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Friday, October 12, 2012

Busy, full life....

One of the most amazing things about life is the ebb and flow of experiences   It is wonderful to have change with consistency, and a return to old good habits wile adding in new ones.

So, I have been good (not great) at walking a minimum of 2 miles 5 days a week (with up to four miles on occasion .  My body is definitely adjusting to this after doing it for nearly six weeks.  I find I finish 2 miles in 30-45 minutes now, as opposed to it taking 60-75 minutes like it did when I first restarted.  The muscles in my legs are getting stronger again, and I am finally able to walk at a pace that challenges my cardiovascular system, which is a very good thing.  It is annoying in some ways to find the right balance, because to actually work my heart and lungs, I push harder, and my knees end up hurting...a lot.  So it is a hard trade off, as I can walk slower and longer (3-4 miles in 60-75 minutes) or I can push harder and have a brisker, more heart pumping walk, but my knees start to buckle after only 2 miles.  I do know from an MRI done 8 years ago when I dislocated my right knee cap, that I have very little cartilage in my knees, so they can not take a lot of impact.  I am considering, especially with cold weather fast approaching (it snowed at home today!!), I am looking into getting a YMCA membership, which will allow me to do weights room workouts, elliptical machines, which greatly reduces the knee strain, and time in the pool for both aqua-aerobics and swimming.  It is mainly a matter of cost right now.

As for establishing better eating habits, I can honestly say, that bit by bit, my eating habits are changing in a more healthy and positive direction.  This slow change results in much, much better chances for a true lifestyle change, as I also change not just what and when I am eating, I am changing my relationship with food.  It is not a diet, it is a lifestyle change.  For the first time, I think that is really sinking in to a deeper level exactly what that means.  It is said so often, that we forget to actually think about what it means to change our lifestyle.  A true change in health needs to come not just from changing the habits of the outside, but the way of thinking on the inside.  So as I concentrate on shifting our diet, bit by bit, towards whole foods, and more veggies and fruit making up the bulk of our meals (ensuring raw ones are a daily addition), I find that it is easier than I thought, and that I enjoy what I eat more, appreciating it for the gift it gives.

Some things we chose this week vs our previous choices:
Plain yogurt with fresh fruit cut up in it vs sugar filled fruit flavored yogurt
Brown rice vs white rice
Steamed fish versus breaded fried fish
steamed fresh broccoli vs canned green bean
lean cube steak vs hamburgers
100% whole wheat sandwich thins vs split top Wheat bread
Munching on Raw Kale leaves vs crackers or chips
Peeled fresh grapefruit, plain vs banana bread (or even bananas)
Spending time with friends doing fun activities vs sitting at home because money seems too tight

Does that mean that EVERY choice I have made this week has been the healthier one, of course not.  Since starting this blog I have learned, and continue to learn each day, that I am not good with quick changes, and that trying to make drastic sweeping changes, even if I can hold on for a couple of months, do not have a lasting effect.  For a while I got down on myself, as I watched other people go on a radical diet, lose a bunch of weight, exercise like crazy people, and look and feel great.  Most of them, though, within a couple of years were back to their old habits, having gained back the weight they lost and more.  The people I have seen transform to healthier bodies and healthier minds have been the people who have done so slowly, consistently making small changes that become part of their daily life without it being something they have to constantly think about and do, it becomes part of their being.

So as I throw out all these ideas on this blog, all these different things I want to try out, going from one idea to another, as there are many great ideas out there, many great methods, and a LOT of anecdotal evidence to support various schools of thought.  But I am learning, and as I learn I share with you all, that certain types of transformation take place more slowly, letting the changes strip away all of the complex layers that lead to, not only the less desirable end result that you are trying to change, but to the habits and the thought patterns that reinforced those habits.  It is not as easy as "you ate more than you burned off".  While that is, in its simplest form, the digested truth to weight gain, the mechanisms, biology, physiology  psychology, and sociology that lead to that fact is much more complex and interwoven.  Picking it apart, even if you do not identify exactly what it is you are picking apart, is vital to creating lasting change.  For me, right now, that means listening to myself, what I am comfortable with, what i am not, what makes me feel good, what makes me feel crappy--and reaching for the better feeling, for the more healthy choices of thought and sustenance.  So that is where I am in this journey today....

1 comment:

Puneet Agrawal said...

Look at this interesting article on life transformation through Guru as Sculptor
http://www.artoflivingsecrets.com/2012/09/the-sculptor.html