fine whine

Some twenty-one or twenty-two nights ago* I began a low-impact workout regimen: I walked (or jogged, trudged or strolled) on the treadmill every night, burning twenty-five more calories each night than I had done the night before.

My total, as of the ones I burn tonight, is 6,900 calories.

On one hand, that seems like a big number (especially since I didn't do it on one hand, but two feet) but on the other, that's just over three and a half times the recommended total daily intake of calories.

But either way, it's more than none.

Back when we first had the 'mill there were a number of nights I'd do a good thousand or thousand and a half during a movie, but those were not consecutive nights, and many, many more nights when I could say "I've been on the treadmill" it was because I hopped on for a second or two. After a month, I even stopped doing that.

Last month I tried a similar experiment with less sustainable numbers: I doubled the calories every day, starting with three. I only made it through a week, but the intervals were unreasonable anyway.

I realize I can't keep adding 25 a day for the long term, but I haven't yet hit that point where I didn't think I could do just that little bit more the next night. 25 out of 575 isn't all that much, after all, and thus 25 out of 600, and 700, and so on...

* Counting the days back to February 20th is tougher when I count many of the hours past midnight (i.e. the next day) as still that day. Maybe I should just say "Three Mondays ago..." and be done with it.