The last time I was in the 60's was back in 2001, in February just after my birthday. That's some time ago. Five months ago I bought a smartphone which was on special, the Motorola Defy. I chose that because it was waterproof and also the screen had special glass that wasn't easily scratched. It's been waiting in its box ever since, I put it out of sight and promised myself that I wouldn't open it until I was "almost there". I've never had a smartphone before, so I really don't know much about them, apart from the fact that they are 'little computers'. I won't be using it to make calls, I prefer a smaller phone, rather I'll do it for computing tasks and also an attempt to increase something which is important to me - my intelligence.
Some time ago it was discovered that you could increase a persons intelligence by performing an exercise called dual-n-back. That's where you listen to numbers being spoken and also look at the words on a screen. You have to remember what's happening and whether the two are related, and the time difference between the two slowly gets longer and longer. Someone discovered that it increases your intelligence, although more recent research seems to think that the effect is statistically insignificant. I'm thinking that it helps for some, and doesn't for others. There's no harm in trying it to see if it does help. An increase in intelligence is always helpful for my university studies, as I'm doing mathematics and engineering. Sometimes it's hard, sometimes it's really hard. This sort of thing is ideal for using on a smartphone, a really portable computer. Like exercise it's a case of "use it or lose it", you stop doing the activity and the effect goes away.
I had saved up 3 years of Christmas and 4 years of birthdays gifts from my father, totaling $225. I just told my father to keep the money and wait until I asked for it. I'm going to Dunedin next week (for another reward) where I'll collect the money. The smartphone cost me $299 so that's a real cost to me of only $74.
Just over 3 kilograms to goal. The funny thing is that I'm actually speeding up in my weight loss. The reason is that really, I'm tired of it all. 3 years and 25kg so far. Constantly thinking of weight and energy and protein etc is draining. Oh by the way, I've been estimating my body fat percentage. There are lots of methods, but they are all rather inaccurate to some degree, so I thought that I'd try the simplest method: comparing my body with photos of known percentages. Current estimate is about 17%, which is the heaviest of the 'fitness' range. I'd guess that will only change a few percentage points as I reach goal weight. My thighs still rub together (not really a concern) and I've still got a double chin (something I'd like to get rid of).
