I Like to Move It

In which this night owl embraces early mornings.

Liliana, my cat, cries to be fed very early, every morning. Some days she makes her presence known by sitting next to the bed, other days she announces herself by standing on my chest. Each morning, however, without fail she cries for her supper, er breakfast. I used to roll over and grumble, hoping that she would get the message and fend for herself (and by fend for herself I mean eat the food that was still in her bowl) until I got up. Some days she would lie down next to me, waiting patiently until I woke. Other days her lusty yowls would prevent further snoozing. Oooh! I would be so grumpy, stumbling out of bed wondering why I had gotten a cat and how I could teach her to sleep in.

Fast forward to now and I am enjoying the idea of getting up early and going out for a walk. I don’t jump out of bed singing with the birds but I do find that I look forward to the early morning walks which have become a part of my routine. I get up, grab my workout clothes and head over to Clark Park for my walk.

Trees in Clark Park

During the walk I take this time to enjoy the city (although I have NO love for the city at this moment after getting a parking ticket because my meter was expired for THREE WHOLE MINUTES), take notice of nature, enjoy how far I’ve come.

Part of my weight loss study is that I need to exercise, for me that means walk/wog different amounts of time per week, eventually working up to five days per week at 50 minutes a pop. I had no idea how I would accomplish this but setting the goal to walk a mile a day was a start. The first days I was so ready for the walks to be over, sneaking peeks at my timer wishing for it to read 20 minutes.

Now I am adding some wogging (walk/jogging) to my routine and, gasp, I have survived.

Wogging in the rain and I survived!

I even joined a Boot Camp (disclosure…I’ve been twice and complained a lot both times) and while sore and whiny, I enjoy meeting like-minded fit folks.

Clark Park Fitness Boot Camp

My early morning walks also keep me in the loop for upcoming events (Philly loves outdoor festivals and I love the price tag…FREE!)

And while I know that you can’t outrun a bad diet, moving in some form daily has helped sculpt some of those lumps into humps and I am able to fit into a dress I ambitiously bought a few months ago but could not quite fit.

Today I saw this sign for coffee and it spoke to me.

What is my “because”?

I get up early because I like doing something for me before doing everything for everyone else.

I wog because I love that my body is growing stronger by the day.

I like to move it because, well that dress looks great!