Mitzi sent me a link to this article in the Washington Post. (No subscription required.) She said something about me feeling good about it.

It's worth the read.

When I was single (separated/divorced), I developed the habit of eating a relatively "big" breakfast. Whether it was me making something at home, or buying one on the way to work. When I was running and training, I'd do my run early in the morning, then have a protein shake with frozen bananas and nuts. And I'd have a pretty high-calorie lunch, not especially healthy either. If I hadn't run that morning, I'd make something with eggs and cheese and whatever else might be in the fridge. Frittatas and omelets were my thing.

I loved going to Fire House Subs ("Medium Hook on wheat, fully involved, make it a combo.")

I seldom made anything for dinner, or went out to eat at night. Occasionally my buddy the ex-chef would have me over and I'd have dinner at his place, and we typically ate late at night. But that was maybe a couple times a month.

Together with the running, I was 30 pounds lighter than I am today.

Mitzi came from a situation where dinner/supper was the big meal of the day. And she likes to cook. She watches cooking shows, likes trying new recipes, etc. I tried to explain, without the benefit of scientific research, essentially what the article describes. You're better off eating the majority of your calories earlier in the day.

Early in our relationship, as I began to gain weight and she began to struggle with hers, I tried to persuade her to abandon the big meal at night. That didn't happen. It was too much a part of who she was.

And I really enjoyed making breakfast. So I basically stopped paying any attention to when I ate. I did pay attention to what, sometimes how much, but gave up entirely on the time.

And now I'm obese.

With endemic COVID and the risk of long-COVID, living in a state that doesn't seem to care about looking out for one another, and obesity being a risk factor for having a worse experience with COVID, I wanted to do something to shift the odds a little more in my favor.

I've been reading that intermittent fasting of almost any kind offers benefits with regard to weight control, and, more importantly, insulin response (inflammation).

So as I mentioned yesterday, I started this thing where I consume all my calories between 1:00 PM and 7:00 PM. Sometimes Mitzi doesn't have dinner ready until 8:00, sometimes later; but all I can do is all I can do. And I'm seldom up past 10.

She's protested that I don't have to eat dinner. I don't think she understands how I'm present while she's cooking a meal, and I'm going to sit there and watch her eat it alone?

No, it's easier for me to just not eat breakfast.

So far, since the 1st, she's been pretty good about having dinner ready before 7, so that hasn't been an issue yet. I figured if I ate later than 7 now and then, it wouldn't kill me.

Then she read the article this morning.

She's going to try to have dinner read by six from now on.

Set and drift is a vector quantity. The magnitude may be a little smaller now.

Originally posted at Nice Marmot 08:22 Thursday, 12 January 2023