OMG Tell me why I am doing this


They say (whoever they are) it is best to quit a habit or begin a new one while out of your normal comfort zone. Giving up smoking on a ten day raft trip down the Colorado river seemed to make sense because yu could not bob off for more cigs at the corner store. Course the guides and counselors may need to carry guns. But the philosophy has been used somewhat successfully at treatment centers and diet farms.

So when faced with five days of "extreme" pet sitting I figured now is my time to begin my campaign to get back in shape. I have my dogs trained to walk at my pace. And I have figured out all the paths in my immediate neighborhood to avoid going up hill on the way back when tired. The pet I am taking care of insists on his pace and his family lives literally on the side of a mountain. I have checked. There is no easy path to walk. Ninety percent end with a killer climb back up a hill.

Then there is the spacing of the three walks per day. A leisurely meal is not going to be in the schedule. So I am stuck with quick power shakes, etc. In five days I figure I ought to be able to lose three pounds and kick start the plan to get in shape.

Or die.

Never under estimate day three. It is about the time all the muscles are screaming, NO, NO, NO. And the body wants there to be FOOD. Preferably something in real high carbs and calories.

The other error in my thinking was Day 5. It is my birthday and you know I am going to be taken out to lunch or dinner or both.

Then I have all these friends in worse shape than me who are questioning why I am even working this hard at something this painful. No, I do not enjoy self-sacrifice. But I am really feeling the four weeks of not doing as part of the recovery plan for eye surgery and tooth extraction. Use it or loose it and that is really true as you get older.

I have often said photography is a sport. Well, so in gardening. You do not have to include squats or lunges in a workout if you garden or take photographs or both. I was just out in the sauna I call my green house repotting tomatoes. And the noon mile walk looms.

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