Take the stairs!

Summer is one of our most favorite times of the year.  I don’t know about you, but for us, Family vacations, grilling out, and movie nights all encompass our summer routine.  We love to endulge in the always-delicious mouse-tracks ice cream, and fill our oven with scoops of the ever-ready pillsbury cookie-dough.  Yes, summer is a wonderful time of the year.

One of the hardest places, I find balance in during the summer, however, is managing some sort of “health routine” in the midst of these indulging snacks.  I love bringing fresh-baked cookies to the table, after we’ve finished our grilled turkey burgers for dinner, but my waist-line doesn’t seem to like these choices near as much.  It’s so hot outside during the day, that going for a run seems nearly impossible, unless we wait until the sun goes down, which more-often-than-not means we won’t go, leaving us feeling guilty, frustrated, and full.

A few years back Steve and I went on a cruise for vacation, and upon boarding the ship were given some brilliant advice.  Our first stop was to the gym on the boat (which I’ll go ahead and admit this was the one and only time during our cruise vacation that we visited this spot), and while there, one of the trainers gave us a great nugget of wisdom.  He told us to go ahead and enjoy every moment of soaking up the sun, indulging in the food, and lounging around…but to always take the stairs.  He said that being on a cruise we were bound to not loose any weight, unless we maintained an exercise regime and were strict on what we allowed to enter our mouths (which, let’s just face it, was NOT going to happen), but that we could limit the amount of weight we GAINED, by simply taking the stairs.  He went on to explain that many people take the elevators on the ship, which results in their exercise dimishing for the week or so that they’re on the boat.  They’ll wait for 10 minutes or more for the always-full elevator, and then once on the Lido Deck, head to the buffet where they’ll devour all 6 pieces of chocolate cake that they’re offered.  Once finished, they’ll head back to the elevator which will then wisk them away to their stateroom where they can take a nap.  Daily exercise total, once this is repeated 10 or more times a day: Zero.

The wisdom from the trainer was brilliant, because, while Steve and I didn’t find ourselves loosing any weight while on the boat, walking those 5-6 flights of stairs each time we wanted to find that pizza or ice cream station, meant burning many of the calories we were about to eat before they were ever placed in our mouths.

So, let’s assume that not everyone will be headed out to sea on a cruise ship this summer.  How does this trainer’s advice benefit you?  Simple.  “Take the stairs.”  Wherever you find yourself this summer, choose to take the “stairs.”  Whether that means while walking around the mall, you look for the stairs rather than the escalator to get to that second floor, do it.  Perhaps at church you take the stairs, rather than crowding the elevator to get to your bible study class.  Maybe, you even determine to “take the stairs” figuratively, and translate that into walking a little bit more each time you head to the grocery by parking at the back of the lot, rather than circling the parking lot until that front-row spot opens up. 

The bottom line is that I understand summer is busy.  You want to fill it with memory-making adventures, and not exercise routine’s.  So, make it simple. Resolve this summer to “take the stairs” every time you’re given the option, and come this fall, we’ll see where you find yourself.