at least, I can say this

After last year's horrific binge that took place during the final two weeks of December and saw me gain back a frightening number of kilos, I can at least say that, this year, I'm more or less behaving myself. I'm not dieting, per se, but I'm also not going off the chain. Ever since I threw away my old leather belt, I've been wearing a super-strong belt made of the same material as those heavy-duty cargo straps. I started counting the visible holes whenever I would cinch the belt around my waist. At first, I could see only six holes, then I could cinch the belt down to the seventh hole, and as of today, I'm at the eight hole. I don't know whether this represents real weight loss, but it's certainly not weight gain! So I think I can survive to the end of the year without having a second stroke. (Knock on wood.)

I'm still going to have to lose a ton of weight in the coming year: I spent most of 2022 slowly regaining much of the weight I'd lost since July of 2021. I'm not quite back to Square One, but I'm close enough to be nervous. It'd be nice to get walking again, but that won't be for another few weeks. I also need to get back into resistance training via bodyweight, dumbbells, and elastic bands. Sure, sure—everyone makes such vows at the beginning of the year. Probably best not to make vows out loud, right? I can at least start with dieting and stairs training.

And we'll go on from there.