Exercise

Have  you seen the study making the rounds right now--"You can't outrun a bad diet?" It argues that improving diet is what causes weight loss, not exercise. This is not an isolated study. Quite a few studies of late have been coming to the same conclusion. The authors of the You-can't-outrun-a-bad-diet blame the food industry for making commonplace the idea that people are fat because they are sedentary. Shifting the blame from the food people eat to the exercise people aren't doing. The authors clearly state how important exercise is for overall health, and that it can be an important part of weight loss maintenance. It just isn't the key ingredient to weight loss.

I, for one, love these studies. They fall in with my thoughts and experience on the matter quite well. Isn't it lovely when you find scientific proof for something you think? So satisfying.

I walk almost every morning. I love taking walks. As long as I can remember, I have loved taking walks, rambling all over the farm when I was a kid, then on the road as I got older. Yet, every once in awhile, I get the idea in my head that I should be walking faster; I should be trying to run; I should be walking farther. All of these are prompted by my of-the-moment weight loss scheme. And I find that after maybe a week of this, (okay, two days) I start finding reasons why I shouldn't take a walk. Last spring, I made a concentrated effort, and tried to run at least half a mile to a mile 3-4 times a week. And the weight I had been losing slowly, but surely, stubbornly stopped getting lost. At the end of a month, I weighed the same as I had at the beginning. And no, my clothes weren't fitting much better either. So I got discouraged, stopped running, fell off my diet, and went back to enjoyable walks.  I know some people say they have good luck with losing weight by adding in running. Not me. And I don't see why this is weird. Why shouldn't people's bodies respond differently to things? The human body has too many variables to be explained by a simple mathematical explanation, like calories in/calories out.

I know some people think that if a person rejects these ideas, they are saying they are a victim of things beyond their control and they can't help the fact that they are overweight. I don't believe that.  But it is true that weight loss is not as simple as some people would like to think. (It is childish of me, but sometimes I think thin people like to think it is simple, just so they feel superior.)

Exercising for the sake of exercising is sort of freeing actually. I enjoy moving around. I like feeling the sun on my face. And, I know this is weird, but I like feeling/thinking about my muscles working. And if I do not have some tangible goal (x amount of pounds lost by this date) I have to meet, I can take walks exactly as I feel like that day. Some days I like to amble along, daydreaming. Some days I want to see how fast I can do two miles or how far I can get in a certain amount of time. Some days I like to stop and take pictures. Some days I am mentally running through my to-do list and hurrying home to cross off a few things. I am not sure how beneficial rambling walks are to overall health and adding years to life, but it makes life more pleasant in the immediate now. And that is worth a lot.

Some pictures from my walks. And then some afternoon in the sand pile pictures.

I love my zoom lens. I have idea what this bird is. 

Water droplet. Isn't it neat?

Yes, Elsie was still in her jammies in the afternoon. She was so comfy.

Hoyt boy

Gilbert has been here

This is Elsie's favorite book at the moment. She carries it everywhere.

Isn't he edible? 

Out come the Tonkas!

Gilbert and Hoyt working together. They are good friends.

Bare feet

Sticks.

Scarves

Hoyt giving back the precious Stella book.

Gilbert just lost a front tooth!

Sorting out feet placement on the bike.