Up the hill

I am 100% determined to get back into shape. It's hard to do this while being a grownup with a sit-down job. I want a stand-up job, damnit. A career options test should start with "Do you like the inside or the outside?"

I like the outside, or at least a better mix than my present 80/20. There are many times I have walked out of work and been pleasantly surprised by the nice weather. Yes, not a clue of how nice the weather is until the bird yells and I slide down the dinasaur tail.

Yesterday, the weather was nearly 60 F. I rode to work even though storms were in the forecast. Luckily I missed the rain altogether.

Back to getting back to fighting weight (High school flashback: I vividly remember getting home from the barn after riding five or so horses and then eating many - like 5 or 6 --slices of toast before dinner because I was that hungry) here's my plan so far:

• No more eating robin's eggs with the malted milk centers and the chocolate inner layer and the crunchy candy shell that sit outside the boss's office in that white porcelain bowl
  
• No more eating the food that seems to be out on that big table at work every day. Yes, I know I have a reputation for being the first at the food table. Now, I do make sure to take a look but only to know what I'm missing. For example, today I missed some Krispy Kremes. Not like I would have eaten those anyway. I can eat sugary crap all day long, but have some sort of internal resistance to doughnuts because they're bad for you.
  
• Eat a green veggie with dinner every night. Corn is not a green veggie.
  
• Bring food for lunch. It shall consist of one raw food, like celery and carrots, and one non-raw food that's not bread.
  
• Eat decent dinner cooked at home during weeknights. If eating out, eat the healthiest thing on the menu, and include green veggie!
  
• No alcohol. Not even 1 beer or gin and tonic until my tummy is completely flat again.
  
• Eliminate as many non-raw foods as possible
  
• Wake up every morning to do Yoga. Attend as much Yoga class as possible, too, which I already do.
  
• Ride the bike to work as much as possible. It's okay to whimp out if the day's high temp is below 40 degrees.
  
• Start training on the bike. Don't just ride places at a ho-hum pace, but start trying to beat traffic lights. (My traditional exercise is to slow down if I know, based on the flashing crosswalk lights, that the yellow is coming very soon.)
  
• Join a group ride or two!
  

Yes, the title of this post. What does that mean? Well, I have a pretty hilly 4-mile commute. Usually, I cruise down a long hill going to work, but ride the bike back up another way that has steeper yet shorter hills. Yesterday, I rode back up the mile-long hill, as husband suggested. Actually it wasn't that bad, which means I wasn't pushing myself nearly as much as I should have.