Running Hither and Yon

    Exercise versus dieting or exercise and dieting?  I have been on the “one versus the other” band wagon for quite some time (years in fact). But it’s starting to make more sense to me now.  Well, maybe it’s not making more sense as much as I’m just finally embracing the truth of it all.   

   I know I can lose weight and not exercise, but let’s face it, it’s better for our health to do both.  Some folks exercise to keep their weight at healthy levels. That’s fine and good for them, but I will never do that! No way!  My fear would be that something would happen (sickness etc.) that would slow down or stop my work out plan and then where would I be?  I tell you where I would be - gaining the weight I’ve lost, back!  But the idea I do embrace is what I like to call “the tradeoff”.  If I want to have a cheese burger or some dessert when eating out, I will be sure to get some sort of exercise in before or after.  I can buy my treats (or diet failures) with a brisk 2 mile walk.   I try to walk 3 or 4 times a week, but when I need to “pay up” I just turn the heat up a bit with my walk (dare I say JOG).  It’s working so far

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   This past weekend I went to visit my sweet little granddaughter, daughter-in-law and my oldest son. We always have a great time!  The one thing we all enjoy when I’m there is eating out. Oh my! We know well the horrible guilt laden road this can lead to! Have mercy!  Between Friday evening and Sunday afternoon we ate out 4 times!  I loved every second of it, but it took some doing for me to not just go bonkers! I threw caution to the wind and ate what I wanted the first night. I ordered a big bowl of chunky guacamole and just had at it!!! I introduced my little 15 month old grand to the glory and wonder of this amazing treat and we both made pigs of ourselves! It was fantastic!  But I didn’t stop there, I had other things…..you know what I’m talking about.  Let’s all say it together!  CHIPS!!!   But not to worry! We took the baby for a walk at a local park and at least worked off some of those calories. The eating was fun and the walking was even better!  Perfect! 

  

   The next day we had lunch at a neat little spot called the Amazon Café’.  The weather was amazing so I suggested we eat on the screened porch.  My mistake.  Those of you who know me, know that I am fan to all animals and although I’m only in possession of a couple of cats, I love to be surrounded by pets of any kind!  When we were being seated we notice a young cat running around.  The waiter told us the kitty belonged to the owner and to just shoo her away if she started getting on our nerves.  Well, there is no possible way a kitten could get on my nerves, but my family is a whole other ball game.  My daughter – in – law looks at cats like some horrible disease that needs to be eradicated (she’s a dog person).  I don’t try to force my love of cats on her. She’s pretty tolerant of them when she’s at my house.  But when you are sitting at your table sipping your soda and the afore mentioned beast climbs your leg to sit in your lap….all hell breaks lose!  She had this look on her face like Satan himself had showed up for lunch. NOT GOOD.  I jumped up to save them both (from each other), but not before it made the baby cry.  Again, NOT GOOD.  This sort of set the pace for the rest of our lunch. Unfortunately, we had no sooner eased our nerves from the random cat attack when two chickens wandered through!  Again, if you know me…you know I was loving this!  But the baby was completely freaked out!  This lunch was getting stranger all the time.   After lunch we decided to visit another park to walk off our lunch, but not before we discovered an area where we could pet rabbits!  This place was a regular petting zoo!!!    The point is; all this eating and exercise added up to a fun (for me) weekend! 

   I was telling a friend the other day I had attempted to jog a bit while I was walking. I told him it was as close to running as I would probably ever get. He said, “now wait a minute…I’ve seen you run before!”  Before I could get a word in, he amended his statement with “But every time I‘ve seen you run, you were either chasing someone or being chased by someone”.  It’s true, I save running for emergency situations only.  It’s usually my last defense.  One time, we were staying at a cabin in North Carolina when my love of animals and my emergency use of running combined to create one of my odder moments.   I heard this coming from the direction of the neighboring cabin; “watch out! It’s a bear!”  I grabbed my video camera and took off in hot pursuit!  I was running after this bear like an escapee from an enigma factory! As this poor bear was running for his life he was turning around looking at me as if to say, “PLEASE LEAVE ME ALONE CRAZY LADY!”  Bears are always a good reason to run.  I would love to tell you I had video proof of this escapade but, when I grabbed the camera, I accidentally turned it on. So my only footage is three minutes of my feet running!  At least I can prove that I can, in fact, run. 

   So far I have lost 14 pounds. I have a LONG way to go, but it’s a respectable start and I am learning to live with my “Lifestyle Change”.  I’m not giving it a great big bear hug yet….but I’m not running away either.