A healthy lifestyle is an important cornerstone of my next chapter for one simple reason: good health provides the freedom to live life on my own terms. That said, staying fit and maintaining a healthy weight has challenged me for most of my life. When it’s my focus I do pretty well, but all too often I’ve let other people or things become my priority and have found myself out of shape and overweight. So, while I accept it as a key element of the life I envision for myself, I know from experience sustaining it is easier said than done.
Fortunately, I find myself in a good place today because I started 2017 with a renewed commitment to making healthy eating and fitness a priority. As I ended 2016, I was coming off one of those stretches in my life where I hadn’t been as diligent about living healthy as I should have been. I was over my “happy” weight (that magic number where I’m happy and my doctor’s happy) and both my stamina and strength had suffered; worse yet, I was starting to feel my age. Yikes – now that’s a wakeup call. Luckily, my sister Sandy doubles as a fitness coach, and with her guidance I’ve improved my diet, started daily workouts and am feeling fantastic. And as a bonus I’m back where I need to be on the scale.
My challenge, as I start my Chapter 3, is to make it stick – make the diet and exercise program I’ve been following a lifestyle rather than just another short-term project to reclaim myself. My sister is quick to remind me that while it takes 21 days to create a habit, it takes 90 days to create a lifestyle. So, while I’d like nothing more than to kick my running shoes to the back of the closet and declare victory, I evidently have another milestone to hit.
The healthy eating side of the proposition is the easier one for me. I prefer real food and can live happily on lean meat, seafood, fruits, veggies and whole grains, which happens to match perfectly with the diet plan I’ve been on since the beginning of January. Of course, going forward I’ll need to accommodate wine, and the occasional ice cream or dark chocolate indulgence, but for the most part eating a balanced diet in reasonable portions is something I can embrace.
My nemesis is the exercise part of the healthy living equation. I’ve never fully understood my aversion to working out because I love being active, and I get that “exercise high” they talk about when the endorphins kick in. The exertion helps me sleep more soundly, and it goes with saying my clothes fit better. Plus, the competitive side of me is stoked when I can add ten pounds to a chest press or take twenty seconds off my mile. Clearly I see the benefits. I have a fully equipped exercise room in my home, a cabinet full of workout DVDs, and the endless options presented by the great outdoors; access is not the issue.
It’s more about fitting it in; making time for it especially right now when I have so many exciting distractions in front of me. Eating healthy isn’t an extra activity; I’m eating anyway, so I simply must make the right choices instead of the wrong ones. But exercise is different – It’s work. It takes commitment and extra time out of my daily schedule. And it leads to more work: before and after stretching, additional laundry, extra showers, and well, you get the drift. Believe me when I say, I’d give anything to find a way to feel great and maintain my weight without having to exercise.
At this point I’m sure the exercise fanatics among you are pooh-poohing my lame excuses; and I get it. My own experience tells me without regular workouts my metabolism slows to a crawl, my muscles wither, and my energy dwindles. There was certainly a time in my life when I could rely on my body to meet daily physical challenges without having to train for them; exercise did not seem as essential then. But the vitality associated with youth is a diminishing resource and as each year passes, I find myself more desperate to preserve as much of it as I can. I don’t like feeling weak, and I certainly need more stamina than ever to keep up with the youngers. So, despite all the whining about my dislike of exercise, I concede it is a requisite ingredient to the active life I treasure.
But the truth is, a much bigger consideration is now inspiring me to finally prioritize fitness. The bitter reality that has my attention is that there are no guarantees for how long I will be able to maintain even my current level of physical activity. I may not be a fan of exercise, but I love the robust outdoor life I’m lucky enough to live. I can’t imagine not being able to swim in the pristine lake out my back door, or play basketball, football and soccer with my grandson, or hike in the majestic Smoky Mountains. Each of us has aspects of our life we hold dear, but it only takes an injury, or an illness, or the nasty grip of old age to snatch them away forever. I am painfully aware that my good health and physical fitness is not infinite; it will end. I don’t want to get to the next stage of my life cycle, hopefully in the very distant future, and regret that I squandered precious years just because I couldn’t make time for regular workouts. So, whether it’s lifting weights, improving my flexibility, or trekking the hills of East Tennessee, I am determined that this is the year I will not only make exercise a consistent part of my routine, but I will cherish it as the privilege it is.
My 2017 fitness mantra is: Because I can. . . I will.
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