Walking Is Good

This morning, as I stood on the scale, I silently urged it to register no higher than 172 pounds. On Tuesday morning it had read 171, a half pound more than the previous day. Tuesday was a challenging day for me. I did a decent walk in the morning with purposeful shopping on tap for the rest of the day. As I stood at an entrance to the mall, great tiredness hit me with a thud. If I could have beamed myself home, I would have done so. Instead, I decided that something sweet was in order. A trek through Macy’s and the full length of the mall would get me to the food court. There my enjoyment of the forbidden could be leisurely and anonymous. Since my mall visit was purposeful, I forced myself to first look through the relevant departments at Macy’s. That I found nothing workable increased the urgency of my food court quest. That I needed to pass Mervyn’s on the way there ended that quest. I spent an eternity there, finding much, trying on more, ending up too exhausted to even make it to the food court. Packages in hand, I sleep walked to my car with a vision of the ice cream in our freezer dancing in my head. Somewhere between the mall and home the vision turned into an apple. I maintained the virtue of this vision until about 10:30 p.m. After that, I let myself slide into a binge. This is why I worried at the scale this morning.

But, first . . . I was sure that I’d be pursued by the binge monkeys on Wednesday. I also had decided on Tuesday night that I’d not walk on Wednesday. Exhausted, I’d give it a rest. And behold a miracle. I awoke on Wednesday tired, yet aware that I was in an on track mode as far as eating was concerned. At some point, I decided to do the 20 minute walk to which I’d committed myself. And . . . tad dah . . . today’s miracle: I got on the scale and the scale said 168. Suddenly I was a believer, or actually a believer reborn. I didn’t get to my walk until this afternoon, but I knew that come hell or high water, I’d do it. The weather helped. There is nothing like a beautiful Spring day to give me that final shove out the door. I walked for a little over an hour, up and down hills because I live in a hilly area, enjoying the chartreuse of someone’s brand new lawn, the fresh green tips of evergreens, one group of deer warily watching me as I passed by, another group ignoring me. I live in paradise. Heavenly music accompanied me. Today it was Pacibel’s Canon in D and other baroque music followed by Oscar Reynolds playing the flute, a gentle change from the techno which sometimes energizes me when I walk. With such weather and such music at such a wonderful time of the year, it isn’t hard to get back into the habit of walking.