ForeverYoung

I was just watching a program on television that I found very interesting. The question they were discussing was, is age a state of mind and personally they think it is. In this program they said that there was a survey done that suggested that most women believe that they are getting old at age 29 or when they see their first gray hair while men have no problem with grey hair or age but they begin to feel old when they cannot perform in the bedroom. The question they wanted to tackle was what can keep us from feeling old and these were the answers;
1) Have younger people you hang out with. You should have friends your own age but you should also have friends that are younger than you. This is good because they help you by giving you energy that ordinarily you would not have and you help them by giving them your wisdom and life experiences. I have seen this at my place. I have a lady that, well if you saw her and watched her you would not think she was 79 years old. She comes in every morning at 7am to work out and her work out partner is 55 years old and they really work well together. One day I asked Shirley (my 79 year old) what keeps her thinking and feeling young she tells me that it is the company she keeps. She has no friends over the age of 60 and her best friend is 52 years “young”. She tells me that they keep her feeling young and in return she gets to share her life experiences and wisdom with them so everyone wins.
2) Exercise every day. Now weight training is important when you get older however in most gyms there are aerobic classes like Zumba and step. Now you don’t actually have to go to a gym however. Go outside and do outside activities. Find yourself outside more than inside during the day and fill your day up with activities you love to do.
3) Allow your mind that think of the possibilities you can achieve and let no one, including your family stop you from achieving it. It is true that we love our family but sometimes to death. We are so protective of our parents that we sometimes smoother them and stifle their ability to dream big dreams and continue to achieve what they feel they can still do. We need to allow each other to be and feel free.
4) Stay positive. This is important because anything negative in our lives can and does bring our emotions and feelings down. We need to surround ourselves with people that are positive in nature only.
5) Every day have an activity goal. It doesn’t have to be big it can be as small as getting out in the garden or taking a walk around the block. But each day have a goal in mind and then go out and do it.
6) Eat a balanced diet and cut out those foods that can do you harm. This is self explanatory and needs no more further explanation.
Taking these steps can keep us forever young. Have a great healthy day.

challenge 3/12

Today we did not have a challenge but we did something that was much more valuable and that was we talked. Well, actually I talked and they listened and then at the end they had great questions.
One of the biggest concerns they have been voicing to me over the past few weeks is the ability to make this weight loss a lifelong thing and not just a shoot in the dark only to repeat it over and over again. The question I have been asked revolved around the concerns of falling back into old habits and what to do to keep from letting that happen. The ultimate answer to that is “focus” but today I will elaborate on that.
First I had them write down what their goals actually were. One thing though, they could not use losing a specific weight as a goal. Goals had to be something that once met could be improved upon or maintained. Once you hit a goal weight, you cannot stay on that weight or better it. If you could, what you would go down to zero?
Well once they completed that task, I then asked them to think about the reasons why they choose those goals and write them down. The reason why we do things is important. There needs to be a reason or you won’t do it for a long time. Remember this is to be a life style changing process not a shot in the dark. I also shared with them that if they were doing this with the thought in the back of their minds that they would go back to the way they were after they lost the weight , that they have already set themselves up for failure and they might as well leave now.
Once they completed the “why” portion, I then asked them to write down what it would take to get them there and only the first two steps. This is important because it gives them direction and plots a certain course of action to begin to achieve those goals.
Now once that was completed, we discussed how, by following that formula, their goals will be achieved and how after a while they will become or should become a passion (I will discuss what I mean by “a passion” at a later date) in life. But what I will you is that regardless of what is happening in their world, nothing will or should stop them from achieving their goals. When life gets hard, your drive to succeed is still there. When you get injured, your drive is still there. It doesn’t waiver and it doesn’t matter about your external situation, you just get it done and focus.
I believe that this time was very valuable to all and my hopes are that they have walked away from this with a better focus and understanding and a renewed sprirt.

Basketball for the Challengers

Well today we had some fun. Today the challengers played basketball. As I enter the court I looked at some of them and they seemed to be a little nervous, but in the end all had fun.

How many of your have thought about doing something like that but have told yourself that because of your age, build, or physical condition you just can’t do it or just don’t want to do it. Well here is an example of people who are doing it when ordinarily they would have talked themselves out of it.

Now the purpose of this event was to again give them options on things they could continue to pursue and get better at. Some of the people playing today told me that they had played in high school and just that little pickup game kind of got their juices back up and thanked me afterwards.

Many of you have asked me about how one can maintain their conditioning, well here is another option. Join a league and then better your skills. There are many master’s events that you can join and have fun with people your own age. There are millions of people that are looking to get involved in something that they can do and have fun doing it. Well even with the business of the day, as adults we can do this. There are Basketball leagues, Soccer leagues, baseball leagues, track and field, wrestling, swimming, and so many other competitive leagues for people over forty now it is incredible. I truly believe that forty is the new twenty because of all the options we now have at our disposal.

So now go out and find that sport and go for it!!! Congrats to all the weight loss challenge people for another successful event.

Lose weight or Change Lifestyle... that is the question

It is not the weight that needs to change in reality it is your lifestyle. Anyone can lose weight, just stop eating for a while but the real challenge is keeping it off and not just for a little while but for the rest of your life. Most people who say that they want to change their life is really stating that they want to lose weight so that they can go back to what they were doing prior, which got them where they are today. “If I only lose ten, fifteen, twenty… one hundred pounds, my life will be better and I will change”, I hear so often. However that is the wrong attitude to have because you are approaching the problem the wrong way. Yes I agree that you need to lose the weight. But where I disagree is that once you lose the weight you would have gone thru a life altering experience.

I was talking to a bunch of people that other day and they were telling me how frustrated they were about trying to keep those unwanted pounds off. How do you keep those pounds off? Here were their answers:

1) Reduce your calorie intake
2) Stop eating between meals
3) Eat only three meals a day
4) Portion control
5) I don’t know (at least this person was honest)

I then asked them, assuming that they reach that magic number, what they would do to maintain that ideal number and they all looked at me like I had three eyes. They then asked me what my opinion was on the subject and my response was; plan an active goal and then go after it. Once you achieve that goal plan another active one and go after it and keep going until you cannot reach any more milestones then just maintain that level of activity.

Notice how I said nothing about food, eating or portion control? In the end, whereas that stuff in important to have under control, there are other pieces of the puzzle once understood, it will make your life much easier.

There are some basic understanding one needs to have before they can truly understand what I am saying so lets start with understanding what a calorie is. When I asked them that question they looked at each other as if someone had the answer or at least collectively they could figure it out and none of them could do it. I got answers such as:

1) Three thousand calories equal a pound of fat
2) Calories are evil
3) I know I eat too many calories

Of course at this point, after listening to them jabber on for some time, I finally chimed in and told them what a calorie was. A calorie is a measure of heat energy (it is a little more complicated than that but in a nut shell that is what is was for my example). Then I asked them another question, assume we gas our cars up with gasoline to go on a trip. At first we can put our hands on the engine and it is relatively cool. Burt after a while isn’t it impossible to put your hand on the engine because it is too hot? How did it get so hot? Was it the gas that caused it or was it something else? Well after talking about it for a while it was understood that it was not the gas but the friction from the engine that cause a lot of that heat. Now the gas is the fuel that the engine needs to work and the heat is what is formed so that the gas could be used in its proper state to make to car run. Isn’t that heat considered calories? Think about it. Yes it is.

Well with that said I then went on to discuss their first answers about how they were going to maintain or reduce their weight. You see it is not the food that is the problem but the lack of activity. Most of us just need to get a little more active and allow the body to work as it was designed to do.

Now is the calories in the food or in does our bodies generate them? Remember our example of the gasoline for the car. Well food does not have calories. Our bodies generate the calories to break down the food so that it can use it in its purest form. The more food you eat, the more the body has to work to break it down. Now let’s get back to our car example. Now let’s assume that on Monday we fill the car up because we are suppose to go on a long drive. However after filling the car up we only end up traveling 1 mile. Now we did not use a lot of gas so we still have a lot in the tank. But the next day you go back to the gas station and refill with the same amount as the previous day. Now what happens to that excess gas? Where does it go?

We do this to our bodies. We have become very sedentary in our lives but we eat like we are going on a long, very long hike. We eat like a champion and the next day after not doing a lot the day before we repeat the cycle. Now our bodies did not use the energy you gave it yesterday because of your inactivity so what it does is now take what you are eating and store it for a “rainy day”. You see what is happening here. It is not the food’s fault that you are getting heavier, but your inactivity so start getting more active.

Now with that said as I stated in the beginning it isn’t the weight that you need to change it is your lifestyle. Does it make sense now? If you just begin to get a little more active and plan goals, tangible goals, goals that once achieved you can better. It will make a big, no huge difference in the way you look at life and then weight won’t be the issue anymore.

It is not the weight that needs to be changed, but you lifestyle. Now go do it.