Nature Walk

Over at the other blog, which may or may not (leaning towards not) get moved over here, I've talked about running with my munchkin.  He's not a particularly complaint child. He is enthusiastic to do things with you, right up until you try to convince him to do something that isn't on his specific agenda.  He'll do it but oh man, there will be bitching.  If you are walking, it will be with every step. 

I don't really let that dissuade me because my kid is going to be fit and happy and healthy, damn it.  So after the last run, I didn't want to FORCE the kid to run.  But he's going to do something active with me several times per week.  I decided that what he is going to do is go on a nature walk.

Tonight, I convinced Raj to walk along with us and we brought our little buddy, Conner.

Conner LOOOOVES being out on a walk, especially in new or infrequently visited places. 

So he was extra happy to have the leash on.  Plus, like all dogs, he LOVES to go on a car ride and this particular trail is about 5 miles from my house.  Because I had everyone with, I didn't get much of a workout, but we were out moving for at least 45 minutes and that isn't all bad.  Here is my gang toward the beginning of the walk. I really love everything about this trail.  Especially in the fall.  There are tons of leaves all over the trail, it smells great and every step delivers a lovely crunch that sounds like fall to me.


In part to encourage Deven to come along happily, we brought this soccer ball.  At the beginning of the walk, he kicked it and chased it, and with the exception of the dog, the whole family got involved.  I got to run maybe a total of a quarter of a mile chasing after that silly soccer ball.  More than anything, it was kind of a burden.  I generally prefer having my hands free for being out and about in the world but what are you going to do?  I had Deven carry this ball MOST of the time, when we weren't kicking it around.  In the beginning, the whole family was pretty enthusiastic about this.  Raj was less so, because, well, if you've met Raj, you know he isn't overly enthusiastic about much.

We went along for about 3/4 of a mile and headed back to the car to go home.  I'm glad I had this time with my family.  It was really fun for me and I really hope it was for them, too.

I also tried something new today.  Raj wanted to go out with me for lunch, so I put my entire lunch in the fridge.  I didn't eat any of my snacks at all.  Even with sharing a piece of pie with the family for dessert, I ended up well under my calorie range- I aim for 1250-1500 per day,   I ended today with 1415 calories.  I'm slowly trying to teach myself that hunger isn't an emergency.   I eat pretty hearty breakfasts anyway, and you know, I wasn't even that hungry.  I would say that means that my snacking is more of a habit than it is a necessity and I can start stepping them down, little by little.  If I get used to eating heartier meals and no snacks, maybe that's better.  Because it never seems to matter HOW MANY snacks I have.  I am always hungrier with snacks. So maybe that isn't working out for me.  Worth a try.  Next week, there will be no snacking.