The First Steps

I got up later than I usually do on Monday, mostly because I went to sleep a little later than normal on Sunday night. The season finale of True Blood wrapped up in exciting fashion and left us with a cliffhanger for next season (natch), whenever that might be. The pay cable stations don't adhere to the usual television seasons and it may be six months or a year until the next episode.
I can wait.
I decided that today was the day to get back on track. I'm starting with small steps but they are steps nonetheless. I just hope they lead in the right direction. I worked out again, not my full workout but most of it. I have been neglecting my routine and it's showing. There are a few pics of myself that I have seen recently that I have seriously cropped because I'm too vain to show how out of shape I've gotten. That also goes for my food intake. As much as I love dear Helene, she has been fattening me up like I'm Hansel in the candy covered cottage. And truth be told, I love to eat! When I was going to the gym on a regular basis, it was so hard to gain any significant weight. Yes, my muscle mass was getting bigger but I had the hardest time getting the weight on. Eating is not the problem, it's my metabolism and energetic lifestyle that burns the calories so fast and adding a gym routine five times a week didn't help (and walking the two miles to and from the gym). Now that I am out of work, I've become very sedentary but I haven't stopped eating. Actually, I've increased my food intake and it's not been all the good stuff. Ice cream, Devil Dogs, chocolate chip cookies, deep fried items, pizza three times a week, chips, M&M's, you get the idea, junk on top of junk. And I started drinking soda again and not the diet version. It's disgusting and I'm getting a little belly. Time to change that situation. So, I had my morning oatmeal, one bag of peanuts (high in protein), a salad and then tuna fish with fresh lemon juice, no mayonnaise. Plus, I worked out and then took a nearly seven mile walk (3.24 miles each way) through my island of love.

And what a walk it was. I don't dawdle on my walks, I plow through the city like a man on a mission. It was great to not have so many shoobies to dodge and I extended my route all the way down to the Tramp Touch My Hole...err...Trump Taj Mahal. I also added my usual routine of entering Caesars and running up the three flights of steps and then back down through another exit out of Ballys. By the time I got to Taj, I decided that I had had enough sun and trekked through the city itself. When I passed the Albany Avenue bridge, I decided to wander along the back bay, an area of the city I'm not familiar with. It's quite nice back there, full of little, well-kept homes and it's very quiet. Strangely so. There's no traffic to speak of and hardly any pedestrians. Aside from me.