Procrastinating Donkey Climbs a Hill

A couple of months ago, I decided it was time to finally, seriously, lose some weight and change my health for the better. So I started to walk each day, outside with Mother Nature, where it's cold and snowy and windy in mid-January, because this is Atlantic Canada, and I don't have a treadmill.

Usually my walk looks like a large rectangle with my home as a dot in the center. But on really cold days I take a shorter route that looks more like a "J", where the bottom of the J is my house and the top of the J is the place where I get to turn around and head home.

Here's what my route J looks like after I get around the curly part of the letter and start up the long bit:

Exactly* like this, but with more snow. A long, hard climb that stretches out forever in front of me.

Now, normally I watch the ground in front of me when I'm walking, especially in the winter, because I'm getting old and I don't want to fall and break a hip and go to the hospital and die. Because that's frequently what happens with old people. It's not clear whether it's the broken hip or the hospital that causes death, but I don't want to test the system to find out. And, really, does it matter? Either way - dead.

So I watch the ground - mostly - but every now and then I like to look up to see how I'm progressing.

So ... trudge, trudge, trudge, look up ......... trudge, trudge, trudge, look up ... etc.

After I trudged for what felt like a long time, and looked up, here's what I saw:

 

Okay, what I saw is that more trudging is in order. Trudge, trudge, trudge. Look up.

And again:

More trudging. Trudge, trudge, trudge. Look up.

And STILL:

What the heck???

Are you seeing what I'm seeing?

That's right - NO PROGRESS.

 But, of course, finally - eventually - after a long time - about 10 minutes - I did reach the top of that J, because I'm determined to get healthy. Stubborn like a donkey, right?

Here is exactly* what it looked like from the top:

And walking home, downhill, was a whole lot easier. It was almost as easy as falling down. I did not fall down, because I was watching the ground, because of the business about getting old and the hips and hospitals and so on. But coming home was pretty easy. Because, number one, it's DOWNHILL, and number two, instead of having snow and cold and wind and a Himalayan mountain to climb, at home I have warmth and a couch and chocolate.

Oh.

Ohhhhh.

I think I know why the weight loss is not going well, despite my determined walking.

Next time, there will be photos I took myself with an actual camera I own, and there will be more than two pictures in total. It will be a big improvement, maybe.

*And by exactly, I mean not even close.

Any tips for sticking to an exercise program, anyone? Alternatively, any tips for resisting chocolate?