Adjusted Reality

2026 is just hitting different. And I kind of like it.

I haven’t felt like declaring my map and my plan for the year, set decisively on January 1st (or 2nd, let’s be honest, January 1st is a fake day) was the right call. And as I’ve been trying on January for size, I feel like it was the right one.

I dub 2026 the Year of Experiments.

I like my life. A lot. I think I have a pretty cool thing going on. The good stuffs are all there. Awesome husband, comfortable house, no debt, financial stability, endurance athlete, lots of enriching hobbies… what more could you want?

But since you’ve obviously met me before, the answer is more.

I had come into the start of the year thinking my resolution was going to be “hire the staff and spend the resources I need to live the life I want”. And that’s still in there, somewhere. That’s a really hoity-toity way of saying things like this:

• I want to visit my magic hairperson once every 3-4 months instead of every year because I feel like a million bucks after and once the 4-6 months pass I feel kinda raggety.
• Instead of just dealing with what I’ve happened to accumulate in my closet, I want to identify some basics that I’m missing or that are wearing out, and get some really high quality versions that fit me really well. Example of something I did this with – my black leather boots. I spent 200$ on them but they’re amazing and will last forever. Example of something I need to do this with – my black bolero sweaters. They are both falling apart. I still wear them. I should not wear clothes with holes in them.
• I have thought about doing therapy to work on some things – like better coping strategies when I get stressed, strategies for better focus in a world that is just constantly working against a mono-focuser like me, etc.

While I would love a private chef, personal assistant, butler, etc, what I’m really talking about is not just living with things that I could easily spend a little time and money on to improve. I do love me some DIY, but I’m just not in a place right now to DIY everything. My time is valuable.

However, I realized this month, it’s not just outsourcing. It’s disrupting longstanding habits and the calcified thinking that my almost 47-year-old ass falls into.

Cases in point:

Previously, I have done a a week and a half of “dry January”. I have also done “beer only” January. I have done “no whiskey” January until I used a bottle of whiskey as motivation to PR a race. And then another. But all of that nonsense is flirting with the fact that alcohol is a habit for me. A non-problematic habit, I enjoy it and I don’t plan to go totally alcohol-free in the future. But the fact that giving it up for a month was like this insurmountable task in my head was a flag that I really should do it.

I’m 24 days into a true dry January, and it’s been way less difficult than I expected. After the first week or so and hitting a few milestones where I normally would have celebrated or stress-relieved with alcohol, I found ways around it, and now it’s like… just not something I’m doing for a while.

When we return to having some beverages, we agreed it was going to be like once a week. Or maybe even less. We both feel quite good! The changes for me have been subtle but satisfying –

• My already ok but occasionally a few points high when I’m stressed blood pressure is steadily in the green. My husband’s has dramatically changed for the better.
• My sleep is way better. Lately, it had been a toss up on nights when I had beverages if it was good, fair, or poor (most often fair, but sometimes poor and very very occasionally good), but my average sleep score for the week is definitely the top of fair (high 70s) vs 60s-70s. It’s not super every night but overall? Better.
• This makes for me feeling oddly good every morning. Allergies were taking a bit of a toll but other than that, it’s nice to wake up every morning with some level of energy and ambition. I have more usable hours in the day.
• I did not magically lose 10 lbs, but I the trend is going the right way at about a half lb loss per week (more on the other reason below).
• My stress score is a little better but not magically so. Work still gets me amped up. Low-key fighting something off all the time (like allergies) does too. But I’ve had more days than not of garmin saying that I had enough restful moments of the day, so that’s something different than before.
• My resting HR has dropped a little – upper 40s to mid 40s. Not that this needed to change at all, but a change, nonetheless.
• My HRV is not pingponging around like normal (THAT was predictably low on days I had adult beverages by like 20 or 30 points). My average went wayyyy up for the first week and then has kind of leveled off to a new normal. That’s awesome.

For me, this means that I should probably treat alcohol as more of a sometimes food, like cake. Or french fries. No need to avoid it, but I should make sure consuming it isn’t a regular part of my weekly diet, like it had become over the years. It’s rather freeing to have gone through this and feel like I can make the choice (or not) instead of drinks day being a regular thing – like something we ticked off the weekly to do list. “Well, it’s Wednesday, we should probably get some whiskey,” etc.

The second big life change in January was upending my nutrition plan. I had penciled a thought of “fuel my workouts better” as a resolution but this is a whole different level.

Like, I know this stuff, but for some reason I put everyone in the world into two categories – me, and everyone else. I KNOW that doing 1-2 hour workouts fasted with minimal fuel isn’t great, but it was letting me get a numbers advantage elsewhere – in how much I could eat later. Coffee for breakfast, maybe an english muffin on long days, and 1 gel or a few jellybeans during and WOW, look at all those calories for later.

Except it hasn’t been working. For years. Occasionally, with months of painful work restricting calories lower than felt right and feeling hungry all the time, I was able to lose like 5 lbs over a few months – all of which were erased with a month over the holidays of just not being as diligent. It’s been maddening and crazy-making.

Because of my age, I definitely get “menopause” content from the algorithm. The pills I take mask any signs or symptoms, thankfully, but I’ll be there eventually if I’m not already. So… about two weeks ago, the social media fitness coaches I follow yelling about things finally hit me – I needed to try something different. Going through my early 40s during the pandemic just kind of warped time for me. In 2018-2019 (39-40), I was having success with building fitness, weight loss, and just generally being happy with my body. Then the pandemic hit, and everything went to $#!^ and I blamed that (or really, myself reacting to that) for the inability to take off weight.

At this point, we’re almost 6 years later. I’m needing to face facts that I have a different meatbag than I did before and instead of trying to deny that fact, support it with the things it needs to be successful. So, I’m changing things up and I’m on the Protein Train (145-150g/day, non-negotiable, like 3x week lifting). I’m also cycling carbs higher around active times/days, trying to not eat 10g fat one day and 100g the next, and tightening up my supplement game just a little.

Also, I’m coming to terms with the fact that my “just a little workout” day needs care, attention, and feeding, because it’s not. 2026 is the year that I normalize taking anything over 1 hour seriously and supporting my workouts with the fuel they deserve.

What does this look like?

Here’s a moderately active day for me: 1 hour of sprints on the bike in the AM. 30 mins of walking and 30 mins of weight training. That’s like, a Monday.

Before:

• Pre-bike coffee. Or nothing. (35 cal of creamer)
• A handful of jellybeans during (maybe 60 cal and ~15g carbs)
• Whatever I grabbed for breakfast. On good days, chicken salad, which is still a solid choice (250 cal, 30g protein, 20 carbs). On bad days, a hot pocket or kolache (250 cal, 10g protein, 25 carbs).
• Lunch – maybe a snap kitchen meal, also a solid choice, just was not filling after so little in the morning (500 cal, ~30g protein, ~40g carbs)
• Handfull of pretzels + cream cheese to dip (100 cal, 0 protein, 20g carbs)
• Dinner – Let’s say we go out and grab a sandwich after the gym. A reasonable regular would be something like… (600 cal, 45g protein, 66g carbs)
• After dinner I would try to push veggies to quiet the hungry, maybe another salad (so like 100 calories, very few other adjustments to my macros)
• Chocolate before bed (70 cal, 10 carbs)

Totals: 1715 calories, 85-105g protein (depending on breakfast), 175 carbs eaten. Usually about 900 calories burnt (or 750 active calories). This is a deficit of over 1000 calories. I was so hungry and the scale wasn’t budging.

New Plan:

• Protein shake w/fruit BEFORE the bike (250 calories, 27g protein, 25g carbs) if I get up early enough. Or, sucked down as I start the bike (most likely)
• Definitely electrolytes on the bike, and maybe some fuel depending on how long it’s been since breakfast and how hard the bike is (anywhere from 50-200 cal and 10-40g carbs)
• Chicken salad for breakfast (yes, breakfast is two different meals now – 250 calories, 30g protein, 20g carbs)
• Very carby lunch. Like, today I had chicken curry w/basamit rice and veggies. I asked for double protein, and ate it all easily, but then looked at the macros and I technically didnt need it. Oops. For a single serving, it would have been 650 calories, 51g protein, and 80g carbs.
• Here’s where I would have had a protein snack like quest chips if I didn’t get double chicken (150 calories, 20g protein, 5g carbs)
• Normally I’d walk and lift here but I had today off work so I lifted right after my bike, but let’s pretend I did that here.
• Dinner is going to be Snap Kitchen Cacio y Pepe – something I’m already eating weekly w/veggies. Today I’ll probably add a nice slice of sourdough for some extra carbs and because bread makes life worth living. (700 calories, 40g protein, 70 carbs)

This is: 2100 calories, 168g protein, 225 carbs. Same calories burnt. Feel a million times better, and it’s not like I’m eating baked chicken and broccoli all day.

Before, I was terrified to take a day off, because that meant my calorie goal was like 1300 and that’s like… nothing. Now I’ve got 2 days off on my schedule (I’m still walking but not a lot, and that’s it). Those look more like 1650 calories, and they suck a little bit because I still need to get all my protein, so I really have to watch my carbs (more like 90 total instead of 90 in one meal). But, if I time the days right (so a day off isn’t also a day I’m going to go out to eat and have full control over what goes in my cakehole), it’s not too bad, and I’m also not the same level of hungry. At the end of the day, I kinda want a snack but I wouldn’t CRIME for one like normal.

While I do not want to continue the level of effort it is to have to figure all this stuff out and concoct meals and snacks forever, I know it will also get to be easier/more routine. I’ve been working over the last two weeks to establish some baseline meals and snacks for light, medium, and (mostly) heavy days, so I don’t have to think that much. Once it’s routine, I can always change out what works for something more exciting. For example, a protein shake with fruit can also become turkey chili with cheese in a protein tortilla, but I will ALWAYS have what I need to make a protein shake and it takes 2 minutes.

This also has a side effect of kicking off another one of my goals – learn ChatGPT/AI stuff better. For someone like me who knows what to do after decades of study and past certifications in fitness and training, but needs a reminder and a refresher, ChatGPT is actually a wonderful dietician intern that does the math for me and keeps me on the rails. If I had gone the route of coaching, I wouldn’t advise a potential client to berate themselves and overcorrect for a calorie or macro overage one day, but as I said, the rules don’t apply to me. ChatGPT reminds me of the rules and that they DO.

So, these are the two things I’m focusing on in January. Once these are routine, I will move on to other things. But I think I’ll work on identifying and nailing them as the year goes on, not make a giant list here and then be sad when I don’t do some of them because life changed and I decided to prioritize other stuff.

However, as it is my January post – I would like to set some intentions for the year.

#1 My Meatbag and Me – I very much belabored the point above, but my 2026 goal is to find a place where I feel like I’m partnering with my meatbag to accomplish goals, and we’re not fighting each other. For my part:

• I will follow this new plan (and tweak as necessary) to really fuel my activities rather than daring my body to do them with as little as possible.
• I will be satisfied with .5 lb per week fat loss and be patient – if it takes all year for me to lost 10-15 lbs slowly doing this, it will be better than I’ve done lately. And what I’m doing feels comfortable and sustainable so it’s better than just crash dieting to lose 20 lbs in a few months just to be “done” with it.
• I will do the recovery work, as I have been, to keep myself sturdy and stable and uninjured.
• I will actually do the thing where I drink less. This last 24 days have been eye-opening. I really think this time it will stick.

Hopefully that’s enough for me to keep on hiking, biking, running, and doing whatever while slowly losing some fat, feeling awesomer than I have in years, and not being hangry all the time.

#2 Sporty Stuffs – weirdly enough, while I was excited to race more in 2026, I also realize that race weeks disrupt things. I am currently signed up for one triathlon in September, and that could possibly be it for the year. Or maybe I get motivated and jump into something. I’m leaving it up to my whims as time goes by.

However, that means nothing in terms of activity – case in point, my ass was on the bike for 167 minutes today just because garmin said so. I think I’m in a place where I’m enjoying ticking the boxes on the workout plan and I don’t need a race goal to motivate me. Eventually, I totally want to race. But the idea of getting fitter to race in the future is totally enough to motivate a cumulative 15 hours of activity in the last 7 days. Which is kind of insane.

I do think 2026 is the year of the bike, though. I’m at a place where I love running but it doesn’t love me back as much. So, we’re taking some time to see other people. I’m doing a big 9-week bike block this winter and running minimally. My plan is 5x week, and it looks something like Sprints Mondays, base Tuesdays, Tempo Wednesdays, Anaerobic Fridays, and long bike Saturdays. So, like, 3 of those are EFFORTS, 1 is long (so also effort), and 1 is medium long (the least effort, but still, 65-80 minutes even at base pace is nothing to sneeze at). Still lifting 3x week, still walking 1 mile per day minimum, and trying to fit 1-2 short runs in and a swim every once in a while, so I don’t forget how.

The funniest things is that I’ve been biking for 2 solid months, and my biking VO2 max has bascially stayed the same (maybe gone down a little bit). I’ve run maybe 20 miles in the last 2 months and my running VO2 max has also stayed the same – maybe gone up a little. It’s insane. I probably need to stop listening to the tiny terrorist on my wrist but it’s also motivating me to do a bunch of good stuff so… yeah. I will probably continue to pay attention to my Garmin and just hope that the numbers go up eventually.

So, for fitness goals, everything is kind of up in the air, and it really just feels like a building block year where I put in a lot of work without a bunch of flash. And I’m here for it.

#3 Adulting – I think doing a quarterly “adulting” list makes more sense than making this giant list of things that are just going to drop off. So, in winter, I would like to:

• Get set up and going with the financial advisor people.
• Finish cleaning out the garage
• Get my hair done before my birthday/travel
• Do the big scary adulting project I’m trying to put into place at work
• BONUS: clean out the shelves in the back of my office.

I feel like that’s a lot, even though there’s more I want to do for sure. We’ll reset again at the end of March with what I’ve done and what I didn’t and what I’ll do next.

#4 Fun Stuff! Yay! First, let’s talk travel plans:

• San Francisco in March (work trip extended for a long weekend before)
• Vegas/St George in May (also work trip extended for a week before)
• Krause Springs camping in July
• Italy/Greek Isles cruise in August (yet again, preceding a work trip)
• Kerrville camping in September for the race

I’m saving a ton of money this year so far since I’m literally not paying for a plane ticket anywhere, but I have a feeling this will need some supplemental non-work-related trips, but, like, some long weekends camping. Or maybe just some protected long weekends at home where the goal is just to relax, not have a million plans. I have a feeling this is going to be a fun year for seeing all the things! However, since travel is a pretty big part of my life here, I need to make sure I don’t go ham… well, actually, ham would probably be good being high in protein, low in fat… errr, that I don’t go crazy with food and drinks while traveling. Or if I do, that I accept the consequences without getting frustrated (stalled progress in fat loss). Both are okay, depending on the circumstances, but I need to not act surprised.

And… hobbies! Like, I feel like I don’t necessarily need to set a bunch of goals here, but I would like:

• To not get totally behind on photo editing. I’ve stopped doing a lot of multitasking while watching TV unless it’s truly something I’m not into, but that means this goes slower. For Q1, I would like to finish Seattle. All my other projects are smaller.
• I want to be caught up with my current writing project (Book 5) to the D&D sessions that fuel them by the session in February, and then stick with it. Once I am caught up, I’d like to take some time to read and edit my other book (Book 3). Solid goals through winter.
• I need to disrupt the habit that I don’t paint at home. I want to get some paint on a canvas or break out my Bloodbowl Vampires and spend a day painting with Joel. Even if it’s just once.
• I want to go on a Walko Taco before spring. Goals aside, you have to do crazy stuff every once in a while.
• Once I get my electric guitar back from the shop (woohoo!), play a song each day that I am home (and more if I am motivated) – I’m out of this habit and would like to get back to it.
• Play some games with Joel. We both get into solitary hobbies and sometimes we need to remember to play things together instead of just sit in the same room and paint and write and stuff.

#5 Work Life Balance

Right now, I’m giving myself a solid A- in January. I was getting grumbly on Friday that I needed more focus time, I carved out 3.5 hours of time, I shut everything down and out that wasn’t what I was doing, and at 645pm when I left my desk I actually gave myself a little moment of applause because I finished what I wanted to and didn’t get distracted, and got to slide into the weekend feeling accomplished. If only they could all be this way.

Maybe they could. To keep this, I need to stick with my plan to let myself rely on help more. I could do it myself or I could lean on a very competent assistant or two. I could do it myself or I can bring in a coach that can help me do it better. I could do it myself or I could actually seek out a therapist to unravel what’s in my head and give me better strategies to be the best work and home me ever. Or, I can DIY everything like I always do and stress myself out.

Here, truly, is the goal to hire the staff that will help me live my best life, and be the best boss, wife, and human being I can be. Because I know that hasn’t been me lately at times.

So, I like the start of 2026 so far. It feels different. And right now, I’m liking the way different feels.