Today's blog is brought to you by the letter "L".

Last week we turned the clocks ahead.  That small jump into the future got me thinking about the more distant future, at least the next several months.  What have I learned so far?  With so many big changes in my life implemented so quickly, it would be foolish to assume I would never re-visit old situations ever again.  How do I plan to work through them later?

LONG-LASTING LIFESTYLE LIMITS

BEFORE:  In the past, poor diet choices happened all the time with no consequences, except perhaps a popped shirt button or the need for a new belt.  If I ate too much today or skipped meals, only to eat poorly late at night, oh well.

AFTER:  The bad stuff will become occasional pleasures, not the everyday norm.  Hungry Howie's will be removed from speed-dial.

LEVY LAVISH LUXURIES 

BEFORE:  Guilty pleasures never had price tags on them.

AFTER:  A dozen chicken wings, a pizza, or a greasy fish fry dinner will be worked off with a visit to the gym once or twice that week.  If the weather is nice, it may take a jog or two around the block, not driving around the block in a car, like before.  The full price, in calories, will be paid back.

LESS LIBATIONS

BEFORE:  No holds barred - at the bar (or restaurant or winery or bowling alley or my friend's house or...)

AFTER:  Light beer, and only one or two.  Glasses, not pitchers.  Wine and even wine spritzers for refreshment, and only one or two.  Glasses, not bottles or boxes.  Avoid "Bucket O' Tequila Night" at Mexican restaurants.  At picnics and barbecues, grab the bottled water most of the time.  Don't use the CO2 hose on the draft beer keg as a straw.

LACKADAISICAL LARD

BEFORE:  Eat anything, and lots of it.

AFTER:  Make a conscious effort to read food labels, noting calories, fat content, and sodium, to name a few.

LOWER LACTOSE & LIPIDS

BEFORE:  Pay no attention to the nutritional value of dairy products.  Got milk?

AFTER:  I have already tweaked two things in this category: (1) I switched from Dannon "Fruit on the Bottom" yogurt, which I have been eating since I was a teenager, to Greek yogurt.  After trying the relatively sour Greek stuff, I really noticed the extra-sweet taste in the Dannon.  Hummmm, I wonder if Dannon adds sugar? (2) I switched from whole milk to 2% milk in college since my fraternity house only stocked that as part of our meal plan.  The other day, I ran out of 2% milk and tried the skim milk my girlfriend drinks.  On my cereal, I noticed no difference.  I'll stick to that and as a bonus, we won't need to buy two different milks.

LIBERAL LEFTOVERS LOST

BEFORE:  It sure was easy to throw the whole one-pound box of pasta in a giant pot, eat a ton of it, and still have four or five meals worth of leftovers.  Those leftovers got taken to work, so a heavy lunch took up residence in my belly all afternoon, every afternoon, until the leftovers were gone.  No need to buy fresh produce.

AFTER:  Reasonable portion amounts using fresh ingredients will be the new typical dinner.  Cooking will actually be easier because it takes a lot less cooking time for smaller cuts of meat than a whole roasted chicken, or whole turkey, or whole cattle.  A lunch based on veggies is easy, too, because I can keep bagged cuts of salad greens at work and serve reasonable amounts of protein over them - chicken or fish.  The "grazing" part of this contest was the most satisfying lesson, so healthy snacks remain a part of my day - hopefully spread out every couple of hours.

LINK LIVELIHOOD & LABOR

BEFORE:  Eat whatever I wanted and do only the physical activity that was necessary.

AFTER:  Physical activity, including formal work-outs at the gym, plus any informal activity that burns calories will always be on my radar.  And it will be fun in the future since I haven't been this healthy in ages.  I found a "Calories Burned Activity Chart" on the internet for all kinds of things.  One was "bird watching".  Are you kidding me?  I'll stick to jogging.

LOCK LOGICAL LEVELS

BEFORE:  No attention was paid to either diet or exercise.

DURING:  Everything was done right, maybe too right, both diet and exercise, to extremes for relatively fast results.  When is this contest over anyway?

AFTER:  Now, I can relax and enjoy a new life.  A workout is mostly for maintenance, not a big, fast weight loss which is no longer necessary.  Just don't let anything get out of hand so I need to repeat this cycle and deal with that poorly-calibrated scale one more time.

LIMIT LARGENESS

BEFORE:  Clothes are conveniently sold with an available size just a little larger than the one I am wearing now.  How easy is it to just buy size 40 jeans, since my size 38 jeans have shrunk?  (Darn dryer gone haywire, probably.)

AFTER:  Whatever size I am wearing at the end of the contest is MY SIZE.  No larger size exists in the universe.  If my clothes begin to fit too tight, I guess we know who we will be spending a couple of hours with after work... (HINT: This guy shares his first name with me and his last name is "Nasium")

LOSE LOOPHOLES

BEFORE:  The planets needed to line up before it was okay to go for a walk.  It's too cold, it's too windy, it's too sunny.  The neighbor I still owe 20 bucks to is out raking leaves next door.  Excuses used to be so easy.

AFTER:  Just by avoiding beer on Wednesday bowling nights, I discovered I can afford a pretty nice bike.  One for my girlfriend, too.  There are numerous other physical activities to work into our lives, excuse-free, even if they ultimately lead to a bottle of wine and a dozen chicken wings.  In that case, go directly to the section titled "LEVY LAVISH LUXURIES".

This is just a start.  Perhaps the LIST is LIMITLESS.