year and at an approximately one month interval have an opportunity to start with a clean slate and “get a good grade”.
February Closeout
As I wrote in the January’s review , I was pretty strong in everything except diet. I wanted to get diet dialed in more and to maybe push myself a bit more on the brain health front with respect to meditation. Therefore the goals for February’s Goal Accountability was:
- Goal 1 (Diet): Eat a plant dominant Mediterranean diet averaging at least 90 grams of protein a day
- Goal 2 (Sleep): Get 7-8 hours of sleep a night
- Goal 3 (Cardio Health): 30 minutes of focused cardio exercise (indoor cycling, running, swimming, etc), with one hard session per week minimum and a stretch goal of two hard sessions per week
- Goal 4 (Non-Cardio Health): 20-30 minutes of weight training, calisthenics, or yoga
- Goal 5 (Brain Health): 15-20 minutes of meditation, stretch goal of 2x 15-20 minutes of meditation; increase reading time by decreasing TV/YouTube/Social Media time
Looking at the overall trends in the curve things look a lot better. Whereas much of January I was hovering around the 3.3 (B+) range, in February I was hoving around the 3.7 (A-) range. While very little of January was at or above 3.7 a good amount of February was. I also had several more perfect days. I did have some whiffs but not like tho two almost completely whiff days I had in January. Looking at the per goal grades I’m pretty pleased with the results there as well.
| January | February | |
|---|---|---|
| Goal 1 (Diet) | 2.89 (B-) | 3.43 (B+) |
| Goal 2 (Sleep) | 3.52 (B+) | 3.65 (B+) |
| Goal 3 (Cardio Fitness) | 3.74 (A-) | 3.86 (A-) |
| Goal 4 (Non-Cardio Fitness) | 3.74 (A-) | 3.86 (A-) |
| Goal 5 (Brain Health) | 3.39 (B+) | 3.79 (A-) |
| Total GPA | 3.46 (B+) | 3.72 (A-) |
The weakest category again was Goal #1 (Diet), but I did have a substantial improvement in that score. I still had some manufactured downward pressure on the grade as I finished up eating holiday leftovers. I also had some slips from just not staying dialed in when eating out in restaurants. Overall though there was still a dramatic improvement in how dialed in I kept things. Without supplementation I almost hit all my nutritional needs with slightly below 100% levels in Vitamin E and Zinc. With supplementation those were all fine. Sodium levels were higher than I’d like but down a bit. Cholesterol levels were finally below 200 mg per day, the RDA, but not below the 100 mg per day that I’m shooting for. Protein and amino acid levels were exceeded my goals. My slightly below RDA Omega-6 levels were fixed all while maintaining good Omega-3/6 fatty acid ratios. Especially as I’m ramping up my training I need to be sure that the diet is more dialed in.
The second weakest category was Goal #2 (Sleep). There were just a few too many times that my brain would turn on in the middle of the night or in the morning and I couldn’t get the sleep level I wanted to. I would sometimes be able to make that up with a short nap during the day but often that’s not the case. Especially as I’m ramping up my physical training I really need to be making sure my sleep is dialed in.
The exercise goals Goal #3 (Cardio) and Goal #4(Non-Cardio) were in great shape. I missed one day. Beyond just hitting the minimum numbers I’m really getting both my weight training and cardio fitness dialed in. That includes getting two good hard cardio sessions in per week, once on the Peloton and once with running. It is also including me ramping up my long run distances on the weekend as I get ready to try for a half marathon later this year. That is having the effect of finally showing an improvement in VO2Max instead of the slow drop off I’ve been seeing the past several months from my October peak.
I made a good amount of progress on Goal #5 (Brain health) as well. I did get more buckled down on the meditations. I even had a few days of having two sessions (one of the stretch goals). I did make a bit more progress on getting more reading at the expense of social media and passive screen time (TV/YouTube). I wouldn’t say I made appreciable inroads into those that second stretch goal. A bit of progress yes, but most of the grade boosting is from me being more consistent with my first meditation session.
Overall I was able to bring up every grade and thus end February with a 3.72 (A-) for the aggregate grade. I am very pleased by that. The thing that would make me fully content is if I could have had 3.7 or higher across the board.
March Kickoff
As things have really gone well in February I want to continue that into March. However March is going to be a month with both schedule and psychological stressors. Most of the month will also be travel. All of that is the exact opposite of the relatively quiet and home-bound month that I had in February. I have larger drivers beyond the longevity minimums too. As I’m ramping up my training for a half marathon sometime in the next 2-4 months I really need to be getting more weight training in as well as a couple more harder workouts. That’s been my status quo for February but I need to maintain that to have a strong performance. That also means I need to be eating more dialed in, and more protein. I have maintained more than 100 grams of protein per day anyway but now that is a new floor. I’d like to make more progress on the stretch goals on brain health too.
Therefore the goals for March’s Goal Accountability is:
- Goal 1 (Diet): Eat a plant dominant Mediterranean diet averaging at least 100 grams of protein a day
- Goal 2 (Sleep): Get 7-8 hours of sleep a night
- Goal 3 (Cardio Health): 30 minutes of focused cardio exercise (indoor cycling, running, swimming, etc), with one hard session per week minimum and a stretch goal of two hard sessions per week
- Goal 4 (Non-Cardio Health): 20-30 minutes of weight training, calisthenics, or yoga
- Goal 5 (Brain Health): 15-20 minutes of meditation, stretch goal of 2x 15-20 minutes of meditation; increase reading time by decreasing TV/YouTube/Social Media time