Lose Weight

Resolve to Make 2012 A Great Year

Happy New Year! How did you enjoy ringing in the new year? Did you wake up feeling great or with a literal or proverbial hangover? Now that the celebrating has subsided, are you ready for 2012?

This year may be a momentous one with some major milestones on the calendar, from the Chinese Year of the Dragon to the end of the Mayan calendar. Some dates are already set, such as the Expo in Yeosu, South Korea (May 12-August 12), the Summer Olympics in London (July 27-August 12), not to mention the landing of the Curiosity rover on Mars in August, and, barring a new framework agreement, the end of the Kyoto Protocol on December 31. Some major events this year are already known, while others are not. No one really knows what will happen in places such as North Korea, where newly-installed “supreme commander” Kim Jong Un takes over as leader; possible sanctions and threats to blockade the Strait of Hormuz; unrest in Syria and other protests sparked by the Arab Spring; the European financial crisis; protests in Russia; potential economic slowdown in China; general elections in the United States and in dozens of other countries worldwide. No one knows what will happen. On December 21, 2012, when the Mayans purportedly predicted the end of the world will occur, we’ll look back at the year 2012, analyze the fall out, and, hopefully, be around to tell about it on December 22. Until then, we can only speculate about the future.

There’s no reason to worry about 2012. We can only control what falls in our own sphere of influence, which for most people amounts to whatever affects us directly. What do you have planned for yourself this year? Have you considered making some life changes? I believe in making and achieving goals, and I consider New Year’s resolutions worthwhile. Realistic resolutions can help frame a goal and give you a specific objective to achieve. You may not achieve everything you set out to do in a given year, but if you achieve at least one resolution or make progress toward one, you’re better off than you were. I met half the resolutions I set for myself in 2011 and set some new targets to achieve in 2012. The ones I did not achieve will be carried over to this year. They range from publishing a new book to losing weight to strengthening my faith to learning the guitar. Some will be easier than others, but I resolve to tackle them all in the next 12 months.

Even if you’re not the type of person to make New Year’s resolutions, there’s one goal you can resolve to achieve this year. Make this year a better year than 2011. Make it the best it can be. It doesn’t matter if you had a good or bad year last year. Life can always be better. Resolve to make 2012 a great year.

The “Paraguay” Diet

Now that life is starting to settle down here in Virginia, I’ve focused more on getting in shape. Once upon a time, I thought rather foolishly that I could go on the “Korean” diet and miraculously lose weight. What’s the “Korean”diet? Well, I’m not quite sure–I never figured it out. It’s essentially the contention that most Koreans are in decent shape, despite the fact that Korean food–at least what you buy in the restaurant–is rather fattening, and not a few Koreans smoke, drink, and work too much (read: sit most of the day at a desk). I assumed that if I acted Korean, at least in terms of consumption and activity, I too would lose weight. Au contraire (that’s French, not Korean). I gained weight. Someone let me know that Korean physiology lends itself to thinness, and I am of stout Anglo-Scandinavian stock that gravitates towards rotundity and portliness.

So the “Korean” diet didn’t work. Now that we are headed to Paraguay, I decided to go on the “Paraguay” diet. So, what’s that? Well, it doesn’t have anything to do with the cuisine. As I understand it, Paraguayan cuisine is rife with red meat (read: beef) and starch (something called “sopa,” a potato-ish vegetable). The “Paraguay” diet has more to do with having a significantly heightened level of physical activity. The January edition of the Foreign Service Journal rated Asunción, Paraguay one of the worst Foreign Service posts because it is so “boring.” (That is obviously an unscientific observation by someone who either doesn’t get out enough or needs to find some new hobbies.) Frankly, boring is fine with me. Boredom is preferable to bullets, blackouts, blizzards, and excessive beasties found at some posts worldwide. It lets me focus on the “Paraguay” diet; that is, fill the down time with physical activity that necessitates the slendering of my body.

Whereas the “Korean” diet focused on what I eat, the “Paraguay” diet focuses on what I do. I’ve never found that dieting helps me lose weight, unless I completely cut out eating sugary foods. My body responds much better to physical activity and beating it into submission by working out until I am sore (like today, when I rode my repaired bicycle back and forth from home to work.

I’ve already started the “Paraguay” diet by doing sit ups, cycling, and walking as much as possible. I bought a pedometer to measure my caloric burn rate, but so far, it’s been disappointing. It’s disheartening killing yourself to burn 300 calories. I’m hoping that by the time I arrive in Paraguay I will be so far along on my regimen that it will be easy to continue; bad streets, cobblestones, tropical weather, and petty theft be damned!