Workin' on it

I have recently (okay maybe over the course of the past few months) realized that any muscle I had from working out regularly through the end of grad school and a bit after I moved here has all gone away. I weigh the same I did two years ago, but my clothes do not fit quite so well. I think I have used up the extra space I had in the clothes.

First. I guess muscle really does weigh more than fat.

Second. I sorta try to exercise more.

My employer has a fitness incentive every year. If you fulfill certain requirements, you get $100. It always entails taking a health survey to get the first $50. In the past, the second $50 was yours if you exercised more than 30 minutes at least 3 times a week for something like 10 out of 12 weeks in a row. Easy $100, if you ask me.

This year, the second $50 was to do a wellness check with an outside company that came on campus for this purpose. I figured I should make an effort to still do the 10 out of 12 weeks of exercise.

Things I count as exercise:

• Walking to and from my car because I intentionally park where I do to get exercise because no shuttles go to that lot.
• Stretching when I am in the dark room at work (used for developing film from experiments).

I also intend to exercise if the weather cooperates. My rule is that if it is over 40 degrees (and I may put a maximum of 80 and sunny or 85 and not sunny or something like that), I have to walk and/or run when I get home from work.

All of this is leading up to the fact that on Thursday it was 44 degrees when I got home. I was not hungry. There was still more than an hour of daylight. I had to go outside. So I ran. Two miles. I was not pleased. I do not really want to be able to run. I do not really enjoy running. It is a quick way to exercise, and I almost ran 10 minute-miles (I did not say I was sprinting!) for two miles, so I suppose I should just keep squeezing in those 20 minute runs to turn that fat back into muscle.

{sigh}

In other news, that bacon, portobello mushroom, cheese panini I had for dinner probably does not help, but it was delicious.