Week 5 Day 3 - Follow Me Boys

I may be one of the few who remembers or has seen the movie Follow Me Boys, growing up we basically only saw Disney movies and this one with Fred Mac Murray about the boy scouts (with a young Kurt Russell) is one I always think of when I'm exercising.  There's a part of the movie where they are walking and he's singing a song about putting one foot in front of the other.  Just one at a time.  And that's the approach I'm taking to moving and exercise.

Today I woke up when my first alarm (yes, I have 2 of them, the 2nd one goes off 45 minutes after the 1st) went off and was out the door on a walk by 6:50am.  It was almost rainy which I loved and I walked a little further down the street and then coming back towards the house I took the left-hand turn to go up heart-attack hill.  I walked a little further up the hill today than I did yesterday.  It was 10 minutes but it was good.  I had an early morning (BORING) meeting and this helped me be 1. awake and 2. on time for said meeting.

On the train this weekend I was reading in the back issues of WW magazine (no we don't automatically get signed up for it online, so thank you Janice...) and they had some very good ideas about getting started on a walking regimen.  Basically you get into the habit by walking say, 10 minutes a day for a week - maybe followed by some jumping jacks - and then the next week you walk 20 minutes a day and so on until you are able to start implementing some jogging into it.  Now, I am so not going jogging for a while.  Let's just say there are not strong enough over-the-shoulder-boulder-holders to keep me from going in to work the next day with black eyes.  So, that'll be later.  But in the meantime I'm walking.

Today was a meeting day.  I had not one but TWO.  So my little schedule of snacking kind of went out the window, however I did still have time to include some good things (and some new ones):

I took some almonds, cherry tomatos, string cheese, yogurt and a Smart Ones meal to work along with a fruit cup.  I gave the yogurt and fruit cup to a co-worker who was hungry and was proud of myself because normally?  I'd be hogging that stuff.  What helped was that I stopped by Subway after the first meeting and got a breakfast egg and cheese english muffin.  Toasted, with egg whites and spinach and tomato and a little bit of oil. 4 points.  OH, and I had a banana.  Those suckers are 2 points!!!  But it was good and good for me.  I am prone to leg cramps if I don't watch it and I'm guessing if I'm exercising I won't be able to keep the cramps away without some extra potassium.

For lunch I had the cherry tomatos, some almonds (10 = 1.5 points) and string cheese and then I had a Smart Ones meal that Mel introduced me to this weekend.  Santa Fe rice and veggies.  Spicy and hot and yummy.  6 points.    Then I came home and had a sandwich with cheese and veggie slice (Yves Bologna slices are 2 slices for 1 point) and I'll have some veggies later. 

So yeah, it's not a habit yet....it's only been 5 days of walking purposefully but it's a start.  And I plan to get up and do it tomorrow.  And I am here to tell you - if I can do it you TOTALLY can.  Just have to put one foot in front of the other and move.  10 minutes goes by faster than you'd expect.

One day.  One pound.  One step (or 120) at a time.
~N

ps  I had a salad for dinner AND I walked AGAIN.  Talked to Mel on the phone and walked for over 30 minutes, including over 1/2 way up heart-attack hill.  IN THE RAIN! I am so rocking this.