Walking Away and Bringing the Smoothie Back...

So as I stood looking at myself in the mirror last night, I got that highly annoyed feeling; as in "hmmm something doesn't look quite so right here?!" I'd been noticing that my jeans and other bottoms were feeling tighter lately, but I attributed it to less walking while on my trip and the treats in recent care packages. I had figured the 12-15 miles a week walking the dog would right the clothes and comfort ratio back to normal, until noticing last night that several other areas of my body were also starting to fill in. Luckily my husband will be honest and understanding with me, and he pointed out that since relocating, I'm walking less over all and eating more, especially richer foods. A recent article I read had reported that 3-4 daily miles is needed in order to maintain weight. Since I've been doing 1.5 daily exercise miles and minimal routine walking, except from the living to the kitchen to the bedroom etc, then it made sense that I'm just not getting enough movement.

After moaning to my hub last night, he did agree to try to start running with me, but he also offered the question, "Really, what about motivating yourself?" Hmmmm.....good one!! So this morning, I went for what was my usual run before we got the animals. (Originally I'd hoped the dog would be a running companion...and while taking her gives me an extra arm work-out it really doesn't help with the running rhythm.) However, I had scheduled to meet another gal and take our dogs on the trail this morning also; so 45 minutes after running, Anna and I headed out to meet the two of them. I hadn't expected that the dogs would do so well today and that us two gals would enjoy talking so much again (last week I had an ear ache)! Thus after calculating my total distance today, it has to be somewhere around 8 miles. Hopefully I'll be able to start routinely moving more and thus keep the extra pounds at bay.

Lately I've been thinking about food too and ways in which to reduce over all calories. I've always been a fan of healthy eating, but I really enjoy some of the higher calorie foods and sweets that have become regulars in our home. So I've been slowly bringing back the smoothie again to make sure I'm getting wonderful nutrients and great taste all in one. (Beyond fruits and soy milk, I add sunflower seeds, flaxseed, cinnamon, honey, and a packet of Emergenc-E.) Now the trick is to watch the rest of what I'm eating and monitor just how many servings I'm getting each day. However, I'm definitely a fan of good food, so as long as it's healthy overall I'm much more the type of person to up my work out than decrease my taste buds in the long run.

Here are some pictures from the walk today:

Starting out on the paved trail. The trail itself is supposed to be about 10 miles long I think and the head of it is 1 mile from our house.

A surprise group of flowers along the path. They were full of bumble bees which was nice to see!

Anna and her friend Wall-E. (Yes, this means that I may have finally found a like-minded friend too....although again it's a friendship that is just blossoming...Here's hoping though!)