A Long Journey

I took my longest walk to date tonight; my friend Karen and I went to the restaurant that's around the corner from my building and I successfully walked there and back! I had to stop a lot of times and what's usually a five-minute walk took about 15 minutes, but that's okay; I'm slowly building up distances. That particular corner also happens to be my bus stop, so now I know that I can make it there for my commute.

Surprisingly, I found it much more difficult to go downhill than uphill. On the way there, I only had to stop three times and I felt good by the time we reached the restaurant. But on the way home, I had to stop five times, was sweating and my ankle hurt. I'm not sure why. Perhaps it's because I'd already walked a "long" distance and my body was catching up. Karen mused that it took more work for me to walk downhill because I had less control and had to keep myself from tumbling. That makes sense.

My eating is still going really well. I ate a small lunch today so I could enjoy dinner out and had a nice meal of roasted pork with steamed veggies, black beans and rice. We also split a plate of fried yucca, but between the two of us, we didn't even cover a third of it. I'm discovering that when I have many components to a meal, I tend to eat less of each component. So I filled up on the pork, veggies and beans and then I had less of a craving for the fried stuff.

Karen says that each time she sees me (and we see each other about once a week), that it looks as if I've lost more weight. That's really encouraging to hear, especially since I've been working so hard at it these past few weeks. It's definitely helped me with my walking, as I'm now at least semi-functional.

It's going to be tough when I return to work next week, though, and I'm trying to figure out a food strategy. My problem with my office is that I'm surrounded my temptation. There are take-out places all around my building, a vending machine down the hall and people are always bringing in treats. That said, I think my best bet is to bring some breakfast, lunch and snacks and just continue with the same meals that I've been eating: rolls, low-fat cream cheese, mozzarella, fruit. This way, I'll be set for the day and won't be tempted to order in pizza or something.

I'm definitely not worried about having to sit around all day, though, because just commuting to my job and walking around the office is going to be a strenuous workout for me! It's kind of funny how I used to be able to do 90 minutes on the elliptical not even two years ago, but now a tough workout for me is walking up the block! I think that's why the weight is coming off fairly easily at the moment; now that I'm being so active after months of being immobile, my body is in shock. I'm taking advantage of it while it lasts, because pretty soon, my walk to work will be an afterthought and I'll have to up my game again.

I know that I'm going to have to bite the bullet soon and actually weigh myself. But for now, I'm happy to see my body changing for the better and just want to enjoy feeling independent again.