A little bit silly and a little bit sad.

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WolffEarl
WolffEarl Posts: 379 Member
in Food and Nutrition
These are some of the thoughts that occurred to me whilst walking at the dog park for 50 minutes.

-Once upon a time I would be walking in the meadows hunting for frogs and grasshoppers.
-Now I record walking as "walking, brisk pace, 30 minutes"

-Once I would play for hours on the soccer filed after school with friends of mine.
-Now it would be "cardio workout, teamsport, moderate activity, 750 calories.

-Once I would drink water form the garden hose when thirsty.
-Now I record it as 2 glasses of water, Hydration levels good.

-Once I would grab an apple from a farmer's orchard and devour it without a thought.
-Now I contemplate its 14 g of sugar, its 88 calories and 4 g of fibre, faithfully recorded.

-Once I would help my neigbhour move his furniture.
-Now I still do, but it becomes moderate circuit training, logged under cardio.

So it struck me as funny (silly) how I record the most natural of activities (walking) as exercise. How long before "Walking to fridge and back, 10 times" will be an option under exercise.
The part that struck me as sad how I am here (feeling somewhat underfit and overweight) not because life is unfair BUT because my life is too good, too rich, too easy. Wow, what an odd problem to have. Here we are struggling most of our lives to make a "better life" for ourselves and our clan and then life turns around and reminds us that we can (and do) have it too good. How easy the road to excess. So next time I think about how tough it is to lose that weight or do that extra mile, I should remind myself that I could just as easily have the problem of nothing to eat or only scraps to eat or needing to run just to escape some danger, conflict or horror.
On that note, happy Easter everyone.
P.s. And yes, I recorded those 50 walking minutes, it might be silly but...

Earl
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Replies

  • karenjoy
    karenjoy Posts: 1,840 Member
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    Brilliant post, and very true
  • Vpirwannab
    Vpirwannab Posts: 22
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    What a wonderful post! I think most all of us can relate. Thank you for sharing!
  • bayles1
    bayles1 Posts: 408 Member
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    Exactly that...happy easter.
  • Becky1971
    Becky1971 Posts: 979 Member
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    Good stuff!

    It helps me a lot to keep in mind that struggling with weight loss is easy compared to what so many people are going through. So when I get all mad and want to throw a 2 year old fit over how unfair it is that I can't eat what I want when I want, I think about how it could be lots worse.
  • Mustangsally1000
    Mustangsally1000 Posts: 860 Member
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    Great post! Thanks for the thoughts..Things to be grateful for on this Easter Sunday!
  • Bigmomma0u812
    Bigmomma0u812 Posts: 118
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    I love this post... so true.
  • HaleyAlli
    HaleyAlli Posts: 911 Member
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    Awesome thoughts, thanks!
  • larisadixon
    larisadixon Posts: 201 Member
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    great post
  • arewethereyet
    arewethereyet Posts: 18,702 Member
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    Some of the stuff......no a lot of the stuff.......my trainer has me do reminds me of being 8 yrs old again. Jumping rope, hopping, stepping up on a step, jumping down the other side, throwing a ball, catching a ball, lifting a big stick over my head and running........oh and walking on a balance beam type thingy.........seriously, I wish I was a kid again for a day. I bet it would be fun!
  • broadsword7
    broadsword7 Posts: 411 Member
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    Brilliantly put, thanks for posting!
  • pcteck2
    pcteck2 Posts: 184 Member
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    Thanks for the reminder to be grateful for the many blessings I enjoy.
  • arezou_vancouver
    arezou_vancouver Posts: 39 Member
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    so true E :)
  • chuckyp
    chuckyp Posts: 693 Member
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    Good post. It's also a good reminder that there's more to food than Calories consumed and more to exercise than Calories burned. There is an enjoyment factor to both food and exercise. While it's the enjoyment factor of food that leads a lot of people to be overweight in the first place, It makes me sad to see people feel so guilty when they have a burger or a few slices of pizza instead of a plain chicken breast with brown rice and steamed veggies like they have every other day. Be healthy, but be balanced and enjoy life!
  • cherifrog
    cherifrog Posts: 2
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    Earl, you're amazing!! I totally do the same thing!! I also bought a pedometer so I can see how many steps I take at work....is that sad or what???? :P
  • ChunkyMonkey207
    ChunkyMonkey207 Posts: 96 Member
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    Love it!! Very true....Happy Easter! ~Amanda
  • countdowntotarget
    countdowntotarget Posts: 108 Member
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    I had this thought exactly a few weeks back - Ive taken up running and initially I got so bogged down with eat this then, do this training at this milage with this effort with these shoes etc I got myself so confused - you lose sight of the fact that running is the most natural thing in the world and kids run for the enjoyment and run as fast as they can, for as long as they can, get breathless, red in the face with a HUGE grin - because they enjoy it - sometimes we feel the need to pigeon hole everything that we forget the vitality of youth - (or is that just me wanting to be a big kid again ??)
  • beatlemom
    beatlemom Posts: 250 Member
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    LOVE it ! Happy Easter!
  • godblessourhome
    godblessourhome Posts: 3,892 Member
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    The part that struck me as sad how I am here (feeling somewhat underfit and overweight) not because life is unfair BUT because my life is too good, too rich, too easy. ...How easy the road to excess.

    these two sentences stood out for me. great post!
  • 6heatherb6
    6heatherb6 Posts: 469 Member
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    Thanks:flowerforyou:
  • SusieB01
    SusieB01 Posts: 89
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    I want to echo everyone else on here and say Thanks! Another interesting thing along those lines is that when we were young we didn't think of exercise as something we had to do, or sweating as work (as in work up a sweat), but both were something we wanted to do because it was fun!

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