Well, it's cooler, but gray and wet here in Delaware. We need the rain, of course. It's early and I'm thinking about my morning walk. I've been walking every day for the last couple of weeks, sometimes with Petey, my little dog, or without him if I'm going to walk very far (more than 15 or 20 minutes). He does have very short little legs, after all, being a dachschund. I'm on my second cup of coffee, it just stopped raining but still looks threatening, but a quick check of Accuweather.com tells me that the rain will have moved off to the east very soon.
I want to form the good habit of walking, every morning, or if not walking, some other kind of aerobic exercise. And of taking Petey for at least a short walk every day. I'm definitely feeling a bit more energetic, due I believe to improving my eating habits and exercising daily. Walking in the morning is a habit I've had in the past, and it's so much easier now in retirement. No more rushing out into the early darkness to get in a walk before leaving for work. Or slogging out after a long day. If I could ever do it, it's now.
I'm learning a lot from David Kirchhoff's book, as I mentioned in my last entry. If he has a central theme, it's that your health regime, to be successful, must be made into firm habits. You need to get beyond the point of deciding every day, every meal, and to a place where you just do this stuff, in the same way that you brush your teeth, fix a cup of coffee in the morning. He teaches you to make exercise into a habit that you just do, without considering and deciding on it each time. The amount of time, number of repetitions required, to form a habit is arguable. Some say six weeks, but my guess it depends a lot on how many obstacles you have to the habit-action.
I really don't have many obstacles to taking a morning walk. Even the recent heat was overcome by just going out early, before the sun was fully up. Winter weather will be an obstacle, but planning can overcome that. I can set up the TV in the living room, with several aerobic videos at hand. I have a NordicTrak in a corner somewhere, serving as a coat rack, and that can be put in a more convenient spot and used when going outside is a problem. My long plantar fasciitis ordeal seems to be over, so I just need to avoid massive overdoing and continue stretching my legs and feet so it doesn't return.
I've got a ways to go for these morning walks to become a habit, but I've made a start. I really enjoy getting out, and there is one part of my walk, through a rather wooded part of the local park, that is quite beautiful. I love how it changes depending on the season, the weather, and the light. Walking outdoors is good for the spirit as well as the body.
This brings me to the food part of healthy habits. I feel like I've been focusing on this too strongly, kind of obsessing, really. Yes, I'd like to be eating very healthfully, and losing weight gradually, but I find that journaling and counting - whether points or calories - is somehow taking me into the obsessive realm. I don't want so much of my life and thought to be focused on food! Is it possible to form great food habits without keeping detailed records? Without adding and subtracting points or calories and, based on the results, eating when I'm not hungry and abstaining when I am?
I think it might be, but I haven't figured this one out yet.
I want to form the good habit of walking, every morning, or if not walking, some other kind of aerobic exercise. And of taking Petey for at least a short walk every day. I'm definitely feeling a bit more energetic, due I believe to improving my eating habits and exercising daily. Walking in the morning is a habit I've had in the past, and it's so much easier now in retirement. No more rushing out into the early darkness to get in a walk before leaving for work. Or slogging out after a long day. If I could ever do it, it's now.
I'm learning a lot from David Kirchhoff's book, as I mentioned in my last entry. If he has a central theme, it's that your health regime, to be successful, must be made into firm habits. You need to get beyond the point of deciding every day, every meal, and to a place where you just do this stuff, in the same way that you brush your teeth, fix a cup of coffee in the morning. He teaches you to make exercise into a habit that you just do, without considering and deciding on it each time. The amount of time, number of repetitions required, to form a habit is arguable. Some say six weeks, but my guess it depends a lot on how many obstacles you have to the habit-action.
I really don't have many obstacles to taking a morning walk. Even the recent heat was overcome by just going out early, before the sun was fully up. Winter weather will be an obstacle, but planning can overcome that. I can set up the TV in the living room, with several aerobic videos at hand. I have a NordicTrak in a corner somewhere, serving as a coat rack, and that can be put in a more convenient spot and used when going outside is a problem. My long plantar fasciitis ordeal seems to be over, so I just need to avoid massive overdoing and continue stretching my legs and feet so it doesn't return.
I've got a ways to go for these morning walks to become a habit, but I've made a start. I really enjoy getting out, and there is one part of my walk, through a rather wooded part of the local park, that is quite beautiful. I love how it changes depending on the season, the weather, and the light. Walking outdoors is good for the spirit as well as the body.
This brings me to the food part of healthy habits. I feel like I've been focusing on this too strongly, kind of obsessing, really. Yes, I'd like to be eating very healthfully, and losing weight gradually, but I find that journaling and counting - whether points or calories - is somehow taking me into the obsessive realm. I don't want so much of my life and thought to be focused on food! Is it possible to form great food habits without keeping detailed records? Without adding and subtracting points or calories and, based on the results, eating when I'm not hungry and abstaining when I am?
I think it might be, but I haven't figured this one out yet.
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