During one of my walks last week, I wondered...yet again...why I can't seem to break a certain magic number in my seemingly neverending quest to reach my so-called goal weight. For me, this is the upper end of what's considered "normal" for my height and body type. This is a weight that, except for a period of a few years (2000-2004) of hyper-vigilant calorie counting and exercise reminiscent of The Biggest Loser, I haven't seen since my sophomore year of high school.
This particular day marked four months and four days since I had lost any weight, aside from the down strokes of the 5-pound yo-yo I'd been on throughout the winter and into the early spring. My partner had claimed that our scale is actually 10-15 pounds heavy...but I knew better. And alas, so did my clothes that would have fit, had I really weighed 10-15 pounds less.
Then it occurred to me...I could blog about my adventures, just like I blog about other things, like teaching and my occasional escapades in gardening. Doing a blog would be a great way to keep my diet and exercise efforts honest, and it would give me a chance to do some of the writing that I don't do nearly often enough in the process.
Since I'm getting awfully tired of walking the same few places day in and day out, I'm going to use this blog as an opportunity to get to know my hometown of Indianapolis a bit better. By the way, the governor of Indiana has launched another phase of his INShape Indiana program: Ready, Set, Walk! So my jaunts through various walking-friendly neighborhoods in and around Indianapolis should dovetail very nicely with this initiative.
Here's what I figure I'll do. Every three days, I'll do a 3-4 mile walk in a different neighborhood within a 10-mile radius of home (walking in and around my own neighborhood on the other days). Even with this restriction -- owing primarily to record-high gas prices -- I've still got a lot of options. Meridian Kessler. Old Northside. Geist. Rocky Ripple. Downtown Carmel. Lesser-known locales in between. As long as the neighborhood is reasonably safe, walkable, and has plenty of cool houses, gardens, trees, shops, and other things to look at, I'll go just about anywhere in that 10-mile radius. And after my walk, I'll post a description of what I saw, along with my calories eaten and calories burned counts, mileage and pace, some recipes, and some gardening tips. When I have a chance, I'll post a picture...though I won't take pics of either people or visible addresses on houses. I do understand the privacy thing!
And of course, I'll keep you -- and myself -- posted on how much weight I've lost. I hope to reach that magic 20-pound weight loss by late August, when the fall semester starts at Purdue (where I teach in the Professional Writing Program).
Between now and then, this blog will follow my efforts, adventures, and (hopefully not too many) missteps as I work to lose that proverbial "last 20 pounds" that seems to trip up so many of us. And if I should get to that 20-pound milestone before the end of the summer, I'll still keep up my schedule. Another 3-5, or even 7-10, pounds wouldn't hurt -- remember, I'm shooting for the upper end of the "normal" range.
Where will I go first, you ask. I'm asking myself the same thing, as I take a break from grading final projects during the first day of finals week. For some reason, the stretch of the Central Canal Towpath from Broad Ripple to Rocky Ripple and Butler is calling out to me. That's as good a place as any....
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