Daily Bread #70

There are some great places to walk to near my house.  This is about 1.5 miles away, which gives me 3 miles round trip and all uphill on the way back.

I may have overdone it today though with a hike on the Tennessee Valley trail.  It was about 4 miles round trip and took 2 and a half hours.  My knee is in serious pain now.  Maybe it was too long and maybe the cortisone shot is wearing off.  Good thing I have knee surgery scheduled!

It was seriously beautiful though.

Class last night was good, although bittersweet as it was the last night for the excellent facilitator who is going to another position.

We talked about motivation, intrinsic and extrinsic.  The stuff that comes from inside you works better.  No one loses weight because someone else, even a doctor, tells them too.  No, the reason to do this is because you like how it feels, because you want to do things with your life that will be easier if you are healthier.  I have been able to stay motivated partly because I have had so many rewards along the way, mainly significant improvements in my health.  I called it luck, but maybe it is grace instead – undeserved blessings that have rained down upon me.  It all gives me some pause.  Before I started this program, my life was narrowing because of my weight related health issues.  There was so much I could not do.  Now, a year and a half later, I am still amazed at how my life and abilities have expanded again.  But in terms of staying motivated to stay the course, to make this how I will live for the rest of my life,  what happens when the rewards are less obvious than they are now?  If I get used to them?  What happens when advancing age again catches up with me?  What will happen after my knee surgery?

Life is, and always will be I guess, an adventure of sorts.

I want to stick around as long as possible partly to see what happens – I can never stop reading a book until the end – but the world will (I hope!) go on without me at some point.  Until then, I want to have as big of a positive impact as I can, on the world and  on the people around me.  At church we sing a closing song at the end of the service each week.  It has the line “for the children of our children, keep the circle whole.”   For that we need wisdom, courage, and strength.

And ice.  Time to put more ice on my knee.

L’Chaim!  This week’s stats: I am drinking about 54 ounces of water most days.  My Fitbit report shows 85,990 steps last week for over 36 miles.  I ate approximately 9289 calories and burned 17252 for a deficit of 7963. I am down another 1.6 pounds for a total loss of 134.5 .