Year Five It's a Habit
First Year Recap "Success in Process"
Year Two "Fitness Continues"
The Journey has been more than physical "Walk in Darkness; Run in Light"
Cat Butler
I’d go to the gym but who would let our cat in and out of the door?
This is the five-year update on my fitness in process. Five years in the books and I am cardio fit, muscle strong with some flexibility remaining. Yes, it has become a habit. A health choice that is all good, but am I slim? No, no one ever called me a skinny kid. Stocky, yes a stocky kid, but not slim. I suppose wanting to head into slim and sexy senior hood was never in the cards. I looked up a list of celebrities who also have turned 65 this year. I do pause to remember many did not make it to my age. Many my age like children on the Oregon Trail game wandered off the life path before 65. Most celebrity types were way ahead of me in the looks department to begin with, but after reviewing my fellow time travelers, I am glad, satisfied, I am here. I wouldn’t be satisfied, if fitness hadn’t become a habit. Making exercise a habit is the key. It is very easy to get distracted by any interruption, including writing this post, and not go the gym. I have often found the best thing is simply to pick a time and go to the gym. I often feel more energized when I leave than when I went. Many of my life demands arrange themselves to allow the time. I am not a young adult with kids and two jobs. I appreciate my freedom to set my own time. Your body, at least my body, craves the workouts. The cat will survive without me being the cat butler. Ginger can never make up her mind anyway, in or out?
Ginger, our cat, in gym clothes basket - let me sleep; you do not need a towel.
In writing these fitness updates on my success in process I try to accomplish a few goals. First to amuse, second to inspire, and last to review and assess for my own purposes. If I ever attained that beach body I could throw in, pose and brag. It surprises me when reading through these fitness posts how much my life has changed. My appearance, my health, my snoring, my attitude have all improved. I am a better man, than I was five years ago. If I continue for another five years what can I expect? I suppose I will just have to wait and see. Not wait sitting, but mentally wait. My five-year look back reminds me it was a day at a time. Each time on an elliptical or doing some reps of weights didn’t accomplish much. It was staying consistent and doing a little more than yesterday that defined today. We all have smart phones with headphones, now. Ok, not my mother, but most of us. Listening to music, audiobook, podcast, or lecture makes what I labeled sweat meditation a great opportunity to unwind your mind and retune your body. Long Zen-like prayer meditations that I did are not required to improve your fitness. When I see someone really out of shape at the gym I think they have accomplished step one, the hardest step on any journey.
Peter Paul and Mary: every father should sing this song to their sons -- where would I find the three part harmony?
Why do I not have the beach body? I work hard enough. Remember the Lemon Tree song by Peter, Paul, and Mary? It is a sad tale but true. Slim is like the lemon tree. If the lemon is sweet someone has added sugar and that is calories. Additional calories in a snack mean you are probably already over the weight loss level. There is simply a level of calorie intake that is the tipping point of weight loss. Going above it stops weight loss, and taking a walk will not burn all the calories off. My wife has a rule no food after 8 PM, but breaks it if her plane is late. Intentional food choice and menu selection is required. All my readers just moved on, I offer no magic solution.
It does seem I can get into a trend. I feel satisfied when I am not over-eating. My body accepts the weight loss it normally fights. I have to adjust my attitudes to avoid eating because it is available or it will go bad. Overeating does not save food or money. A good church potluck can put an end to any diet trend. Yes, now I need another loss trend. At least we’ve transitioned ministers and the farewell and welcome potlucks are over even if, the weight bounce is not. My body is happy maintaining a slight weight gain; it takes serious focus to turn it around. The first year shocked my body and weight loss just happened, after that I lost focus. I added muscle and my body image improved, but the slight creep up was back. By this January I was around 240. My wife decided I should do the fitness challenge at the gym. Three trainer sessions a week and a weekly menu plan with a nutritionist. I lost fifteen pounds. I did a food diary with the MyfitnessPal app, looked at my menu plan, and tried to match calorie intake to it. 2300 calories may sound like a lot but really I think 3000 calories a day is so nothing. Now I have stalled out in the 220’s. I decided the food app was too much trouble and gave up on it. I need to lose another 15 to see what 210 looks like. In fitness, as in life, my best partner is my wife. We can encourage each other to stay firm and not go fat. Nancy encourages me more than I do her. She requires less encouragement, than I.
A modern cowboy photo by Flickr photgraher Peggy Ray -- horses and I are not one
Nancy had encouraged me to do the gym challenge. I agreed picking a mid-morning time. I began working with Carrie Shaw. I hate to admit to using a trainer; it is just too yuppie. Yuppie lite, I do not believe a rural boy is ever a yuppie. I must credit Jenna Werking and Carrie Shaw for teaching me important muscle building techniques. I now routinely go down on the floor and do my sets on various weight machines. I had never done weight training. In spite of my possessing the look of an old football player gone fat, we had no weight regimen when I was in high school. I had glued myself to the elliptical. It was improving my fitness without injury, and I just stayed there. It is difficult now to remember how ill at ease I felt at the gym five years ago. I was not about to go down on weight floor with the real gym bodies. I didn’t have any idea what to do if I did. Now, I do my weight sets as I decide. I am never comfortable at the gym, but I know I am not a pretender. I treat the gym like theater it is best not to break the fourth wall. If I close my eyes just as I do when I sing a solo, I can pretend no one else is there.
U.S. Grant home in Galena IL; I enjpy being able to walk all over a historic village or battlefield - a plus of fitness
People do look and nod now. After five years I am recognized as a regular. Other gym people look at me, and not just when I am standing in front of their mirror. The real body builders watch their muscles flex as they do an exercise. It is to monitor form and for self-admiration. I am amazed at some people’s level of fitness and muscle development both men and women. When you traverse the land of the real body builders you will encounter some amazing bodies of all ages. If I looked that good I would be into self-admiration, too. No one is looking at me with the same look of envy, maybe pity. I think some observe the redefinition of my body over five years. Often they are just trying to decide how old I really am. Many are amused at how much I sweat, and the number one reason is my hair. Yes, my avalanche of blizzard whiteout is an ever-changing tableau. I feel great, but I do feel an obligation to try to lose the pudge. It is like finishing the marathon in 1253rd place. I feel I owe it to my wife and partner, my trainers, and myself. I also feel a distant sense of obligation to those who have observed me over the past five years. Sadly I must return to diet, I wish it were not true. It is the same sad tale.
Carrie likes to change the exercises every session keeping me totally unbalanced and looking ridiculous. She is a gymnast and has her own gym in addition to being a trainer, wife, and mother of two sons. One named Alex. My body does not learn balance and form easily, and never grace. It is my pudginess that makes me feel most ridiculous. Honestly, I would have never learned to try so many challenging things without a trainer. I will state it is not the trainer that motivates me. I like trying to meet their challenges, but I drive myself even on the days when I am on my own. I also feel I must encourage fitness in everyone. Fitness does not require money for a gym and a trainer, or a coordinated gym outfit. My gym clothes are a combination of gifts and hand me downs from my own Alex. (If my sons can call me their own Steve, I should be allowed a corollary designation) Everyone can park farther away from the door and walk to the grocery store, theater, or church. Everyone can eat less. Everyone can go for a walk either indoors or outdoors. (Go to your church and walk around when no one is there) Everyone can do a dreaded food diary; the apps are free and paid premium options are of dubious benefit. Everyone can be more intentional about their life choices. I have learned not to drink coffee before a HIIT (high intensity interval training) session. I come in hydrated. I drink my coffee afterwards. I do try to stay hydrated even before going to sleep. An Up3 can give you a good monitoring of your sleep, heart rate, and steps. The company is discontinuing personal training devices; therefore they are selling on Amazon for around $50. Smart Coach a part of the companion phone app sometimes has a good suggestion. Do not wait until age sixty to start; it makes the pudge very hard to purge. If you are older than I am or have physcial conditions to consider, I have these suggestions. Walk when you used to drive. Learn to know your own body, ignore fad diets, media miracle foods, and awesome new fitness devices. If you are doing better today than yesterday, you are on the right path.
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We used to have a saying in Smithshire from the mile corner on a dark night it would look OK - (July 2017)
Forgottonia is a place where you can endlessly wander the lonely roads, and never once miss the fast lane. The name Forgottonia captures an image of a region, off the beaten path, which is very true of Western Illinois.
