I have a confession to make.
I have not been living up to my end of the bargain. I have not been able to make 10 minutes a day to go for a walk. In the morning I get up most days at 5:08 and by the end of the day, after work duties and mommy duties, I am honestly exhausted. Going out in the world and walking for 10 minutes is as daunting as hiking 20 miles of the Appalachian Trail. And honestly, the idea of hiking the trail is more appealing – because there is some level of excitement in it. Going out for a walk around the block for my own health is such a mundane activity – no glory! No thrill! But while sitting on my couch, eating ice cream and watching Glee, it occurred to me that maybe the sacrifice had to be enough. Or maybe – I just had to add some glamor to a daily walk….
So this afternoon my son and I are going on a secret agent mission 5 blocks away. Between our house and the site of our mission we will encounter trouble, having to jump over booby traps laid by our opposition (cracks in the sidewalk) – walking the plank (along the curb) and hiding from enemy patrol (cars on the road). The mystery of what our mission is will sustain us over the muddled terrain…..and who knows what we are going to encounter on our way back to base camp…
We burn approximately 100 calories per mile. This can go up or down a little bit based on speed, incline your body weight. But generally speaking you can use that “100 calories per mile” as a good general rule. That said, don’t be intimidated or feel that you have to go on an all out sprint out or you aren’t doing any good. Get your body ready to exercise and then keep upping the ante. The benefits of that are you will decrease your chances of injury, and you will establish a sustainable exercise program.
Come up with three activities that you are interested in doing for a short period of time this week…. Some ideas: walk around the rink at your child’s hockey practice while you are watching the action on the ice instead of sitting still in the bleachers; walk up and down the sidelines at the soccer game in the first half; take your dog for an actual walk instead of just letting him run in the back yard; walk up the escalator at the mall instead of letting it bring you all the way up to menswear. You get what I’m sayin??
