In my second week of concentrating on this goal, I surpassed the first week, putting in more than 10 miles of cardio-level walking.

At the start of this past week, I was slowed down a bit by blistered feet. So I took the opportunity to explore the strength-training plan that sparkpeople.com had recommended for me. I had to adapt it a bit – substituting other exercises for two that were going to be too hard on my knees – but that turned out to be quite simple. The routine takes about 30 minutes, and I can do it in front of the TV, so I don’t get bored.

Once the blisters healed sufficiently, I did some walking, too. And one morning when the weather didn’t co-operate, I tried one of SP’s nifty little 10-minute cardio workouts. Turns out that it burns more calories than 30 minutes of plain walking at 2mph, and afterward I felt fabulous: so full of energy that I walked more than half a mile before hopping the streetcar to get to an appointment. I’d have walked the whole way if I’d been sure I had enough time.

So the next day I tried another, and I have at least one planned for today as well.

All together, last week I logged 3.6 miles of walking and 20 minutes of other cardio (thus slightly exceeding my base cardio goal for the week in both total time and calories burned), and 60 minutes of strength training (only two-thirds of my weekly goal, but a full hour more than I’d done in any previous week).

^{I totally deserved those new clothes.}