Journal Entries for Week 38

I haven't had enough free time to do it as often as I'd like to, but I spent today, Saturday, in a favorite good-weather weekend-day way: choosing a lunch place that called for a minimum 45-minute bike ride there, having a substantial lunch, then biking back.

I like this for many reasons. It lets me dwell on what I'm going to eat and when I'm going to eat it without surrendering to excessive food fixation or gluttony, because the eating is wrapped into a larger adventure. And the larger adventure includes sustained, serious exercise: I earn the lunch, which tastes even better because it's been earned, and because I'm hungry after all the pedaling.

Literally, the whole of the day is a great energy-out, energy-in strategy for having a full, filling lunch without having to worry about its waistline consequences. But the day serves as an apt metaphor, too. You can enjoy a sizable meal and luxuriate in it without sweating portions too much because you've made a down payment on it with the exercise beforehand, and because you start burning it off as you pedal away.

Tom and I rode a 13-mile route from my apartment to Roberta's in Bushwick. We could have found an 8 or 9-mile way, but built in some extra miles. Then I rode the same distance home: a straighter line, but then a two-thirds loop inside Central Park. At Roberta's: we shared an individual size pizza, plus an entree of fried chicken with biscuits, plus a side of tomato grits.

Two hours later, I type this feeling sated but not heavy---feeling great. Though tired. A nap is in order. Without further ado . . .