Use your body well. It helps keep the mind well too. Stay fit from childhood. But if you become unfit for some reason…. Get fit. Keep fit.
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Tag: Fitness
Losing Weight
As we exit lockdown, I hear people talking about the weight they gained, which they now would like to lose. However, losing weight needs a rebrand.
It is a common phrase and quick to the tongue. The trouble I find is the use of the word reflecting loss. Losing and loss are usually associated with sad or frustrating things.
There are only a few times where losing someone or something is a good thing. The two that come to mind are when someone is chasing you and when trying to have greater fitness.
Most of the time, loss is not good. We are rarely happy saying things like I lost the race, the match or the series. Nor do we enjoy losing our keys, health, friends, jobs or minds (though we may not notice the last one so much).
Our minds also work overtime to resolve the loss. So even if you lose weight, your mind sets off to find it again. This is rarely ideal if you’ve been making the effort to be slimmer or more fit.
So while we wait for the world to stop combining those two words, try using others. Perhaps, “I am getting to my best weight” or ”my ideal size“. “I am getting fitter every day.”
Stop losing weight and start finding your ideal you.
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Keeping Fit Is Essential
There are a lot of reasons why you should want to be as fit as possible. From feeling better, moving well, and feeling confident, keeping fit is essential. At least it is for me.
Maybe growing up in a house with a type 1 diabetic, made me more aware of the role of food and exercise in our lives. Maybe my Dad’s high level of physical activity was a great role model for me. Eating healthy was important. Not paying attention to food and exercise and how it affects you was potentially lethal.
Food wasn’t simply an eat all you want, of any kind, until you’re bursting. And exercise was premeditated and planned. Training for the Montreal Marathon in the early 80’s could have been a disaster. However, thankfully it was not.
Keep fit by walking more, with a friend or with a podcast or audio book. Perhaps you could develop a love for running too. Clubhouse is also excellent to listen to, or even participate in, while being active. You could do 200 pushups a day as well.
But even more important than the exercise is your consumption. Learn to observe, investigate and monitor your food intake. Sleep is the other major challenge for many people. Getting enough sleep can be critical.
Keeping fit is essential. Don’t let your one and only body go to waste.
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Get Outside For A Walk Or Run
It is easy to stay inside. Even more so when it is wet, windy and wintery. Regardless, get outside for a walk or run. Prepare the night before. Have everything ready by the door. Sit up in your bed and put your feet on the floor. Get up and go!
Starting your day with a little activity gets the juices flowing. It warms up your body and gets your mind in gear. Nothing too challenging though. It’s just a walk or a run.
You might only go one or two kilometres. It might take five or 30 minutes. It doesn’t have to be a long time or distance. Simply make sure you go at least five days every week. Plan in advance which days it will be. Then stick to it.
This planning and doing will build your confidence and self-esteem. It doesn’t even matter if it is low or high at the moment. This activity will make it even better.
While out, you can listen to the birds chirp and the wind in the trees. Maybe you’re lucky to be near a river, lake or mountain. Even if you are in the centre of town, use your powers of observation. Alternatively, you could listen to an audiobook or podcast.
Be careful and stay safe. Obey the laws, rules and norms.
But get outside for a walk or run today.
It’s time to shake things up!
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Living To 100 And Beyond
The imaginative people on this planet continue to make progress on so many fronts, especially in the medical field. Living to 100 and beyond is becoming more of a frequent occurrence these days.
And with rumours that 100 is the new 80, it is all very exciting. The perception of ageing is also changing. Many people are still very active in their 70’s and 80’s. Some are surprisingly able through their 90’s and into their 100’s. With all the new replacement parts and better prevention and cures, the idea of ageing is changing.
How many centenarians are there in the UK? Globally? More than many people would expect. (Take a guess before checking the answer at the bottom).
Reaching 100, or beyond, may become less of an issue of physical limitations and more of a mental health and mindset challenge.
For this reason I am angling to reach 160. Aim high! So even if I come up a little short, it will still be quite an impressive run. With that in mind, I am building good habits for the long haul. Both physical and mental habits. I‘ll let you know if I make it. ?
Living to be 100 and beyond is quite an achievement. In 2018 there were 13,170 centenarians in the UK and 499,198 globally. They’re great numbers to build on.
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Your Body Is A High Performance Machine
So treat it like one.
Make sure you eat well, and just enough. Not too little or too much.
Get enough good sleep, consistently. Seven to eight hours per day is ideal for most people.
Water it. Eight glasses per day (ish).
Exercise it. Get it to move around. Quickly. Slowly. Use all the different muscles, big and small. Use it or lose it.
Exercise your mind too. Stretch it with new ideas. Sit with thoughts that might be uncomfortable and understand why. Think good thoughts. Practice being grateful. For everything you have and are.
Your body is a high performance machine. Treat it like one.
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Weigh Less, With One Simple Step Repeated Each Day
Eat less.
Weight loss, through to better health and fitness, is a series of steps.
Step one is eat less. Once a person has been doing this successfully for a few weeks, they can look into several more advanced steps such as starting to exercise or doing more of it, tracking calories, buying healthier foods and preparing better meals with a better range of nutrients.
Too often people will try to change everything at once. Since these more advanced steps all take up time, require some level of learning and must be integrated into your current lifestyle, it is very difficult to start all of them at one time and do them all on a sustained basis. Usually people haven’t allowed for all the extra time it takes to add these into their life.
Save yourself all that time required to read labels and count calories, read diet, exercise and recipe books or magazines, join groups, get to the gym or exercise more, learn new recipes and shop for new ingredients and foods. Remember, eating less saves you time!
According to media reports, a lack of time is a leading cause of stress and stress eating. So try this simple step that requires no time investment and even saves you time. You even get the results you want – weight loss. You can get toned, improve health and nutrition later in subsequent steps. Remember c.90% of weight loss is reducing your current food intake.
Even if your current diet consisted of eating six chocolate bars and drinking four colas every day, you could lose weight by simply cutting your intake down to four bars and three colas. You would still drop about 1.5 pounds per week. The mathematics support this, as does the science, and eating less worked in my experience years ago when I dropped 20 pounds in 8 weeks, beginning with step one.
Just eat less.
Try it today. Eat one less helping at a meal, drink one less cola, eat half or two thirds of your regular portion at each meal. In a week you’ll be noticing, and enjoying, the difference,
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