Pre-bike
ride jitters are turning into rumbles, thuds, and poundings. Enough, as the
wind blows crazily to make me wonder if I should just call the whole thing off.
There's plenty of reason to do so, according to the doubter that lives in my
head: I just had a surgery. I'm fifty. I'll be biking almost the whole ride on
a highway. My presentations aren't ready.
And,
then, I realize that the jitters are like fear. They can be a friend, if you
learn to understand them for what they are -- a reminder that you, too, are
human.
Throughout
the day, distractions have pulled me away from my focus, my goal. Even as I
took the time that I spent this afternoon on the College of St. Rose campus to
walk the labyrinth in the lawn of the St. Andrews Episcopal Cathedral, I could
narrow myself down to the world, at hand. A mother and two boys who looked like
twins were hanging out in the yard. The mother wanted to chat; the boys wanted
to run across and through the labyrinth.
I
have been taught that meditation is not designed to take you out of the world.
Rather, it is all about making you more aware of the world. By learning to live
with the world, one grows stronger, more focused, self-disciplined, and strong.
The
first presentation tomorrow is at 8:30 a.m. It is the one I feel least equipped
at the moment to deliver. Yet, it is the one that I am most passionate about.
It is about setting goals, being healthy, and being fit. It is probably going
to be delivered by the seat of my pants. Or perhaps more accurately from my heart.
I have realized that I have a lot to say about
making exercise and a healthy diet a regular part of your life. I have a lot to
say about setting goals. But I have wondered how much I have to say is unique
or is new. My sources are the same as virtually everyone else's in the Western
world: books on exercise and training; web sites; past seminars; training logs;
and lived experience.
From
lived experience, I can say three things:
1.
Plan, plan, plan. Know that if you want to run a strong marathon, it's about
more than showing up at the start line and making it to the finish line. It's
really about the process of training. You don't have to be fast. You don't have
to be strong. You just have to be willing to give it a try, to say positive
things all the time to yourself, and to put in the time and effort to train. A
good training plan requires a minimum sixteen weeks commitment. A good training
plan is made better if it comes packaged into a lifelong commitment to live in
a fit, healthy way.
2.
The USDA and American Council on Fitness both have established guidelines on
what it means to be healthy and fit. The guidelines suggest some basics: For
eating, five small meals instead of three large ones; plates that are one half
fruits and vegetables, one quarter breads and starch, and one quarter protein.
Nutritionists will give you some guidelines on plate sizes and portion sizes
that might seem appallingly small. My suggestion is to treat the guidelines as
guidelines and eat in accordance with the healthy plate and figure out what size portions
make sense for you by way of trial and error, and rule of thumb.
How
do you use trial and error and rule of thumb? I decided in January 2011 to
weigh myself every day. Yes, every day. Except for days when I travel and once
in a blue moon when I either forget or don't have the chutzpah to stare the
number in the face, I get on the scale totally naked, first thing in the
morning, and I record my weight. What I have discovered from this method are
several things:
a)
I know which foods make me fatter and bloated, and I know which ones digest
more easily.
b)
I have a much better handle on how much food is enough food for me.
Interestingly, doing this often enough helps me correlate just enough food to
feeling satisfied -- neither hungry nor full.
c)
When I travel, I tend to gain weight, which generally comes off as soon as I am
home and back to eating what I almost always eat, prepared in my style of home
cooking. I also tend to gain weight if I eat at a restaurant. I don't have a
conniption fit over these occurrences. I simply know to anticipate them, and to
deal with them later.
d)
I know that if I don't put in the thirty to ninety minutes of exercise that the
American Council on Fitness recommends for us five to six days week, I will see
a blip in my weight.
e)
And I know that if I sleep less than seven or eight hours on a particular
night, it will show up the next morning on the scale.
This
trial and error, rule of thumb method has helped me lose thirty pounds -- not
overnight, and not even at the pace of one or two pounds a week that many good
diet plans diet -- but at an excruciating but ultimately rewarding slow pace.
Because the loss has been so slow, I feel fairly confident that the pounds will
stay off.
3.
Exercise alone isn't enough. You have to eat well, too. Now, for exercise,
well, I began swimming competitively when I was ten and was on both the swim
team and track team in high school. After college and into my early adult
years, I went to exercise classes, learned yoga and tai chi, ran 5ks and 10ks,
and began doing marathons and triathlons in my late thirties and early forties.
I completed my ninth marathon in 2008, at age 45.
But
in my forties I always experienced the biggest and most challenging weight
gains in my life. I couldn't understand how exercising as much as I did would
allow me to still gain so much weight. While the concept that "it's muscle
weight" was an intriguing one to ponder, I began to realize that my blood
pressure level, my cholesterol counts, and my doctor didn't care how much
muscle weight I had. I had to eat healthy and within my own limitations, as
well.
The
re-learning process was slow, and I should say it's ongoing. But small, gradual
changes occurred:
*
I went from Cream Top milk to Whole Milk to 2% to Skim.
*
I gave in to recommendations to go on medications to control blood pressure and
cholesterol, which immediately made me feel better and less fatigued, giving me
more energy to enjoy myself and move around throughout the day.
*
I began cooking vegetables with a little bit of water instead of sauteeing them
in oil.
*
I stopped drinking wine, beer and mixed beverages -- that was a big one.
*
And I started doing simple little things, like bicycling to work two or three
days a week, taking the stairs instead of the elevator at work, and joining my
Facebook friends in goofy challenges like the September wall-sit, the December
squat-a-thon, and a periodic marathon-in-a-week challenge.
What these things
did was created a distinction for me between exercise-as-training and
exercise-as-a-way-of-life. One need not replace the other. But both of them
together can create a wallop of difference.
So
that is my story. I'd like to spend the rest of the time doing what you want to
do. We can talk about making exercise goals, training, or eating strategies. I
also can try and answer any questions. So the floor is open. What would you
like to know?
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