a peek inside the fishbowl

07 Jun, 2012

Nine Things for Operation Trim: #2 is WALKIEEEEeeeS

Posted by andrea tomkins in: Challenge me, challenge you

Operation Trim is not about major weight loss and does not involve me signing up for a gym membership. It’s my own personal challenge to trim down in the easiest way possible. The plan is to work with what I’ve got, and what I’ve got includes a pair of legs that are in good working order and a dog… a dog who needs exercise because she’s turning into a couch potato, just like her momma (but with more fur):

Couch pawtato

I have notched up the daily dog walk as part of Operation Trim. Let us review the benefits of walking for a moment shall we?

  • It is easy exercise.
  • I can set my own pace.
  • It is private.
  • It’s good for the mind as well as the body.
  • Fresh air, vitamin D, a snoot full of sunshine… these are all good things that we need every day!
  • It’s cheap: no memberships, no special equipment, and no special training required.

Walking is not:

  • difficult
  • taking up a lot of extra time
  • making me feel bad about my jiggly bits, because unlike running I cannot feel them jiggling while I walk

I don’t walk as fast when I’m wearing flip-flops, so I’ve committed to wearing proper footwear when I walk the dog. When I’m wearing proper shoes it’s easier for me to push myself too.

For the past couple of mornings I have laced up, brought my iPhone loaded with music (music provides a HUGE boost for me), and set out on a circular route with the dog (who sadly has trouble keeping up). I did a decent 3K walk this morning, which is good for me. I use Map My Walk to mark the route and track my progress. There are many apps out there which can tell you how far and how fast you walk but this one seems to work well for me.

I’ve actually been working up a sweat, which I don’t normally do when I’m walking with Piper. This tells me two things: (a) I’m working harder and (b) I should always wear gym clothes because otherwise I’m setting myself up to stink afterwards. Oh well, everyone knows that sweat is actually liquid fat dripping away! No, I’m just kidding. Sweat is not liquid fat, but I like to pretend it is. It motivates me to work harder. The unfortunate part about all of this is running into people I know in the neighbourhood.  I ran into a blog reader this morning (I’m lookin’ at you lacoop) while looking rather rumpled and unwashed. Ah, but this is the price I pay. ;)

Anyway, there is it!

The next Operation Trim post is going to spice things up a little. Just wait and see.


10 Responses to "Nine Things for Operation Trim: #2 is WALKIEEEEeeeS"

1 | BeachMama

June 7th, 2012 at 7:45 am

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Excellent, good for you!! I have been doing a 3k circuit for about a month or so and I feel like I have more energy and I get down to work a bit harder when I get back (have to make up the lost time somewhere). And yes, running shoes will always make you walk a wee bit faster ;)

Going to check out that app…

2 | andrea

June 7th, 2012 at 7:52 am

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BeachMama: 3K is fairly painless and yes, it gives me a much-needed boost too. Something about the combination of sunshine and getting the blood pumping perhaps? :) Do you do your 3K every day?

3 | Katie B. of HousewifeHowTos.com

June 7th, 2012 at 11:20 am

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My daughter is visiting with her overactive little dog. Since she loves to sleep in, and the dog doesn’t, I think I may have to borrow him for a good long walk over the next few days. It’d be nice to lose weight while she’s here, instead of spending our afternoons watching reruns of Friends.

4 | Sara

June 7th, 2012 at 12:20 pm

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No exercise for me for another four weeks but I’m eager to get walking. Post-baby my body feels foreign to me and I think moving again will help.

5 | andrea

June 7th, 2012 at 12:53 pm

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Walking is how I lost the baby weight after #2 was born. As an added bonus it helped save my sanity!

6 | lacoop

June 7th, 2012 at 3:42 pm

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Ha! There’s nowhere to hide once you’re famous. But no need to hide either :-) A funny thing about walking…I’ve walked down the neighbourhood streets so many many times…and yet I still see houses where I think “was that house always there?”. Amazing how much we can miss…just walk by and don’t even notice…which in a way is great, because it means there is always something to discover right in our own neighbourhood.

7 | Carla

June 8th, 2012 at 9:28 am

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hooray for walking! During my last mat leave (which has sadly ended boo :( I spent a lot of time walking, which I think really helped for losing weight. For me walking was transportation though and I encourage people to think of walking as a regular thing to do that you sneak into your day.

For example, I started walking along the bus route from the baby-and-mom class to home, thinking well, if I get tired I just get on the bus. And then it became a competition with myself. How long can I walk before I get on the bus? Can I just walk home? and slowly I went from taking the bus (15 min) to walking home (first 45 min, now 30 min) and then I would also use the ‘free’ money of the bus fare for a treat for me, like a tea or something, which was a nice motivator. Now that I can walk it in 30 min, I realise that the additional time it takes instead of the bus (a measly 15 minutes) is something that I can just build into my schedule and if I miss the bus and have to wait 15 min for the next one, then I might as well just walk. Then I started walking there and back, and here and there, eventually walking a good 2 hours a day. I was tired for sure, but wow it felt good.

Walking was more the thing to do when baby was small and couldn’t go on the bike, but he can, so we do more biking. Still, if I am faced with going by bus somewhere I often think, can I walk there and save the bus fare? We don’t have a car, and the few months we did have a car, I was more lazy, but I did often think if I could just save on gas. We don’t have a car (partly choice, partly shared car gave up the ghost) so that makes the costs of not walking a lot more tangible.

8 | TatianaDokuchic

June 8th, 2012 at 10:02 am

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Walking is definitely the foundation of my “fit for life” philosophy and with three dogs in the house it’s always easy to find a willing walking buddy. I’ve been averaging 10k steps a day (about 7km with my short stride) since the end of February and it’s made a huge difference in how I both look & feel. I wish I would have figured this out years earlier!

If I can’t get in all of my steps by walking outside, usually the most pleasant way to spend the time, I do circuits around my house. Turns out I can get in about 500 steps in the average commercial break ;)

You’ve mentioned using good shoes and I might add that good hiking socks (moisture wicking & cushioned to prevent blisters) made a big difference for me as well. I also use a small electronic gadget that tracks my steps, calories burned etc. and is connected to a website where I can pour over my statistics. Just knowing that my daily average will drop helps motivate me on those days where I would much rather be sitting than trekking.

I’m really enjoying this series, Andrea. Looking forward to the rest of the challenges!

9 | Misty Pratt

June 11th, 2012 at 12:44 pm

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Your dog is the cutest!!

10 | Nine things for Operation Trim: #6 - Perchance to sleep >> a peek inside the fishbowl

September 20th, 2012 at 11:04 am

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[…] Post #2 was about walking – This, I can do. And I AM. Woot! I walk every day, at least once. […]

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My name is Andrea and I live in the Westboro area of Ottawa with my husband Mark and our dog Piper who is kind of a big deal on Instagram. We also have two human offspring: Emma (24) and Sarah (22). During the day I work as a writer at the Royal Ottawa Mental Health Centre. I am a longtime Ottawa blogger and I've occupied this little corner of the WWW since 1999. The Fishbowl is my whiteboard, water cooler, and journal, all rolled into one. I'm passionate about healthy living, arts and culture, travel, great gear, good food, and sharing the best of Ottawa. I also love vegetables, photography, gadgets, and great design.

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