With SXSW behind me and the Bronx Zoo 5K ahead of me again, I felt it was time to realign myself. The need to get myself back on track to where I was months ago inspired me to return to the idea I had a year ago, when I did my April Detox. So for the second year in a row, I will focus on my health.
While I didn’t overextend myself like I did last year, I’ve been focused on building two startups and went to SXSW, which kept me busy for two weeks between the road trip and the conference itself. Even after returning to New York, I’ve kept myself too busy to truly get back to a proper sleep schedule and to get back to eating healthy, regardless of attempts to do both. I felt the best way to handle this was to take a month off to get my head right again.
I do not plan to go to the extremes I did last year. I do plan to drop all non-water beverages (with the exception of a Gatorade after I run) and sugar and limit complex carbohydrates again. I will also avoid red meat for the most part, planning to stay with more chicken, fish and vegetables. I will also be tracking everything I eat on MyFitnessPal to keep myself accountable for everything I put in my body. And in a move fairly uncharacteristic of myself, I want to go to bed earlier and get more sleep than I have been.
To emphasize health, I’m running four days a week and following a marathon training regiment. Although the initial runs are only three miles each, which is less than I usually run, I plan to follow it and prepare myself for upcoming 5Ks and half marathons I’m planning to run. I still hope to run a marathon this year, but it isn’t planned yet. I will continue to practice kung-fu as well and may finally attempt to work my ways towards a black sash.
The third tenet of last year’s detox was social. Again, I’d rather eschew larger gatherings in favor of smaller, more intimate gatherings again. I know I have one or two commitments this month, but with the hundreds of events that occur every month in New York City, one or two won’t be so bad considering the number I attend some months.
The final pillar that made up the detox last year was work. I’m currently working on a startup I’m founding myself and in the process of co-founding a second startup. Both are too early to post about, but I feel going things coming from both. I also have clients I am working with to code for when I’m not working on my projects. And to take some time from behind the keyboard, I want this to be the month where Touristbot 2.0 is finally built (as the original Touristbot will be published in a national magazine this month).
The one major difference between this year and last is that Passover falls during April this year. I have not yet decided how I will let it affect the detox, but I may loosen the diet for dinner those two nights, as the required consumption of religious observation alone would be outside the parameters I have set for myself. The Bronx Zoo 5K falls on April 30 this year and I may end the diet 12 hours early for the BBQ we are planning to have post-race again this year.
Last year, I lost 15 pounds and felt much better about myself in May. As the onset of April looms, I have regained five of those pounds, but plan to lose them very quickly. If anyone would care to join me in detoxing for April, they are more than welcome to. Alternatively, if anyone would just like to join me for sushi, the company will be welcomed and I’d like to catch up with people I don’t see enough of due to our hectic lives.
