My Walking Goal

I have recently been informed by a non-medial person that I need to lose weight. Not a pleasant thing to hear if it's coming from a doctor, but even less pleasant to hear coming from a non-doctor. Long and short, it wasn't cool and made me cry. So I have made a goal.

I will walk briskly for at least 30 minutes a day- which equals at least a mile- and incorporate at least some gently rising ground if not actual hills. In this way I will get my heart pumping and maybe help my knees a little. That is not the real goal, though. The actual goal is to lose 5 pounds by May.

I'm not sure if this will work, but I'm going to try anyway. I don't intend to drastically change my diet so it may not really work. I'm just hoping that exercise will do enough to knock off five pounds on it's own. I'll admit, it is a small goal... Actually a minuscule goal. And it is possible to lose five pounds in a week or two so there's always a chance that I can do it in five weeks. After all, I'm going from no planned exercise to at least 30 minutes of planned exercise for no less than four days a week.

Yesterday I walked 2.6 miles in 50 minutes. Not too bad, I think. Today I only walked for 30 minutes as it is snowing and I was cold. Not a great excuse, I know, but who of you four or five people reading this would have even gone exercise-walking in the snow? Or when it's 34 degrees with winds from the North? (That was yesterdays walk.) Since I have a feeling most of you said there was no chance you'd be out briskly walking in the snow or even cold, wintry weather, I don't feel badly that I only walked a little over a mile today. Actually I feel proud that I didn't give in to that whiny voice in my head that said today was too cold for walking- it probably was as I'm FREEZING now that I'm home and will need a hot shower- and that my knees already hurt so I should just rest today. My knees still hurt- they hurt pretty much every step of the way- but I did it anyway and that whiny voice will thank me when it's in a happier body. GO ME! :)