One of the really important things that I did at the writing marathon last week was getting back into the habit of walking 10K steps per day.

When I was living in Seattle, 10K steps per day was easy. I did it kind of without thinking about it. I set up my habits so that I just did my steps, mostly by just living my life. I walked to the grocery store. I walked to the coffeeshop. I walked everywhere. I rarely drove. In addition, I would generally take a separate walk once a day, frequently that was my evening constitutional.

Since moving out here, I just don’t walk as much. I have to drive to the grocery store as well as the library or the coffeeshop. I do walk around the property, but it’s more difficult to walk here than it was in the city.

I’ve been telling myself since the start of the year that I needed to move more. The NerdFitness bodyweight exercises were supposed to help with that.

But really, I just need to walk. The best exercise is the one you’ll do.

We got back from the writing marathon on Saturday. I mowed that afternoon, so I got in my steps. Last night, I went to the gym to get in (most) of my steps. Will probably end up going to the gym again tonight.

I have had the habit of working in the evenings, then sitting and reading for a while before going to bed.

I’m going to change my habit. Sometime after dinner, take my kindle and go into the gym and read while either walking or using the stationary bike. Possibly take a shower when I get home, then get back to work for a couple of hours before I go to bed.

There will be days when I’m doing some sort of construction, and therefore don’t need to go into the gym. There will also be days when I’m mowing. But on a day like today, when it’s raining, I’m going to end up going into the gym. I’m okay with that.

One of the big differences that I see by doing 10K steps per day is that I have a lot more ketones than I did. I haven’t changed my diet. It’s all exercise. (Technical details – I use urine strips every morning to measure my ketones. The color of the strip indicates the amount of ketones; trace, small, moderate, and large. Before, when I was walking less, I was generally between trace and small. Now, I’m showing moderate every morning.)

It wasn’t that I felt bad before. But I’m certainly feeling good now. Plus, I have a few pounds that I’d like to shed. Walking more while not eating more I figure will help with that as well.

I hope that you had a lovely weekend and are looking forward to your upcoming week! I am. I believe I’m going to finish the latest B4B today (NaNoWriMo for Everyone Else) and start the next novel tomorrow morning. (Spent time thinking about it this morning and getting all excited.) Tell me what you’re looking forward to!