So I went straight to the pants section and immediately picked two khaki pants waist 32. Two different styles. Went to fitting and all of a sudden I was struggling with the button and zipper. Don’t tell me, I whimpered. Darn, I am suddenly back to 33? I have been 32 for years now. The lady in fitting room understood when I returned the pants and would try another size.
I don’t care about sizes nor am I conscious of my ‘figure’. Seriously at age 51, the last thing I’d ask somebody is how my pants fit my butt, what alarmed me was the additional weight I gained. I am diabetic and I am very conscious of weight and size gains. And since I skipped reading my sugar for a while now (my bad), I just knew there must be something I am ignoring or neglecting. This schooling has to stop somewhere and I need to get back to working on my diet and exercise.
And I have an additional reason to be fit. After paying for my khakis, I lingered in the store and marvelled at the new clothes line they showcase. Darn, I need to fit into those shirts and pants again, like I was 40 or 30 again. Just like the way it was before. The last time I bought regular clothes outside of working clothes was at least 4 years ago.
So I drove home thinking of ways to get back to where I used to be. I used to train for half marathons, I used to swim, I used to lift weights. I used to always ‘do something’. This was on top of regular working days that involved a lot of lifting patients and exercising them and walking them. Then schooling came in and it seems like my body switched to hibernation mode.
Again, this spontaneous blogging is only a preview of what I was wanting to tell you for the longest time. This is my impromptu pulpit, my thought venue, my angsts, my puzzlement and most of all, my personal databank. Nowadays, even I, as PT can get confused by the many fads and new ideas that come and go as far as health and fitness are concerned. I went through South Beach Diet, now it’s the Paleo diet , Atkins, Nutrisystem, Jenny Craig, good carbs versus bad carbs diets and God knows what ‘new’ diet will come up again in the near future. Then there’s the running, cross training, Cross fit and all the many new ‘approaches’ to lose diet wondering that by now, with all the ‘only solutions’ given to us for these many years, all Americans should be healthy by now.
And amidst all these, there are people like me who, well, for lack of right explanation, just rode along these fads, not taking them too seriously, and still survived with perhaps an added 5 pounds this month and loss of 5 months next month kind’a existence. So long as the differences are averaged quite the same. Unfortunately, I don’t have a program or ‘solution’ to offer you except the things I do, or the things I eat, or the things I enjoy most. and you see them in this blog.
The most important thing in being healthy is doing an activity that gives you the most joy, eating the best food that gives you pleasure and good health and partaking in everything else that makes living worth living. If you just drag yourself so you can do another ‘programmed’ exercise to be done today, or you have to eat another nasty bar or shake just so you can maintain your correct figure, for me, that’s not living. But at the same time, If you truly enjoy your workouts with any of the programs that are advertised today, by all means keep doing them. We all have unique ways of approaching our health. The rule of the game is this: anything that will keep you moving and maintain fitness and health while enjoying it the whole time is the only ‘fad’ you need to keep.
Here is what makes me happy and I don’t hesitate sharing this with you - I don’t need to spend an extra cent to keep me active. There is the road, I walk or run or bike it. There is the shore and I swim it. Or fish out of it, for my relaxation. If I have extra dollars to spare for the gym, I use it. If I need to abandon all workouts and eat unhealthy so I could share a laugh with family and friends or social gatherings, I do so. And then resume them again when my body tells me. If my body tells me to slow down I do so. If I feel like doing yoga, I do so. If my body tells me to dance and sing, heck I do so. And if my body tells me to do nothing, I stay put, do nothing and sleep. But i try to make it up at the next right time. For me, that’s the way to live life.