I am pretty much following BFL again. It’s done the best for me long term. And one thing it did for me back when is that I no longer hate exercise. I don’t love it like Dee does, but I don’t hate it any more.

I intended to start on Monday, but I don’t remember now if I did. I did start on Tuesday for sure though. I went for a bike ride, just a short one of 20 minutes, and then came in and did weights. I started with the one pounders, since I haven’t lifted in a long time.

I was worn out and had a hard time walking for two days. I did lunges and squats on Tuesday and that did me in. I think that last time I was on BFL I decided not to do the leg weight exercises because I walk, bike, and run for my aerobic exercises. I didn’t ever have a chance for my legs to recover. I was still having trouble walking down stairs on Wednesday night, so I really don’t want to go there again.

Wednesday I went for a long bike ride. Six miles. It took me a while, I am sure, but I didn’t wear a watch. That time I was going for a goal- down to the lake- and not a time. I didn’t have to stop my bike except for cars at crossings. I was thrilled. I wasn’t sure I could go that far again.

Thursday I took the dog for a one mile walk. I also did my stomach exercises. These are the hardest of the exercises for me and so I decided to give them their own day.

Today I did my upper body and back exercises only. I also took the dog for a walk. (The dog is going to love me working out again.)

I decided to count my steps. From the back door to the dog then to Ember Springs near the park out to Deerbrook with a walk up and down the “no outlet” greenbelt, I walked 2600 steps. I wanted to know since ten thousand steps “a day has been shown to be enough physical activity to help people lose weight, decrease blood pressure, decrease body fat, and increase aerobic fitness.”

(btw, 10,000 steps is about 1.5 hours of brisk walking and equals 5 miles. The average in shape person walks between 3500 and 5000 steps a day. So adding an extra 5000 would get you up.)

I just want to add walking to every day. And I have found that I have been in the habit of avoiding exercise that is a part of every day life.

I knew I didn’t like to go up and down the stairs at our house. In the past I would simply pile everything up in one pile or call the boys down and have them take it up and put it away. Yesterday I began a new era in my life by purposefully going up and down the stair case multiple times. I carted down the boxes, took up the towels. Brought down dishes and took up smelly stuff to make the media room smell better. I took down my books and brought up the vaccuum cleaner. I’ve already gone up and down them two times today and I will be going up more.

I also realized that I will drive around looking for a “good” parking spot. I am trying to be more diligent about taking a place maybe two away from the best spot or not being put out if there isn’t one near the door. It’s not much, maybe an extra forty steps both ways, but I have been surprised at how much effort I was expending to avoid a little exercise.

I read a study a while back that heavy people tend to be efficient at tasks like unloading the dishwasher. They’ll take the silverware holder out of the dishwasher and carry it to the drawer and unload it there rather than making two or three trips to unload it. It’s not very many steps, obviously, but it is indicative of a pattern. After I read that I started unloading the dishwasher less efficiently!

(I actually found that was hard to do since it is a habit I developed when I was much younger, say 12, when we started having a dishwasher to unload.)