“Solvitur Ambulando”

(Latin for “It is solved by walking.” Attributed to St. Augustine.)?

Please indulge me while I take a moment to brag about something personal.?

Earlier this year, I became frustrated with where some of my chronic health conditions were taking me, and I decided to do something about it. Something cost-free. Something easy enough for most anyone to do.

I took up outdoor walking in early March. My work and home are both located in Johnson County, Kansas, where there are a host of interesting, well-maintained walking paths winding through beautiful scenery, and it’s all free of cost.?

I started slow with regular 20-30 minute walks during lunch-hour, then built speed and distance over time, incorporating before-work and/or evening walks into the routine. I currently walk 75 minutes at a time, six-seven days a week, and I walk hard.?

By happy coincidence, I found myself going easier on calories and quantity of lunch-hour meals and my dinner cravings and portions responded in a positive way as well. Every bit of the dietary-end of this happened without planning or force.?

As of this morning’s weigh-in, I’ve lost 33 lbs from the beginning of March until now. I needed to lose some weight, but not necessarily this amount; I’ll take it anyway, though slowing that rate is in order.???

My diabetes, while never the worst in the world, improved rapidly and enough that I received permission from my PCP to stop my metformin. My blood pressure, especially my systolic, responded well enough that I was allowed to cut in half the dosage of one of my BP meds as well. My triglycerides have shown vast improvement, and my neuropathy, while never going away, has become more manageable, psychologically if nothing else.?

Being an introvert, the time alone outdoors — and on occasion walks with a friend whose health/fitness and philosophical counsel I trust — has been invaluable for thought-processing and making forward plans. (Fellow introverts know how absolutely essential alone-time and control of personal interaction is for mental-health wellbeing.)?

Thanks for allowing me a moment to share a big-deal personal accomplishment: one that required zero expenditure of funds; time being the only capital invested.?