staying fit and yummy snacks

I had this stroke of genius today. We've bought a bag of apples that are supposed to be empires but taste like sawdust. Think of the texture of say a gala apple that's a little old. Kinda mushy and mealy. That's what these taste like. Not overly sweet, and no tartness to speak of. So I was trying to jazz them up a bit but caramel dip just seems like a back step. Afterall, I'm trying to shed a few pounds here! And then it hit me: I have a hard time hitting my daily protein quota... why not dip them in peanut butter! OMG!! yummy. And just think how much better it would be with a nice tart, crisp granny smith or real empire... but one thing at a time, we'll finish these empire impostors first.
I have a new way of tricking myself into exercising. It goes like this. I unplug my computer in the morning, fully charged. I get to use it up until the charge is gone, and then that's it, time to get off the couch and do something with my life. This can mean going for a walk, gardening, cleaning, spending time with family and friends... whatever. If, however, I want to use the computer more, I have to hit the treadmill. I set the laptop on the shelf in front of the machine, plug it in, and watch an episode of something while I plug away on the machine. I then get to use whatever battery power has been generated during the 50 minutes or so that I was working out. This serves two goals: I get my butt moving and actually make use of the treadmill, and I don't get sucked down some idiotic wormhole and spend hours and hours with my face in a computer screen, often on stupid websites that I really need to put back in perspective. So what if my virtual pet dies because I didn't feed it 15 times today? Do I really care? Unless the way I treat my virtual pet dictates the way rescue workers treat some starving mutt in a third world country, I have news for my self: it's just dots in cyberspace!
They're not huge changes, but it's something. I'm down 2 lbs since Monday. Its a start.