Returns

So last year I before I took my leave of absence to work on a political campaign, I was diligently going to the gym and trying to at least keep somewhat fit.  I stopped doing any kind of exercise after it started getting dark in the morning and I couldn’t ride my bike.  I was working all kinds of crazy hours and by the time I got home not only was it dark but I was exhausted.  Now that I am back on a very regular schedule, I signed up for the gym.

My employer provides an on-site gym and you would think that I would take advantage of it without a second thought.  Let’s face it.  Like half the population out there, I am lazy and hate to exercise.  But I have been trying to lose this winter weight and get in better shape (aren’t I ALWAYS), so I decided I needed to get back into the gym.  I also have to keep up the exercise on my bad knee and not undo the great outcome from the physical therapy I had last year.

My first time is next week.  I need time to get back in the routine of things and I am giving myself a little “me-time” before jumping right into it.  I have to set myself up for this and arrange the schedule in my head to make room for this.  When my brain is engaged, my body will follow?  One can only hope…

The Perils of the American Diet

I came across a blog to day called the No Impact Man by a man named Colin Beavan who talks about what each of us can do to end the environmental crisis. I am not sure if anyone follows that blog, but I put it on my reader list because this is an issue that’s important to me. Today I found it through a posting that was reproduced on the Huffington Post blog which talked about what the American diet has done to the health care crisis.

It seems to me that most people, me included, rarely think about what they eat. They eat for taste, convenience, and sometimes for cost. I read an article the other day that talked about the reason Americans overeat is that the food is filled with fat, salt, and sugar and these are triggers that prevent you from stopping. If you think about all the junk food out there, you realize that is so true. Think about all the fast food ads; they are hawking so much fatty foods that you can gain weight just viewing the commercial. No Impact Man’s blog talked about the increase of obesity over the last 30 years and the correlation of the popularity of the foods like hamburgers, French fries, milkshakes, and the like and you can definitely see there is no coincidence. I also read the Atkins Diet book and he said that the correlation of the food pyramid and obesity was striking. He claimed that the same percentages of the food groups are exactly the same as the way they feed the pigs to fatten them on the way to the slaughterhouse. If you listen to my mother, she swears the sugar industry has us by the short and curlies.

He also goes on to say that the Americans have also sabotaged themselves by drastically reducing the amount of exercise we get. Recently, there has been some realization of that as shown by the amount of gyms have sprung up and the attention that seems to be paid to doing various things to help move the body, even Nintendo helped. Seriously, look at the things we do; drive everywhere, sit on the couch for entertainment nightly, take moving stairs everywhere, and sit in an office cubicle all day typing away. Our brains and fingers are getting all the exercise! With obesity comes all manner of illness, and with illness comes the need for healthcare. It seems like a simple solution to me - one that will take a while, but simple in its execution.

I am really a fine one to talk as I had fallen into that same trap being no better than anyone else. But knowledge is a powerful thing. The more I read, the more I am able to control those cravings…well mostly.

Alternatives

It rained today. But I am so addicted to the calorie burn of biking – and maybe to the biking itself – that I decided to ride my stationary bike in the basement. I did this on Tuesday also because of the rain. There is on good thing about this, and that is I can read my latest book while I am riding, which of course I can’t do doing the real thing. The other good thing is that doing this makes me sweat like crazy. There is no wind to keep me cool, there is no water container to cool me down, and there is no stopping. One solid hour of consistent pedaling. I am not sure of the calorie burn, but I think it is comparable to doing the real thing, so that’s what I am going to put it in as on my log.

The log I am talking about is an app on my phone that tracks the amount of food I eat and the calories I burn. It also allows me to enter the weight I am at the time and any blood work results that I have. The later is helpful in tracking the progress that I am making in my A1C reduction and my cholesterol readings, both of which need to come down or in the case of the blood sugar, stay below a certain point. I have not been diagnosed with diabetes yet, and don’t intend to. However, the blood work when I first started this journey was up by a point over what it should be. My doctor called it insulin resistance or pre-diabetes. When my numbers were reviewed in the beginning, I was given the option of starting medication and losing the weight or just losing the weight. I decided to go with the medication. I can always stop that either because I feel I am doing better or because my numbers are down there. The next round of blood work is in two months.

It sucks getting old. But I am not going to let it get the better of me.

The Value of Exercise

Sometimes changes come really slowly, especially those that involve your body. For the last four months, my husband and I have been seriously biking and building up our mileage on a daily basis. Yesterday my husband shot a photo of me on the trail that surprised me. I know I had lost weight from stepping on the scale, but not the kind of weight that this picture suggests. It only goes to prove that exercise is a valuable part of a life change.

In the gym where I go, there is a large sign on one wall that says “exercise is poor man’s plastic surgery”. For months I looked at that sign and didn’t think much of it. I look at this picture and see such a difference in my face that I am really beginning to believe that sign. I really can’t stress enough that it’s not just the reduction of calories that helps you lose those extra pounds – in my case it’s not just a few – but the exercise that makes all the difference. Sure there are still trouble spots that need to get worked on, and yes the lines of age are still there, but overall, things are getting better.

Don’t get me wrong; it’s really hard to keep this up. Sometimes I go home and get changed to go out and think to myself that I am only going to do a short ride because I really don’t feel like it. But I get one the bike and get through the first few miles and things get a little easier. I almost dread having to go out at first. But as with any habit, the routine takes over and it almost seems easy.