Weight Loss WITHOUT Dieting

One of the very simple things that helped me to lose weight was walking.

Up a very steep hill.

Daily.

For months.

Although the distance from point A, my apartment, to point B, my job, was only half a mile, most of the distance was at almost a 50-degree incline. Since I found the apartment over the Internet as I prepared for a new job out of state, I knew the apartment and the job were fairly close. So, I wasn’t worried about leaving my car behind. Growing up in New York City, you pretty much walk everywhere and I didn’t learn to drive and get a car until after we’d bought a house in New Jersey.

A mile in Manhattan is walking 20 blocks. Not Avenue blocks, which go from river to river and are longer than I want to think about, but Street blocks, which are fairly short numbered blocks, which go up and down the length of Manhattan. Manhattan is also gently inclined. I found this out by riding my bike from 150th Street, to Greenwich Village or about 4th Street. Going back always took a little more energy and a little more time.

My house in Jersey is on a slope, up a steep hill, and to get to it you have to go up about 400 feet. After my first couple of years living there and walking the mile to the train station and back, when hubby couldn’t give me a lift, I got a car and started driving, like everyone else. And yes, my weight gain really started to spiral up when I did this.

Then, I took the assignment in Birmingham, Alabama. Little did I know that Birmingham rivals San Francisco in some places, as far as steep hills are concerned.

The first week I made the climb, there were points where I thought I was going to die. And then pavement would level off for a few feet.

I’m a heavy smoker. I’d use these points to catch my breath, and look up at the building I worked in. Once I stopped wheezing, I’d keep walking.

Week two got better, and by week three, just when I’d hit my stride and could do the walk without taking a break, one of the girls I worked with discovered that I was walking and started driving me to and from work.

However, I did a lot of overtime and would walk home at night a lot. All downhill you say. Should be a piece of cake, right?

Well, not exactly. The apartment complex was also up a short hill. So, after struggling not to fall downhill on a pinecone-strewn pavement, the next thing I’d I have to do was walk 200 feet uphill to my apartment.

Talking out the garbage and getting my mail also meant walking uphill. I started making this part of my routine.

Eventually, I did send for my car. You can’t live in a suburban area without one.

To make a long story short, the new job didn’t work out and we were never able to sell our house. So I’m back in New Jersey, (yeahhhh!) with hubby.

Now, however, I take daily walks up and down our hill. It’s helped me keep the weight off. But in order to loose more weight, I have to deal with portion control and all the generally unhealthy junk I eat.

Yep, weight loss and diet go together – but so does exercise. It’s going to take all three to get me to my goals.