Border Line Purge To Fitness

I remember being 38 years old and 40 pounds overweight. 170 pounds on a little 62 inch frame was a disaster in progress. I knew if I didn't take immediate control of my fate, that Fate would sweep me into it's often merciless arms and throw me into middle age burdened with self-recrimination and a huge handicap...my own weight.

I remember the night I took charge as if it were yesterday. My husband and I were at a grocery store and I picked up one of those little booklets that festoon the check outs. It was a fat-counter. From that night and every night thereafter for one year, I counted every gram of fat, every calorie of every morsel that I consumed and by the end of 365 days, I had lost 30 pounds. Daily exercise, a teaching certificate in yoga and an 11 year commitment to myself to stay strong, keep lean and healthy helped me drop the last ten pounds and keep it off.

Whether you're starting as I did in your thirties, or are already deeply into middle age, you can start. Start small, but just start.

Where to Start

Most people start a fitness program too fast, without thinking it through and encountering doubt, fatigue and set backs within the first three weeks. The key to getting fit starts not at the gym; but in your head. You have to want it. More than you want anything else.

Baby Steps

With your desire firmly routed, decide how you want to approach your goal. Do you want to learn to eat healthy first, start an exercise program, or both? If you can afford a nutritionist to take stock of your habits and help you avoid the pitfalls, then the investment would be worth it. Or comb the library like I did. If you want to join a gym or hit the streets with your sneakers and load up on varying sizes of free weight like I did; do your research first.
That pretty pink set of ten pound weights might make you drool in anticipation of wearing your first sleeveless tank top in years, but without the proper education, how will you know that the drab, olive green 3 pounders are where you need to start?

The Three Week Wall

And you've slammed straight into it. Face it. The limbs are not as limber. The urge to sleep in greater, the call of the couch more seductive. Three weeks into your program, everything hurts; you're hungry. That multigrain toast with natural peanut butter can't even pretend to sub for a donut; and those crispy, cold, organic baby carrots crunch like chips, but are distinctly lacking in that greasy comfort. Researchers discovered that saturated fat has a seductive way of tasting like more; and what you're fighting is a monumental struggle with your palate to caress or cleanse.
Three weeks of exercise and you've only lost a couple of pounds? Your body has a number of things happening simultaneously and the results on the scales are not a true measure of the rate of success. Your metabolism is struggling to break free of the status quo you've spent a number of years maintaining with your high-caloric, sedentary lifestyle. Your muscles are waking up to the call of activity and becoming stronger and heavier. You hurt because the muscles that were meant to carry us lightly through life have shortened and have lost the memory of their true function as we motor, literally in our cars, from place to place, from home to work, to shopping malls, to the movies; and the short walk from your car door to the front door does not a marathon make. At this point in your new routine, is exactly the time to let the commitment of what you've started take hold.

Keep a Journal

Maintain a log of your activity. Section off a page of your notebook to reflect the days of the month, the exercise you perform and the number of minutes devoted to each endeavour. I have mine sectioned into walking, dancing, weights, yoga a.m., yoga p.m. and other. My journal keeps me honest and it keeps me proud. I weigh in every day, but I warn you; the fluctuations caused by water retention, mood and even the time of morning you step on the scales are not a sight for the faint of heart. You have to be prepared to gasp occasionally and the urge to fall off the wagon demands very little impetus. At the beginning, weigh yourself once a week and you might try keeping a page in the back of your journal to record your measurements. My favourite morning is Friday when I dig out the measuring tape and note my progress in the key areas of arms, bust, waist, hips and thighs. You may fear and sneer at your scales, but the measuring tape is your friend.

Don't Give Up

You've made it this far. You've reached your middle years and have many more to prepare for. You want to approach your older age with grace and strength. Whether you're in your 40's, 50's or even young 60's, you can give yourself the gift of health. It starts with a thought, is fueled by desire and maintained by the strength of will that is yours by virtue of having made it to your middle-age in one piece.