Originally posted on Facebook HERE
Rain today. Spent the last two days with the grandkids. Had a great time together, did a lot of fun things. Ate way too much, and a lot of foods I normally try to stay away from – onion rings, pizza, ice cream, malts, popcorn, spaghetti, etc – all in perfect conehead “consume mass quantity” style. Gained four pounds in two days. Pretty sure I’ll get it off quickly, but – the older you get, the easier it is to add weight, and the slower the weight will come off it seems. In the meantime, I’m still working on the book “The Rhythm of Life” by Matthew Kelly. He talks a lot about becoming the best version of yourself, about dedicating yourself to being the best you you can be physically, emotionally, intellectually and spiritually. To me, everything kind of starts with how I feel physically. I know that when I’m eating right, working out, looking and feeling good, everything else in my life seems to flow better as well. But the physical “best self I can be” also has the most temptations. Chocolate malts, popcorn, pizza… Taco Doritos… potato chips… we try not to keep “bad” food around the house, but you know… every now and then some Chips Ahoy sneak into the shopping cart. To me, this all boils down to answering this question for myself: “How important is physical health to you?”… as well as this one, “How far are you willing to go to maintain good health?”… I feel like right now, having just turned sixty, I need to really give this some thought and possibly make some changes. In general we eat pretty well (my wife Laurie and I are both vegetarians), and I average a couple days a week of strength training (for an hour) and cardio (30 minutes), but I’m feeling Ike it’s no longer enough. Years ago, at the highest weight I’ve ever been (195), it motivated me to make some serious changes. Through portion control and running two miles a day every day (seven days a week) I lost thirty pounds in three months and felt amazing. I love running, but I hardly ever do it now. I know, and I’ve known for years, how good yoga would be for me (this was accentuated the last couple days with the grandkids, getting in and out of bumper cars and go carts, etc – my ability to bend wasn’t great to begin with, and doesn’t exactly improve as you get older). And I know the importance of eating the right food in the proper amounts, too. The portions you get at most WI restaurants are enough for at least three meals. But once you’re in, well – tough to stop, right? And they have double chocolate death cake for dessert? Bring it on! With malts for everyone!… food. Can’t live without it, but eating crap in mass proportions will kill you eventually. My ideal fitness regime would be strength train/cardio 2x/week, yoga 2x/week, run 2x/week and really look long and hard at what, when and how much I’m eating as I do it. I might even start sleeping more than five-six hours a night (which is a discussion for another time – sleep is also extremely important here). Am I at the point to commit to being the best me I can be physically? This has been on my “someday” shelf for a while now… I think the prognosis is unclear as to whether I’m willing to follow through right now, which means no, but… I’m going to give this more thought once I’m done writing today. Because everything flows better when I feel better. And if not now, when? When is the best time to make any change you know will be good for you? The moment you think it and know it, of course. Be healthy, my friends.
