For those of you know know me, you know I like my food way too much to do anything stupid like those feeding tubes that only give you 800 calories/day. (Hello...starving yourself NEVER works in the long run....haven't we learned this yet??) On my wedding day, I'd like to be trimmer, but I'm not willing to give up my muscle to also lose the fat, and that's all these crazy diets will do.
I am, however, trying to eat healthier and be more active. My fiance is too.
And that started with a trip to NYC.
While we ate whatever we wanted (sadly, I did not eat enough of the chocolate chocolate chip bundt cake my mom made for my birthday while we were up there), we also walked. And walked. And walked some more. In total, in 4.5 days of taking my fiance's dad and stepmom sightseeing, we walked 36+ miles.
I'm sure you've read it, but you're supposed to take 10,000 steps every day to be at a healthy activity level. I miss having to walk everywhere. Driving, while super convenient sometimes, is also super inconvenient other times (parking and traffic, just to name a couple). Mass transit has its downs as well (nothing like spending a sweaty hot August day crammed up next to thousands of your fellow NYers...whether they have bathed or not), but at least you have to walk to the subway and from the subway to your destination.
Then there's the vertical living. My parents house is a four-story (five if you count the basement) brownstone. Their part of the house is the top three floors and they rent out the garden apartment. Just to get into their house, you have to walk up one flight of stairs (affectionately named "the stoop," for those of you not in the know). My fiance joked that the first time he came to our house, he needed a break to use an oxygen tank half way up before getting to the top floor where my room was. And this most recent time, I was definitely winded when I sprinted up the stairs like I did as a kid, but at least I was walking up stairs.
How did I measure the walking we had done, you might ask. The answer is by using a little pedometer on steroids called the FitBit. I bought it through my work gym maybe about a year ago, and it's been probably the one thing I've stuck to more than other gadgets (which I do like a lot, I'll admit). In the clutter that is my house (don't get me started on the fiance moving his stuff in and adding to the chaos...that's for another post), I had lost the charger for this little gem, but I contacted the company, and even though I had not made the purchase directly from them, the customer service person was nice enough to send me a charger for free. That, my friends, is how you grow a loyal customer base.
Plus, this thing is really neat. It measures steps, miles, and gives a rough estimate of calories burned, but that really is based so much on your body fat percentage, resting heart rate, etc. that it'd be difficult for this little thing clipped on your belt to measure accurately. I'm competitive, so it's just the little push I need when I look down after a day of working at home and see that...GOOD LORD...I've only walked .32 of a mile. That will not do.
I won't always make the 4 miles (10,000 steps), but it gives me a really attainable and immediate goal. It's a lot easier for me to focus on that rather than on something I'm looking to do for the entire week. It's literally step by step, day by day. What I do on top of my regular walking around will be the icing on the cake (so to speak).
So, I'm going to do my best to identify some other opportunities to be active (hiking at our greenbelt, walking around the neighborhood with the dogs, doing housework, etc.) and being more thoughtful about my food. I think my trimmed down/more active/healthier goal is definitely achievable...but over time. It's not about a quick fix.
That's one more vote for next Spring.
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