Thursday, January 28, 2010

Getting Fit Follow-Up


It’s been a few weeks since I first introduced my fitness plan and I thought I should demonstrate some accountability to my readers and to myself and talk about what progress I have made so far. (No, that's not me in the picture. I wish it were!)

First of all, since January 1, I have been much more faithful about going to the gym. My goal is three times a week but I don’t always make my goal. Today I walked 2 miles on the treadmill in about 32 minutes. I had to work back up to this pace because it had been so long since I did any brisk walking. At my current pace walking about 3.8 miles per hour, I burned 170 calories in that 32 minute span of time. I also use the muscle strengthening machines each time I go to the Y. In about 20 minutes, I can hit 8 machines—biceps, triceps, abdomen, lower back, shoulders, thighs, etc. This puts my total time at the Y at just under one hour.

For those of you who are a bit timid about going to the gym, here are a few side comments. At my local YMCA, the best time to go to use the exercise equipment, i.e., the time when the gym is the least busy, is around the lunch hour on a week-day. There are people at every level of fitness who are working on any number of fitness goals. There is always a trainer present who can answer any questions you have. Despite what I used to imagine, no one is really looking at me when I am doing my exercises. I used to feel a little self-conscious, but I got over it.

So, what do I get for my efforts? Have I lost tons of weight and am I now planning on entering a body-building contest? That is hardly the point. I think I’ve dropped one pound. But, more importantly, my energy level is markedly higher and my muscles are definitely more toned than they were. I know that I am sleeping better at night.

The most important criteria for judging the ultimate value of the exercise and food monitoring strategy that I have begun is to ask myself “How do I feel?” For me, the answer is a definite “I feel good!” I fell better physically and I feel better about myself because I am sticking to my goals.

Just to recap—I’m a 63-year old woman who has never been a particularly athletic type of person. I just want to feel good and look my best. If I can do it, so can you. Go back and revisit the previous post which talked about the prevention of Alzheimer’s and the book by John Ratey. My favorite quote from John Ratey is the following: "Going out for a run is like a little Prozac and Ritalin. We feel more focused, calm and motivated afterward. The more activity you are doing, the less cognitive decline."

Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Getting Fit (part 2)


Yesterday I made the greatest discovery. Recently I purchased an Iphone--which has much more information than I really need. My daughter-in-law very nicely explained to me the different "apps" that are free. I found one for free NPR podcasts (to listen to while I am on the treadmill at the Y) and another that will help me locate restaurants in any town I might visit in the US (Urbanspoon.) Today I went surfing to see if there was an application to help me track my intake of food each day. And voila! There it was. It is a website that will supposedly sync with my computer. The name of the site is http://www.myfitnesspal.com/.


Several years ago, when I first started noticing the pounds (and inches) creeping up on me (around the age of 48 I think), I started a log of all the foods I ate. Then, I took it one step further and bought several books which gave the number of calories and fat grams in just about any food that I could possibly ingest. It was a lot of trouble at first but it was amazing how just having to write down everything I ate or drank made me so much more aware of how much food I was consuming every day. And then when I started counting up the fat grams, I suddenly became very smart about certain foods that just ooze with butter and fats. One of the foods that I have not touched since I started my own personal campaign against fats is croissants. Never, ever order a sandwich that is on a croissant. Instead, order whole wheat bread. You lose the fat and you gain the fiber. I call that a win-win situation.


This new way of tracking calories will be so much easier. All I have to do is type in, for example, Ocean Spray Cranberry-Apple Juice or 2% fat milk. The computer looks it up and tells me how many calories, carbs, and fat grams there are in whatever amount of juice or milk I drank that day. I mean, this is going to be so easy. Finally an "app" that is totally beneficial to me. You can also keep track of how much exercise you do every day. The reason why it will be helpful to have access to this information on my Iphone is for occasions when I am dining out and need some quick information to help me make my menu selections. (How's that for justifying the purchase?) Typing in all that food information is a little tedious on the smaller Iphone, so I'll probably do that part of the recond-keeping from home on my PC.


So, now that we know that exercise is good for us, not only physically but mentally, and now that we have a way to help us track our consumption of food and to increase our awareness of just what we are eating, we have begun to make strides in the never-ending campaign for better physical health and wellness. Why don't you try it with me! Or share with me your success stories and strategies for staying fit.


Again, the site is http://www.myfitnesspal.com/

Sunday, January 10, 2010

Resolved: To Improve a Poor Track Record



New Year’s Greetings to all readers of this blog.

Today, January 10, 2010, I went back to the gym after an absence of four months. Does this story sound familiar? YMCA membership for ten years: Average actual use of YMCA-- approximately ten hours per year. In other words, some years, I’m a real go-getter and I go multiple times a week; I use the treadmill; the weight machines; take an aerobics class. Then there are the years where I don’t step foot inside the gym. That’s my “track record” with formal physical exercise. If I include those other activities in life which work off calories and build body muscle, such as gardening, vacuuming, or walking my dog, my score would improve somewhat but nothing to put me in the boot camp category. My motivation to exercise comes and goes, according to what else is going on in my life.

The journals are full of articles about how we can retain our cognitive functions, most recently in Time magazine, Jan 18, 2010, “Workouts For Your Brain,” by Bonnie Rochman. I’ve been doing the cross-word puzzles for about ten years. My friends are doing their daily Sudokus. I know folks who are studying a foreign language. Well, the data tell us that in addition to activities like those I just mentioned, two of the most important things one should be doing to remain at top cognitive functioning are to engage in physical activity and to remain socially active.

Isn’t that a nice prescription for mental and physical wellness? Take a walk every day and go out with your friends at least three times a week. How hard is that?


According to the website for Alzheimer’s Prevention, “exercise strengthens the pumping force of your heart, increases blood flow to your brain, increases exercise tolerance, reduces body weight, lowers blood pressure, reduces bad cholesterol (both LDL and total), increases good cholesterol (HDL), and increases insulin sensitivity, all of which enhance health and reduce the risk for diseases that can affect brain functioning, such as cardiovascular conditions.” http://alzheimers.about.com/od/prevention/f/physexercise.htm


John Ratey, MD., author of Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain, tells us that exercise stimulates our gray matter to produce “Miracle-Gro for the brain.” If ever I needed to find an excuse for exercising—this is the best one yet. If research shows that people who exercise regularly are less likely to fall victim to dementia and Alzheimers Disease, what more can anyone say to encourage you and me to get out there and walk on the treadmill, or walk the neighborhood with friends, or lift those free weights that have been sitting idle for two years? Just 30 minutes a day is all it takes. After watching the movie Iris last night about Iris Murdoch’s struggle with Alzheimer’s, I know that I would sure like to try some preventive tactics.

One more quote from John Ratey: "Going out for a run is like a little Prozac and Ritalin. We feel more focused, calm and motivated afterward. The more activity you are doing, the less cognitive decline." Quoted by Simon Usborne on John Ratey website, article “Third Age: Health and Wellness.” http://johnratey.typepad.com/blog/2008/04/third-age-healt.html