3/20/2013: Spring?

So much for getting to wear the new clothes that I bought a couple of weeks ago!  It's cold out, with a wind chill of 19 degrees on the first day of spring.  I guess I get to wear my winter clothes for another week or two.

Speaking of spring clothes, the Slim for Life ads on the radio are driving me nuts.  The further I get into my Get Fit Initiative and the more I learn about diet and exercise and how important both are to our overall health and well being, the more irritated I get with "Get Thin Quick" schemes.  The current ad touts "30 pounds in 30 days," for just $199! "If you've been lazy all winter, come to Slim For Life and get your body ready for those spring clothes."  Yeah, right.  Perhaps it is true that through some combination of mixes and powders and supplements and appetite suppressants and who knows what else you can lose 30 pounds in 30 days, but it is healthy?  Really?  Is it fat or is it some combination of fat, muscle, bone tissue, etc...?  The urge to lose weight quickly can be irresistible.  The day-in and day-out slog of eating right and exercising daily can get tiresome, it's true.  I guess that's why, for me, I have to understand why I am doing it.  It's not about how I look (well, maybe that's part of it) but it is about how I feel and how I am going to feel tomorrow, next month, next year, and 40 years from now.  For me, this whole business of exercising every day, eating nutritious foods, and avoiding Dead Foods (including wheat) is about being fit and feeling great as I get older.  It's about being able to do what I want to do when I'm 70 and 80 and 90 years old. 

Sometimes I forget that's why I am doing it.  Sometimes I don't want to get up in the morning to exercise (like this morning).  That's when habit kicks in and I do it anyway.  I really didn't want to get on the treadmill this morning.  In fact, on the way to the gym I pretty much talked myself into walking for an hour since I really didn't feel like running today.  But I did run, I just couldn't help it.  Three or four minutes into my walk I decided I was being silly, I was there, I might as well run.  I did take it a little easier than normal and ran at 5mph until I only had 10 minutes left in my hour, then I increased it to 6mph to make up for walking the first few minutes, so that I would get my full 5 miles in before my hour was up.  So yes, in spite of my desire to skip exercise today, I ran 5 miles.  But I have all my exercise in for the week, so far, and tomorrow is my rest day, so no more exercise until Friday morning.  Yeah!  I am ready for a break.

I read a lot about nutrition, health, and exercise to remind myself how important all of my daily habits are.  I didn't love the book, "Thinner This Year," but it did help me decide to eliminate Dead Foods from my everyday eating.  "Wheat Belly," was fascinating and caused me to decide to give up wheat.  Since giving up Dead Foods and wheat, my food cravings have diminished considerably, just about disappeared, actually; reading those two books helped me solve a problem that I have been grappling with over the last couple of months.  I don't know what I will read next, but I know I will be on the prowl for my next fitness related book soon.  It helps to keep myself indoctrinated in the language of fitness.  It makes it easier to consistently make good decisions if I am surrounding myself with the ideas, thoughts, and words of other people that take being healthy, seriously; even if these people aren't in my living room, at least their words influence my thoughts.  Maybe some day this will all be old hat for me, just part of my life, and I won't have to give it much thought any more.  That day isn't here yet.  This still takes active planning and discipline on my part.  And that's OK.  Whatever it takes, it's worth it.  I feel great and I know I will feel great again tomorrow!!  What more could I want?