100 mile month

Boy this fitness thing can really be addictive. The thing is, that for people who aren't into fitness, it can be really annoying. I spent a lot of years being annoyed by the "exercise junkies", preferring the much easier form of "cookie junkie" and I truly perfected the art. In fact, if you head over to my other blog, addtova.com, there are some cookie recipes that might just knock your socks off. 


Next month is my birthday month, and it is so tempting to start thinking about all the yummy ways one could celebrate. Between those evil and amazing cadbury mini eggs for Easter, and the promise of cake at the end of the month, April might as well be December for all the calories I typically eat. 


But not this April. 


This April my gift to myself is going to be some self control, and the adrenaline rush from seeing the scale stop on a lower number every week. 

The 100 mile month

I have decided to do a 100 mile month- to challenge myself to really feel like my working out is accomplishing something. 


Here is the challenge: In the month of April, on your own steam, travel 100 miles, just for the purpose of exercise. April has 30 days, so if you plan to do it daily, that is 3 1/3 miles per day. (5.4 kilometers for you metric folks) 


You don't have to run, walking or biking, or hiking  is totally acceptable. They can be actual miles, outside, or figurative miles in a treadmill in the gym. 


Document your progress, however you want. Link here to your blog, or keep a note in your phone. Make a chart and hang it on your fridge, or take notes on the back of an IKEA receipt from your purse. 


You can make a plan, make a calendar of all the different ways that you can travel, or just play it by ear. I am doing this as my birthday gift to myself, why are you? 

"free" food- how to discount your calories!

One of the techniques that has helped me lose 30 pounds since November, is trying to eat as much that is "free" as possible. Not monetarily free, but caloricly.

By my definition, caloricly free (or um on sale) is a food that takes work to get, so you burn all the calories (or at least some) in the process of getting it.

My favorite way to do this is to walk to subway on my lunch hour.

A 6 inch veggie sub, with no cheese and only mustard as a condiment (Since mayo= yuck anyway) is 230 calories.

I have to walk about 13 minutes to get to Subway, so I round down to 25 minutes for calories. 168

That burns 168 calories, so my lunch only "costs" 62 calories. 

That isn't bad! Throw in a diet coke, and some sunshine and it is a pretty good lunch! 

Another great way to get a calorie "discount" is to go on a picnic over the weekend. For me, the weekend is a dangerous time, because I have less of a schedule, and boredom eating is a huge pitfall. So packing a picnic lunch and hiking it to a nice spot to eat is a great way to lower that calorie count. 

Especially if you have a craving you just HAVE to satiate, walk or run or bike to wherever you have to go to  satisfy that craving!