Monday, May 5, 2008

First breakfast, now six a.m. walks

I haven't been riding the bike very much lately, or, you know, at all even. Still, I've been working on my weight in different ways.


We're going into the sixth week of getting up and eating breakfast together at the table nearly every morning. I've noticed that, usually, I don't feel the need for snacks most of the day when I've had a good breakfast. In fact, I'm less hungry most of the day as long as I've eaten well by 730am. On days when I'm less hungry I tend to eat smaller meals at dinner, even though I usually have a hard time getting dinner started on time. That may have something to do with the late hour of the sunset rather than when I'm eating.

Since it's been six weeks of mostly successful breakfasts, I'm adding a new piece to the morning puzzle: walking at 6am. This morning while A. and K. were both grumbling and trying to dive back under the covers (typical for her, not so much for him), I was flipping on lights and chirping that it was time to get up and go outside to exercise (not so typical for me). We were out the door a little later than I had wanted, but we made it.

Over the weekend we "measured" the center lane of the apartment complex with the odometer on the car. Going from our cul-de-sac to the front, then all the way to the back, then back to our drive was roughly 0.4 of a mile. This morning while I was walking, I worked out that since there are four median breaks and they're all pretty evenly spaced, I'm fairly confident that lapping one of the medians (on the outside) is roughly 0.1 of a mile. It would stand to reason, then, that if I walk to the front, then all the way to the back, then back to my starting point then loop one of the medians on either side of my drive, that should be roughly half a mile (0.4 plus 0.1 equals 0.5 which is half a mile). Right?

Sounded good to me as I was walking at 6am so I did loop the median. If my numbers are correct, I did roughly half a mile in just at fifteen minutes. Not... the best time ever, but certainly not the worst, either.

Afterward, I cooked breakfast while A. and K. took showers and got ready for work and school and we sat down and ate.

So why get up when it's still dark to go walk while it's still dark? Well, because I live in Florida and it won't be too much longer before it'll be stifling hot at 6am, but not near as much as it will be at 9am, or noon, or 3pm, or even 6pm. Besides, it's dark outside and I can wear my exercise clothes and no one can see my fat jiggling because everyone is inside their apartments either sleeping or trying to get the coffee IVs started. Also, it's just a nice way to start the day.

I am hoping to start adding the bike back into my daily routine before too much longer. I've started taking my vinegar pills again so while my knee has been aching from all the abuse I've heaped on it during these past few weeks, it's not aching near as bad as it could be. That's a good thing in my world.

I've got to work on eating lunch at a reasonable time, though. Because I've been eating breakfast and not being as hungry throughout the day, lunch often does come until almost 2pm... and that's far too late. Oh. Maybe that's a factor in me not getting dinner started on time. Anyway, I need to work on that.

And that's all for now. I need to hop back on the chore wagon and get some stuff done.

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