Walking Challenge 2012: July behind me makes me more done than not…

~Tuesday~ 
 

June’s Challenge Entry | All Challenge Entries | August’s Challenge Entry
“7/12^ths done,” “5/12^ths to go,” or “Over the hump”—however you want to say it, I’m more done—than not—toward my goal to walk for at least 30 minutes every day in 2012.

It’s been another month not without its challenges, including one day when my back was out and I could only manage 15 minutes of walking, and that was to walk Frances and Vincent for whom I was dog-sitting.

I also struggled, once again, in the “calorie-intake” (a.k.a. “eating”) arena, with a few days vacation on an island in Lake Erie, and social outings, including a pig-pickin’.

All-in-all, though, I continued to stay pretty much on track—and more importantly, committed to keeping up the daily, 30-minute minimum, walks for the rest of the year.

Walking

Although I’m still not pain-free all the time, my left knee (not to be confused with My Left Foot) has definitely improved over this month, and my occasional walks for longer than 30 minutes bear witness to that.

Here are the walking numbers for July (click to enlarge):

Background photo: At dusk, in Put-In-Bay, where I vacationed from July 9 through July 12.

Eating

As I mentioned earlier, my vacation at Put-In-Bay was a challenging eating week, and as you can see in the accounting below, I didn’t even bother to count the calories I ate during those four days. Suffice it to say, it was a lot (and a lot of it liquid)—and the weight chart further below bears witness to that.

Weighing

The background photo for this month’s weight chart pretty much says it all. It’s so much easier to put on than it is to take off.

Here are the July weigh-in numbers (click to enlarge):

Background image: I’ve gained weight. Ask me how.

Reflecting

Here are some reflections about this month's experience:

• Another month where I’m glad I have this goal, as I’m quite sure that increase in weight would have just kept going had I not had it. I’ve been there so many times before in my life.
• Although, it’s still not where I want it to be, I’m pleased with the reduction in pain in my left knee over this month, but I’m still not convinced it’s ever going to be fully pain-free.
• I had recently commented on Facebook about how my ab crunches have kept my lower back pain at bay for over a year now, and I even put, “Knock on wood,” after it, and lo and behold, my back when out less than a week later. The thing that’s most disconcerting about it is that there wasn’t any one moment or one move I made that seemed to have caused it.
• I’m proud (Is that a sin?) of how committed I am to this endeavor, as there were several times this month when had I not had this goal, I undoubtedly would have blown off my walk.

Concluding

I’m looking forward to continued improvement and August being a better month.

Bring it on!

---

June’s Challenge Entry | All Challenge Entries | August’s Challenge Entry