Design your Diet
3. The Virtual dog
(Continued from Diet 1 & 2)
Dogs get plenty of exercise if the person on the other end of their lead has taught them to not run off, but to bring the ball back. To try to cure my sciatic pain I walked to the nearest patch of grass before breakfast and watched the dogs having a wonderful time. Their ball-throwers were getting exercise too – morning and evening.
They took their furry friends for a walk at the same time every day. Children walked to school at the same time every day. Parents drove their cars at the same time. I began to see that the world ran on rails, in a groove, to a timetable. That’s what I had been doing, running on rails.
Is your life in your groove?
Don't just read past this.
Think about it.
Is your life - doing the same things
at the same time - every day?
My fairly easy, Move-more campaign got me out of the house before breakfast.
Altering that pattern will help you accept change.
I thought I could at least match the effort of the dog walkers and go twice a day, morning and evening, at a time when walkers greeted each other. People don’t usually greet when passing in the street, but they do on grassy tracks. It is a kind of recognition of exercise, of choosing an alternative part of life; of not going shopping, not going to work, not keeping an appointment, just having the time to opt to look at trees, hear bird song and feel breeze. I was lucky that I had the time. My family has grown.
You can find time, even in the busiest schedule.
You can if you want to.
Had the exercise cured my sciatica? No. Well not ‘cured’ it. Not in the first week, but I have to admit that to my surprise, walking had made it feel a little bit easier. When I did my first walk, I was ready for a sit-down after covering the 300metre length of my lane and back, but at the end of a week of doing it, I wasn’t quite as tired. The thing was, that I did feel a bit better. If I had pitched myself into jogging, it would have been far too painful. I wouldn’t have lasted ten minutes and actually, it had lasted a week.
That was a change.
I had learned some lessons.
You don’t have to run to exercise.
Remember this
You don’t have to wear special sport clothes or be in a club. If you sit on a couch for too long like me, you don’t have to do a Park Run or have a 5k target, to get you off the couch. You just stand up and put your coat on and walk round the block. Pretend you have a virtual dog if you’ve not got one.
The change is small.
You know if you’re too fat.
You ARE, or you wouldn't be reading this.
Make a small change for yourself.
You could.
Just a short walk.
If you want to get the best out of this, you have to be able to walk.
Start now. Get up and walk inside your house.
OR Walk out of your door to the gate and back.
OR Up and down a flight of stairs.
OR Choose a short walk like this, that suits you.
You MUST do it, if you want to make progress.
The Time has Come.
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Read items in order Diet 4
Then Eat less