Beating the cold

For the past 19 days I have been walking every day. Twice (when my phone malfunctioned) I only tracked my walk at about two miles. On the other days, I managed at least three miles. I am a day or two ahead of the daily average needed to make my goal of 100 miles in the 33 days that began on Nov. 29th. I've also managed to get 10,000 steps in each of those days and have more than enough extra steps to make up for a missed day.

I say that because I may end up taking today off. It is cold out. It 's noon and the temp is all the way up to 8F (-13.3C). It  is sunny and the wind is light. There is a light dusting of snow on the road.

I have an indoor cycle and an old NordicTrack cross country ski machine that I can use in the warm comfort of the basement. Even though I will probably use them at some point, I have a feeling that I will end up dressing for the cold and taking a short walk today. There is a certain exhilaration from being outside, even in the cold. A part of me believes that we tend to spend too much time in controlled environments. I like being outside, even when it's hot or cold.

Don't get me wrong, I enjoy the comfort of heating and air conditioning in their season. But I also enjoy spending time outdoors. I'm not much of an outdoorsman. I don't hunt, fish or do much in the way of camping or other outdoor activities. I do like walking and riding my motorcycle or just sitting out on the deck and listening to the sounds of nature. When it turns cold, about the only thing I have in the way of outdoor activity is to walk. We don't have a lot of snow here and it isn't ski country. I don't mind riding on cold days, but that doesn't do much in the way of getting exercise.

I don't know if I'll walk my usual three miles or not, but I am pretty certain that I'll be out for at least a short walk.
Goals can be troublesome things.
Truthfully, the 100 mile goal by the end of the year is only a short term thing. The ultimate goal is better health.

Be well,
John <><

End of week 2

http://outofmyhat.blogspot.com/2016/12/the-struggle-continues-2.html

John

End of week 1

It has been a week since I wrote of my continuing healthy lifestyle struggles and recommitted to eating better and daily exercise. The good news is I have kept up with both. The bad news is it has only been a week.

But a good start is what is necessary to form the habits of healthy living and so I move on to week 2.

I've already managed to build a free day into my walking goal of 100 miles by the end of the year (a 33 day goal). I've also added a session on the indoor exercise cycle and a couple of light sessions with weights. I really wasn't feeling the walk yesterday and had to bribe myself with a nice Dominican toro gordo smoke that lasted for the one hour walk. Yeah, I know -- a little unhealthy habit to reinforce the healthy habit might not be the best way to go, but I did get the walk in.

I did decide to keep track of calories. It just helps me to make better decisions about eating -- or not eating, as the case may be.
With one week in the books, I'm minus 6 pounds (it's always easy in the beginning) and once again moving in the right direction to better health.

It's Week 2.
Here we go!

John <><