To Exercise or Not To Exercise, That is the Question

In none of my recent posts have I discussed exercise. Yep. Exercise. For a naturally non athletically inclined” person, exercise is not something I eagerly do. It takes time. I have to work it into my already “busy” retirement schedule.  It’s lots of trouble. I have to keep my gym bag gym ready. If I already have makeup on before I go to the gym, I have to take it off then reapply it after exercising. Yada. Yada. Yada. I can find a million (ok. Maybe that’s an exaggeration) excuses for not exercising.

I have at times in my life been a regular exerciser, but for me currently, the discipline of eating with the proper control and restraint is a higher priority. Eating too much can and does easily negate the benefits of regular exercise. “You can’t out exercise a bad diet.” (Biggest Loser quote.”) Therefore, I am focusing on conscious eating rather than disciplined, regular exercising.

That said, I am exercising. Lap swimming is my exercise of choice. I love to swim. I lap swim for an hour; 1200 yards. My goal is to swim two to three times a week. If the pool at my gym is full, my second choice is the elliptical, on which I also spend an hour. Exercising is serious business for me. I go in, get it done, and get on with my day. Retired people are very busy, you know.

I don’t really have a choice about whether or not to exercise, because it is critical to keeping my blood pressure under control. If I miss a couple of weeks in the pool, my blood pressure jumps up 20 points, and I feel lousy. Soooooo I keep doing it.

So I believe exercise is important because of the health benefits, and I tend to put it in the same category as medicine. I just take it. I just do it. That said, I am always happy and feel great once my exercise sessions are done.

The Secret to Real Weight Loss Is ..........

The secret is that there are no weight loss secrets. There are no shortcuts. There are no quick and easy weight loss diets that will give real and permanent weight loss.

Real and permanent weight loss comes when we eat fewer calories than our bodies use. Period. End of story.

This is actually a very positive concept.  Once we accept this fact as true, then we can cut out the weight loss clutter and just focus on what really works.  We can then set our minds on eating the right  kinds of calories in the right amounts. We can begin to use more calories by exercising and being active.

Permanent weight loss is attained by being consistent in doing what is best for our bodies day after day.

Those #%}£¥ Brownies!

I was not prepared for brownies. They were just sitting there on the table with all the other desserts. They were made just the way I like them. Oh, dear. What to do? What to do? Just a small taste. Yep. That would be ok, I told myself. Just a small taste. I have just a small taste and that will be all.

Well, I had a small taste. Then another one and another one. That first small taste became several small, well, not so small, tastes. I'm sure my blood sugar soared. Sigh.

This was just another confirmation that I have no stopping power when it comes to sugar and chocolate. Just how many confirmations do I need? One small taste is at the same time too much and not enough.

The good news? I did not totally crater. I am still counting points and exercising, and my weight is still heading the right direction. Yea!

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Slowly Losing Still Results in Winning

Yes, the scales are ever so slowly going down, and my patience is being tested in a new way. However, because I have decided to keep on keeping on doing what 'is good for me', I am winning!

My clothes are not just fitting better, they are now looser. The exercise has made me feel stronger and more energetic. My balance has improved, and I can touch my toes! I can get down and up out of the floor with much less effort.

My blood sugar is staying in normal ranges. My blood pressure and pulse are much better. Last week I had blood work done and my cholesterol was normal!

Doing good things on a daily basis, results in positive benefits that would happen no other way. If you are facing something requiring patience, I encourage you to keep on keeping on doing what is good for you, and you too will be a winner.


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Patience and Post Menopausal Weight Loss

I don't know why I was surprised. Perhaps I was hoping it was just an old wive's tale. Well, I am here to tell you from personal experience, that after menopause, metabolism soooooows down.

For several months now I have eaten very well. I have cut back considerably on salt, fat, sweets, and portion sizes. I have tested my blood sugar daily. I have consistently done Tae Bo three to four times a week. In all this time I have only lost 15 pounds. Before menopause I would have lost much more. Sigh.

Am I discouraged? In no way! In the next post I will share all that I am winning by losing!





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Roundhouse Kicks and Uppercuts

Building the habit of regular exercise has always been a challenge for me. It has always been one of those things that I will start with semi enthusiasm, and then let it go the minute something else appeared to get in the way. Then once again this exercising attempt would be added to my list of unfinished projects.

With the coming of the events of the last few weeks, I have decided to make more than an attempt at regular exercise. This season of my life requires more in order to continue to be able to do the things I want to do.

In days gone by (at least a decade), I purchased and even used a video of Tae Bo, by Billy Blanks. I enjoyed learning and tried to keep up with those young, strong, 20 somethings on the video

Well, in this age of high definition, that old VHS just would not do. So I purchased a new Tae Bo DVD. Even though the guys and gals on the video have a thirty year or more advantage on me, I am enjoying the workouts. And with each workout I am a little stronger, have more endurance, and my techniques is less bad than the time before!


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My Husband's Story

Rick's story began two days after I had the cyst surgically removed. He began to have chest pains. A trip to the emergency room, an angiogram, and a stent brought him face to face with a serious need to begin to do things that were good for himself.

These were life changing moments for us. We were forced to pivot and immediately begin eating a "heart health" diet and begin a consistent exercise program.


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Paul McKenna: "Supercharge Your Metabolism"

This video on McKenna's website talks about the value of exercise and how we are all exercising unless we are bedfast. According to him, getting dressed is a form of exercise. Brushing our teeth is exercise. We all exercise. We just need to do more of it. By doing more exercise, we increase our metabolism rate, and our bodies burn calories and fat more quickly, enabling us to lose weight more quickly, or enabling us to maintain a healthy weight more easily. That's it. Nothing more complicated than that.
In addition, McKenna teaches on this video a technique that will help motivate us to exercise. Again he uses associations to accomplish this, and I believe it will work.

I must admit that the discipline of regular exercise has not as yet become part of my lifestyle. No particular reason. I just find other ways to use my time. I realize that must change if I am to attain and maintain my desired weight.

Diabetes and Stomach Band Surgery

The report, which was about using stomach band surgery, often called lap band surgery, as a treatment for diabetes, got my attention. The results of a study done in Australia, showed that those who had lab band surgery had their Type 2 diabetes go into remission at a rate of 5 times more than those who treated their diabetes in traditional ways, i.e. diet, exercise, diabetes medication.
It was a small but definitive study, and its is getting quite a bit of attention in our national news. A manufacturer of lap bands funded the study, but had no input at all in how the study was conducted or its results.
There are many questions still to be asked and answered which will undoubtedly be the focus of future studies. For example, who would benefit the most from the surgery? How long will the lap band enable diabetes to remain in remission? Is the costs and risks of the surgery outweighed by the benefit of avoiding the health complications brought on by diabetes?

Yes, this report got my attention. However, it wasn't the study and its results alone that made me stop in my tracks. It was a comment made by the doctor presenting the information.
He said, "Diabetes is a very aggressive disease. It causes people to die at a much higher rate from heart related problems than the regular population." He continued on by discussing other serious aspects of the disease and the shortened life expectancy that diabetes brings.
That got my attention. Higher death rate. Shortened life expectancy. Aggressive disease.
I knew all of these things, but to hear them come so emphatically from this doctor's mouth brought it all to a new level of reality for me.
The other thing that got my attention was that diabetes can be cured or brought into remission for many of us simply by weight loss. In my mind that comment brought my weight loss, again, to a new level of necessity.
Another thing to win by losing. Lose weight---gain a longer life, and no diabetes complications because that disease is in remission!!!

New Year's Resolutions and Losing Weight

I love it when when a new year begins. Yep. The new year is like a fresh sheet of paper. There is nothing on it. There are no mistakes. No eraser marks. No sloppy writing. It is only fresh and clean, not empty, but rather covered with potential. Potential for good things, wonderful things to be written, as well as potential for writing about things that are not so good. Potential for writing about successes as well as failures. Potential for growth and learning as well as potential for laziness and sloppiness. Yes, a new year is like a fresh sheet of paper.

I often begin the new year with resolutions, things I resolve to do or do better. This year is not different, except that I am choosing a different approach. I am choosing to think of this year as a new book, a fresh book, with no mistakes, no eraser marks, and no sloppy writing. This new year is fresh and clean, not empty, but rather filled with potential.

Each new day in this new year is like a page in my book. I am going to look at each new day this year as being covered with potential for doing good things for myself and those around me, for growth and learning, and for becoming all that God intends for me to be.

My resolutions will be make each day and they will last only for that day, that page in my book. One day at a time. For today, I resolve to eat only what is good for me and exercise. Just for today I will be attentive to my friends, family, and business. Just for today I will seek God's will every decision I make. Just for today.

Yes, this year will be like a book.