Repetition

My middle daughter, Judy, is getting married in June and wants to lose weight for her wedding.  She wants to lose weight anyway and wants to be healthy.  She is also my runner despite knees that hurt her most days. On her visit last week she was constantly icing them after her runs.  But she is the one who got me started on my current exercise program.  On the next to her last day, I finally got out and walked with her and I have walked every day since.

 I prefer to walk with someone, but since I work evenings it is problematic.  I belong to a meetup group called The Curvy Girls. It is an exercise group. I have not done anything with them for a couple of years because of my schedule. So I emailed Deanna, the group leader, and she allowed me to put up a group to walk in the mornings at Horner Park just two blocks from my house.  So far no takers, but yesterday my friend Wesley wanted to have breakfast so he joined me for my walk before hand and then we walked to the breakfast place.  All in all I clocked almost 3 miles yesterday.   And I enjoyed the company.  

Part of the problem with exercise is the repetition.  I get bored easily.  Walking around the same park in the same circle, day after day can get really boring if I am by myself.  I change directions and even that little bit is helpful.  I am also trying to incorporate walking with where I am going instead of just walking for exercise.  For example this morning, I went for a foot massage. Rather than going to the park this morning to walk, I walked from the brownline stop to the massage place and then back to the brown line after the massage. Almost 2 miles round trip.

Routine, however, is how we get things done.  I know exactly what time I have to leave my house to get to work on time.  Occasionally,  they mess with the public transportation schedule and I am late to work a day or two until I establish a new routine.   We brush our teeth every day because it is a routine. And once we establish a routine or habit it is easier to accomplish the task.

Food is the same. Judy told me via text that she was having the same food she had yesterday. Boring she said. But I read somewhere that people are more successful with diets if they basically eat the same things day after day. When you think about it we do a lot of that anyway. How often do we eat the same thing for breakfast, or lunch. I remember as a child my mother had a rotation of dinners and we mostly ate the same thing week after week. But people are always complaining that they want something different to eat and are looking for new recipies. That's because we tend to eat the same thing over and over. We fall into a routine or pattern. But when I diet it seems I think I should mix it up so I don't get bored. What I think I really need to do is some of both. When I get into a routine I don't have to think about what I am going to eat so much. It will becomes a habit. And then when I want something different there are plenty of ideas and recipes on the internet.

A garden on one of my walks.