Day 51: Movement vs. Calories

We walked into a local bookseller at the mall, and stopped at the first table. There, displayed on the closest corner, was a large coffee table book called; What I Eat: Around the World in 80 Diets. We spent the next 45 minutes completely engrossed.

It starts simply with a Masai herdsman who eats 800 calories a day. Pictured is the Masai herdsman and his daily food, placed before him. It continues on like that, through many countries and occupations, until it reaches a woman (in England, no less) who eats more than 12,000 calories a day, mostly in junk food. There were truck drivers from a couple countries, astronauts, caregivers, farmers, refugees, veterans, a model, and an iron worker. All were beautifully photographed and profiled with their days food before them.

What was especially interesting was the back to back profiles of a sumo wrestler who eats 2,500 calories a day and a muscular, well built California surfer who eats the same. The sumo was taller than the surfer and almost double his weight. This leads me to believe there is a whole lot to movement and work. That thought is especially confirmed when looking at those people in the world with 8,600 calorie diets, like the Mongolians (yah, crazy, right? But it was mostly horse milk). The Mongolian plains people are very fit humans, they work so hard.

When I was complaining about not losing the weight I was expecting with all my new activity, Melodie said to me, "Why does it have to be about weight loss? Why can't it just be that you run and swim now?" That has been milling around in my head for a couple weeks. The one thing I miss is my time: to read, sew, watch a movie, etc. I've never been much for just sitting, but now with my work schedule as well as my training schedule, I recognize the beauty of just having a day.

Perhaps that is what happened today. With sleeping in, all the rain this morning and all the things on my to-do list, I lost my whole day without a workout--except for cleaning the house. It will just have to do for today, even though there are only 97 days until I compete... yikes!