Changes in attitude

I guess it's my attitude that's making this year's health-and-fitness project (perhaps that should be Health and Fitness Project, to add some, um, weight to it?) less stressful than in years past. I'm trying to be matter-of-fact about the whole thing. Daily workout activities are on my laptop's calendar and pop up every morning to nag remind me. I'm keeping meals fairly simple, and am learning to use LoseIt! more effectively than I did last time.

Take yesterday, for example.

• I had a 10 a.m. appointment to have new tires put on my car. 
• I needed to get a check cashed at the bank. 
• My husband also was in town with his truck. 
• I had a 2 p.m. walking date.
• The pork roast for dinner was thawing, but I would have to cook following the afternoon walk.

Keeping all that in mind, here's how it went down.

Just Google-mapped it.
A to B = 2.0 miles.

• I dropped off the car, where I learned their compressor was broken (again!), but they would make arrangements to replace the tires at another local garage. No extra charge, but it would take extra time.
• I thought about asking my husband to run me to the bank, but decided since I had extra time to kill anyway, I'd just go ahead and walk. It ended up being four miles, round-trip, from the service station to the bank and back again.
• I got back to the garage at 11:30-ish, picked up my car, drove back to town to take care of a couple of errands that couldn't be done on foot, and drove home.
• Had lunch at home (even though it was Monday and I could have eaten – gasp! – fast food if I'd wanted) – crackers, cheese and avocado supplemented with a slice of bread topped with peanut butter and orange marmalade. I was very hungry.
• Got a call from my husband that he was bringing pizza home for dinner – he thought I'd enjoy that since it was take-a-break Monday. (He obviously didn't know about the 800-calorie lunch.)
• Met my friend for our walking date, where we walked four miles along a beautiful creek and talked the whole time.

It seemed like the most logical thing in the world to walk around town in the morning, knowing I would also be walking in the country in the afternoon. The nicest part of the morning walk was being able to snag yesterday's photo, which I like very much. (The prompt was 'street,' which I think of as a town noun. Streets in the country are called 'roads.' Heh.) The idea of sitting in the service station for an hour – even with my knitting, which I'd brought along – was less appealing than taking two long walks in one day.

And although I'm supposed to be eating whatever I want on Mondays and not logging, I can't help myself, because I'm geeky like that. I came in at 16 calories under the daily goal. I'm getting plenty to eat, including treats. I feel no need to eat more just because I can. Food is fuel, walking is good for my heart, yoga and weights are improving flexibility and strength. A = B. Or at least A leads to B. Eventually.

I love feeling like this. It hasn't taken very long, either, for the daily walk to evolve from something I have to do to something I look forward to doing.

The yoga and weight-training sessions aren't quite in that category. YET!