He Has Learned

Thanks to me exercising daily, the dog has learned a new trick. He points to his leash when he thinks he wants a walk. When I pick up the leash he gets hyper and happy and wiggling. The only other thing he loves more than a walk is going for a ride.

If he sees me putting on my tennis shoes he starts whining and turning circles in anticipation of a walk--even if I am just putting on shoes to go take out the trash. He will sit and wiggle at me, telling me to get ready faster.

My  furry friend cheers me on, even if I just want to do is curl up on my chair and sleep. So far we have walked (and swimmed) our way to exercising once a day for the last seven weeks. No days missed.

By now I think that the exercise is second nature for me. I may not get in much but I still do it.

Last time I lost a lot of weight I didn't even bother exercising. That was when I could barely hobble around the house. I was on crutches pretty every day.

I learned from that journey that I could lose weight without exercising. (On the other hand, I was still fairly active, just not my lower body.) That stayed with me even when I was slim, no amount of exercising can outdo food consumption. Both then and now, portion control is really hard. My food scale is both my friend and my enemy.

This time around the exercise is there and I will have more muscles to even out my body. Who knows, maybe I can jog at some point! (Hah! that is rather unlikely with my joints). Between walking and swimming I have a pretty good use of muscle building aerobic exercise.(I do some strength training, but not as much as I probably should.)

All said and done, the pooch is a great motivator to get me up and moving and I intend to keep at the exercise. (My walks have been invaded by Pokemon... it works better for me that listening to music!)