I see a 2021 when I make a return to Memphis in some sort of fitness capacity. For the past seven years, I've envisioned a running schema in my return, a return to what I do not know; whether I enter races in 2021 or regularly drive in to town to train, I don't know. I have visualized this specific spring time for years: the rustle of the leaves with the swaying of branches; the cool breeze glancing across my face; the warm of the sun enshrouding me; and the green leaves framing the skyline.

While everything is at its preliminary stages, I'm considering on my first step forward on April 10, 2021. It'll be the first Saturday of The 20th Expedition. It's also 180 days away, giving me ample time to reach goal weight and establish cardio.

As it is something I have seen for years, I am thrilled at its upcoming realization.

I figure today's blog might hit on a few areas of discretionary spending on my part:

Google One

I'm now 18 GBs into the 1st tier of service of 100; it's beyond the 15 GB of a free account. FINALLY, I have a decent backup solution in place. Not that I didn't like my WD My Cloud solution, but its hard drives are getting a little long in the tooth and their replacement may be infeasible.

As far as Google as the service provider...well...as it has been best said, "The Matrix has you."

Training

I'm still waiting for my gloves from Sanabul to be fulfilled. Maybe I could have went with Amazon, but I really prefer to go directly to the vendor and avoid Amazon's hegemony.

Eventually, I'll have to step up my intensity game because I just don't trust my legs to avoid injuries. When I do get those gloves in, I'll be putting in a lot of work on the bag. I really need to put a moratorium on jogging until I'm under the 200 lb threshold to mitigate the risk of injury. I don't see how I can put in 2+ hours 6 days a week if I don't shut running down for the rest of 2020.

Coffee & Tea

While a part of me misses Black Rifle Coffee Company, I'm weighing in on returning to tea, a companion through the graduate school, Czech Republic, and Alaska adventure. There's greater variety, approaches, and learning involved with tea than coffee, and there's more bang for the buck—I mean, who grabs used coffee grounds to make another cup? It's not that I'm punting coffee, I enjoy Pablo's Pride (and its price point) from Sam's Club. Hopefully, I can run down my spreadsheet of past favorites from Upton Tea Imports.

Admittedly, like coffee, tea reminds me of those good times of past years—like a cherished song.

Future Purchases?

I'd like to find a vendor for clothes for 2021 when I drop into my goal weights. Sometimes I wish I kept all of my old stuff—the clothes I wear really hasn't changed since the 90s. I'd still rock a KISS concert t-shirt, lemme tell you! And those Levi's I owned would have lasted forever. I miss my old black leather jacket from that time—though as that was the latter 90s, it would be too big for the weight I'm dropping down to in 2021. I suppose all of those old t-shirts from wrestling and martial arts tournaments might be beyond their Best By dates...

I'd also be interested in making my own candles as a project in 2021.

I've got less than 13 days before I weigh for The 15th Expedition. In roughly 83 days, I'll be returning to Facebook, marking the gateway to 2021.

I won't get to goal weight in 12 weeks. And honestly, it's not important that I do or even that I drop below the 200 threshold, for this isn't a one-shot deal. I'm framing everything I do in context to 2021 and everything I want out of it!

2020 has not been about optimizing weightloss but mitigating the threat of those weight gain bumps that are along for the ride.

The bump is the killer. I can lose weight: since New Year's Eve 2017, I've lost 305 lbs; HOWEVER during that same span, I gained 229. Sure, the net remains in my favor, but I should already be done with this phase of my fitness—gain, it's why I underscore the need to resolve the bump!

Keto is a great long-term solution for that outcome. Does it mean giving up ice cream, pecan pie, fried pies, doughnuts Snicker bars, and fast food? Absolutely. And it's worth the trade off!

Up until now I haven't referenced it, however, in the short-term, I've been on a carnivore diet—well, a carnivore diet with artificial sweeteners, so a bit of a clashing between two worlds. No dairy!

It's been just meat, eggs, coconut oil, and literally gallons of Jell-o—or to be more accurate, unflavored gelatin that I customize. Instead of being tempted by an afternoon raid of my raw sunflower seed stash, I just go to the gelatin I have on hand to nix the craving. I eat literally 4 to 8 cups of gelatin a day (one packet of gelatin makes 2 cups). There's been a lot of ground beef in my life, sometimes mixed with chicken liver, and on some mind-blowing days, I've had a sardine omelet.

Yeah, I've made a sharp teeth departure from those vegan days of mine!

I've been hyped up on the Mio Energy Green Thunder after we picked up 100+ at a closeout price of $0.25 each (it typically runs $3/each). It likely led to my Leeroy Jenkins approach to Monday's morning training that led to the leg injury, something that I think is now in the rear view mirror, as I spent a couple hours this morning with cardio (though light jogging had a few snags, so it's ruled out).