[legion]

In January, I decided to start walking on my breaks at work. I probably do about a mile on my morning break, and another mile on my afternoon break. I'm blessed in that I can do it all indoors, we actually have a designated walking area indoors at work, and I guestimate that it is about a quarter mile, so 4 lengths, or 2 laps, is roughly a mile. There's also a 1.5 mile track around the lake at work that I use in good weather.

At first, it absolutely killed my back. I'd start to get thigh rash at the end of a mile. But three months in, I'm starting to see some real benefits. First, I've dropped some fat. I was about 285 when I started walking, and now I'm about 290, but I was squeezing into 40" jeans, and now they are hanging baggy. Thighs, butt, waist, all have shrunk. My stamina has gone up tremendously too. I used to do 30 minutes of cardio on Fridays at the gym and that was about my limit. Now I do 2.5 hours of cardio on Fridays. And that is BEFORE weight lifting. (And my Friday workout entails benching 385 lbs. in 3 sets for 4 reps.) My back no longer hurts. My appetite has gone down.

I use the time walking to think. I check in on my work Blackberry to ensure that there are no emergencies. I've used the time to prioritize and plan my day. I've used the time to ponder technical problems. I've used the time to consider if there are any additional ways I can investigate a problem. I've used the time to mull over strained working relationships. I actually decided one day to invite a coworker out to lunch to discuss our interpersonal issues. It went very well. I started by telling him that I realized there were some things that I needed to take responsibility for, but he needed to let me know about them in a less abrasive manner. (I think the fact that I led off by telling him he was right helped tremendously.)

It's a nice time to de-stress and work through the issues of the day. I feel like taking these twice daily timeouts allow me to be MUCH more productive with my day.