Maintenance

There have been times in the last several months that I have weighed myself, and have found that even though I have not been eating the best that I could, I have been within a pound or two of where I was the last time I checked. So I know a sample menu of what I have been eating, and an activity level that I have been keeping, will cause me to maintain my weight.

 So here is the idea. I will gradually (because my body won't allow me to do otherwise) increase my activity level. My goal for today was 400 steps of cardio walking (the beginning of Leslie Sansone's 5 mile Fat Burning Walk). I didn't figure my back or my hip would allow me to do more than that. I was a little off, because I made it to 420 steps before I needed to stop. Thing is, just because I was only able to do 420 this time, doesn't mean that I can't do another short walk in a few hours, and then again a few hours later! So, if 420 steps is 0.18 miles, and I do that 5 times today, then by the end of the day I will have walked almost a full mile! A HUGE accomplishment for someone who usually sits at a desk working on school work.

 Ok, so I have my activity planned for today. How am I going to build on that? Tomorrow I will walk 500 steps, 5 times. Then Friday I will plan to walk 750 steps, 5 times. Saturday I will plan to walk 1000 steps, 5 times. Sunday, although I don't intend to work out on Sunday's usually, as a family we are going to go on a hike. For those of you who know North Bay, on the north-west end of town, on the way out Hwy 17 toward Sudbury, we have a creek that falls down rocks, giving us Duchesnay Falls. I am going to take my camera, get some nature shots, and hopefully my family will co-operate with a camera happy mom and allow me to take pictures of them as well.

 This coming weekend is Easter weekend, and years past we have had the traditional egg hunt in the house and the kids get big baskets of candy. Well, keeping my future lifestyle in mind, my husband and I have chosen to start making some new traditions for Easter. Thus the walk at the falls. The kids will each get one easter bunny, and we might hard boil some eggs and let them paint them. Later we can make them into some deviled eggs or egg salad to eat. I'm not sure how everyone is going to handle the change in traditions, but they will all be made aware that this is going to be the way things are from now on. Easter should never have been about the candy anyway, first it isn't healthy to eat all that junk, but second there are other reasons why we have an Easter celebration, which we need to take time to reflect on as well.

 Next time I write, I will let you know how well I succeed at my plan for my increased activity. Have a safe and happy easter everyone!