A long tangent, and highly opinionated, too - I think we’ve made an interesting change in our perception of health and fitness, and in my opinion, not necessarily a change for the better. Submitted for your consideration - Ron ElyJohnny Weissmuller Buster Crabbe (I’m hoping all of these links will take you to the pages of photos - if they don’t, just click on ‘photos’ to see what I’m talking about.
So, these guys are in pretty good shape, and Weissmuller and Ely won Olympic medals as swimmers - 5 gold and one bronze for Weissmuller, one gold and one bronze for Crabbe. And yet, they don’t have the same chiseled, sculpted body of Arnold Schwarzenegger or Jean-Claude Van Damme 20 years ago, or pick your favourite muscled action hero guy going right now. The modern guys have been using Nautilus and free weights and trainers (and Lord knows what medical or dietary supplements.) to look completely buffed, bulked and pumped. But are how many olympic medals did Jean-Claude Van Damme ever earn?
Once upon a time, we didn’t exercise - we pursued our our interests, and our bodies looked like they did based on what we were doing. Now, we have changed our outlook so that we exercise in order to get those tight buns and 6-pack abs. I don’t think that’s necessarily fitness, I think that’s cosmetics, and I don’t see what useful physical skills one is picking up, either. Does it help you to throw a dart straight, shoot an arrow farther, swim longer, or do you have to work on those on a different shift? A pox on it all, I say!
And with that, I, L. H. Puttgrass, am off to the tub.
Fair enough. But at least in my area of the country, normal life doesn’t do much of anything to ensure I’m in good physical shape (setting aside the notion of tight buns and 6-pack abs). So I run, do yoga and lift weights, because otherwise my only source of exercise in day-to-day living would come from the small amount of housework I do and walking to and from my car. In Kansas City, our streets are decidedly not safe for bike riders, and most of us live too far away from jobs to consider walking, plus public transportation is a joke here.
As far as the useful skills you mention–well I’ll grant you I can’t throw a dart straight but then again I don’t want or need to be able to do that. I do want to easily pick up my granddaughter, retain full range of motion in my joints, have stairs remain a non-issue, and keep my heart and bones strong. Those are my fitness goals
I’d like to lose 10 to 15 lbs, and I have come to the realization that the only way it will happen is to get moving. I have a very “sitty” job and once the weather breaks I am going to start with the power walking an hour or so a day. I barely eat 1000 calories a day, but my metabolism has slowed since the Big M kicked in, and I need to just make time for movement. Fifteen hours a day in front of a computer just ain’t cutting it.
I wish I had a walking buddy. It would be way more tolerable.
I just wanted to chime in and also recommend the online calorie counter- my favorite is mydailyplate.com. I’ve been using it for the last month and it’s a huge difference in how I look at my daily food intake. I have a lot more than 10 lbs to lose, but want to get away from dieting and just improve my habits. No food is off limits to me, but it does have to go into the calorie counter and I will have to cut down somewhere else if I indulge. I even re-set my calorie goal because I found I was consistently 200-300 calories under what the calorie calculator suggested, so figured I might as well shoot for that and go for more weight loss per week. I am snacking alot on fruit, veggies and 100 calorie popcorn but my meals are tasty as well- I make “fancy” salads, awesome turkey sandwiches for lunch and now that it’s warmer- grilling alot of fish/shrimp and chicken along with smaller amounts of beef. Tonight I’m having pasta and breaded chicken- something I wouldn’t have touched with a ten foot pole when I was dieting before, but I should still come in at 50-100 calories under my new calorie goal today. Also, it’s fun to be just a little over your limit and then put in my new habit of walking the dogs for 30 minutes at lunch time- voila! 100 calories under again :)!
Portion size and balancing each meal out has really helped- I am not as hungry and I make sure and eat two snacks a day.
Yeah, regurgitation is the only thing that’s coming to my mind…you may need to be more specific…
But I like your idea about being goal-oriented. I tend to think of exercise as something endless and pointless, but maybe that’s mostly just the way I’ve been approaching it. It’s not pointless if you have a goal and can measure progress. And I do have a friend that does the Tour every year…maybe I’ll ask him if he wants to help a newbie train…
but my meals are tasty as well- I make “fancy” salads, awesome turkey sandwiches for lunch and now that it’s warmer- grilling alot of fish/shrimp and chicken along with smaller amounts of beef. Tonight I’m having pasta and breaded chicken- something I wouldn’t have touched with a ten foot pole when I was dieting before, but I should still come in at 50-100 calories under my new calorie goal today. Also, it’s fun to be just a little over your limit and then put in my new habit of walking the dogs for 30 minutes at lunch time- voila! 100 calories under again :)!