Out of the comfort zone

It's not good if everything is well.

For the last six wees or so I have been perfecting my art in brewing, bread baking, and basic cheese making. And while I am still far from perfect in any of those the result have become passable, well, actually quite good. I would no longer consider buying any bread from the supermarket. My beer is the best to be had for less than seven bucks the six pack (by my totally unbiased opinion at least), and between buttermilk, yogurt, and quark there is little need to buy anything from the store - apart from flour and milk, that is.

Apart from being tastier and cheaper making my own food also proves to be a lot of fun, even now that the big experiments are over, and I pretty much know what will work and what won't. It is so much fun actually, I continue to do a lot of it all: brew a lot of beer, bake a lot of bread, make a lot of milk stuff. And this is where suddenly the problems arise:

While I do spread around some of my bounty occasionally, most of the stuff gets consumed right here - and by me. As a result I have been gaining weight, to the tune of six pounds over the last six weeks! That's right, during the time of the year when the last of the winter pounds usually come off, I managed to gain. During the time of the year when I am usually at my leanest I am now at my heaviest. NO GOOD!

And no, it is not only on the scale. While I usually run a lot I have not felt much like running lately. This usually is a sure indicator of extra pounds making the running less comfortable. When I do run then the former energy just isn't there; I run both shorter and slower than I used to. It is obvious: A the good food is making me fat and lazy. Again, NO GOOD!

I finally decided to do something and to fight back. No, not by eating less or (gulp!) drinking less, but by running more. And just how would I suddenly get motivated if I was not before? Well, by joining a group of other runners, of course. So from now on, I will be running in addition to baking and brewing, at the least every Tuesday and Saturday, and quite possibly more often. In addition, I should have an easy time offloading some of my stuff on these folks, leaving less around for me to eat.

Sounds like a three way win situation for me: I run more, eat less, and the other runners will get something out of it too! So let's see how that is going to turn out ---