Friday, March 27, 2009

Fat Burnin' Friday - walking indoors



Last spring I lost about seven pounds one month. My exercise routine was very simple: just put on my pedometer and my ipod, and run/walk/jog in the house. This allowed me to work out in a way that didn't hurt my back, and didn't require time out of the house. I walked between three and seven miles a day, probably five days a week.

We went on a 5 week vacation last summer and I lost my exercise routine. Life and grief and boredom got in the way of restarting the routine. The familar landscape of my own walls or even the view out the window just didn't inspire me to walk.

A month or so ago, I found a way to make this fun again. Our library has quite a few travel dvds, and I can request them online and pick them up when they arrive at the nearest library branch. Most of them are divided into 25 minute segments. I pace myself, trying to reach .4 miles with each 5 minutes, thus reaching 2 miles with each segment.

My favorite travel hosts are Rick Steves, Rudy Maxa, and Globe Trekker. So far I've walked "through" Ireland, Scotland, England, Belgium, France and Italy. Last night my children were watching with me, fascinated by the huge wheels of cheese in Parma, Italy.

My husband works all day and comes home with stories of his experiences away from the house. Now I have interesting foreign facts to share: Sicilians eat ice cream for breakfast, Belgians buy fresh chocolate daily like French people buy baguettes, and Scottish postmen let travellers ride along with them because there isn't a good bus system in the remote areas.

Fat Burnin' Friday is hosted by mommysnacks.net

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

this is inspiring! I'm going to check out library for such things.... :)

emily said...

You get to leave the house without leaving the house - awesome! That's almost as fun as leaving the house while laying on the couch reading a great book! Just without the exercise of course, which is the way I prefer - but not as healthy they say. Sigh.