Happy February, everyone! I wanted to start this post with a correction. I track my workouts, and last month, in my 2020 Year-End Progress Report, I said that in order for activity to count, for me, as exercise, it needed to “be activity where the sole purpose is to get exercise.” Well, there’s an exception to that rule… shoveling snow.
(There’s actually probably more than one exception, but, for now, I’m going to focus on this one.)
There’s a very practical reason why people shovel snow – to remove it from their driveways and sidewalks. And when you manually remove it, by hand, with a shovel (as opposed to with a snow thrower or motorized plow), it’s incredible, rigorous exercise. Therefore, I’m choosing to count shoveling snow as exercise.
It’s been a pretty mild winter around here thus far, and I’ve only had to shovel snow three times. Each time it’s taken me at least an hour. On Saturday morning, it took me nearly one hour and twenty five minutes. My driveway isn’t even that long, but clearing the driveway is only the first half of the job, because I live in a corner house, which means I have way more sidewalks to clear than most of my neighbors.
This job is exhausting, but I love doing it. I love the satisfaction of the job being done, and it’s such good exercise. I think it’s perfectly legitimate for everyone to personally decide what constitutes as exercise for them. I have my rules, and you may have yours, and they may differ. I think what’s most important is that everyone stay active, to some degree, so figure out what that means to you, and set up some guide rails that will keep you on track!
JJ, by the way, hangs out in the fenced in backyard the whole time I’m shoveling snow. He spends some time wandering around and sniffing, but most of the time, when I look over, he’s there, by the gate, just watching me, or looking down the street in the other direction, monitoring for squirrels and other critters.
Halfway through this snow removal job, I actually paused to see if JJ wanted to go inside, since it was rather cold out, and he refused. Fine by me! He sat and watched me as I tackled the rest of the job.
I also used my GPS tracker while I was shoveling snow, and it said, based on my distance and heart rate, that I had burned 549 calories during the 83 minutes I was out there. The GPS map is pretty funny (and accurate), too!
In other news, I weighed myself and updated my weight loss chart. I lost the two pounds I had gained in January!
Heading in the right direction always feels so good!
I actually gained more weight after last month’s weigh-in, and I know that because I joined a weight-loss challenge at my company, so I had a weigh-in before this chart weigh-in, and I was higher than 316. That challenge at my company means I’ll be doing weigh-ins on a weekly basis, which will be good for me (accountability is always a good thing!), although I’m going to continue with my routine of only updating this chart once a month.
That challenge also requires me to photograph my scale for their weigh-ins, so I might be sharing more scale pictures here, as well. Why not?
I also realized, when updating this chart, that the eleventh anniversary of me starting this weight loss journey passed a couple weeks ago, and I had completely forgotten about it. Damn! Eleven years is a long time! It seems like only yesterday I was blogging about how I had forgotten about the 10th year anniversary, and a whole year had passed since then! I’m very proud that I have stuck with this for so long.
Speaking of sticking with things, my meal prep continues to be a big part of my life, with me devoting time to it every Sunday. Most of my efforts lately have been pretty boring – salads, poached fish, hard-boiled eggs, carving store-bought rotisserie chickens – but last weekend I brought home a Home Chef meal kit from Kroger and made piri piri chicken and green beans, which turned out beautifully.
It’s been a while since I’ve considered using a meal kit service, but my success with this dish is making me think that maybe it’s time to do some research and try one out. I’d probably lean towards healthy, low-carb options, and since it’s just me that eats people food in my household, I’m happy making dishes for two and saving leftovers for another meal. Any recommendations?
Lastly, I’m sending some love to my friend Judie. She had to put down her beloved dog Cleo this week. I knew and adored Cleo, and met her shortly after Judie got her, in 2008. In fact, a photo of that first meeting is on this blog, on the Photo Gallery page, as a ‘before’ picture:
That was one gorgeous German Shepherd puppy, and she grew up to be a beautiful dog, and she had a long, fabulous life, living to be 13 years old. Cleo will be missed!
I’m getting this post out a little early… so I can go to the gym while everyone else is watching the Super Bowl, which will hopefully mean the gym will be empty!
Keep it up, David!
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Keep It Up, David! 