Weight Loss in the 50's...Chasing 60!

Before hitting 50, losing a little weight wasn't that big a deal. Wanna fit into that dress, skip a few meals. Need to lose the muffin top? Hit the cardio.

After 50 it's like all the old tricks no longer work, so I need a new plan. Happy New Year/Happy New Body! Isn't that always our time to peel off some pounds? Now I'm thinking about the Eat Clean plan. Basically, it's eating real food and nothing processed. Always a bit of a challenge for someone who doesn't like to cook. I know some people love making food and are absolute artists in the kitchen, but I'm not one of them. I'm the person who cleans up after my husband creates great meals. Wow, can that man cook!

So, new year, new life. Oatmeal, Salads, and good, unprocessed foods, here I come! Goodbye wine and chocolate! (for now)

Then comes exercise....
The Tibetan Five seem to be great exercises but the spinning at the start makes me tooo dizzy. It takes like a half hour for my head to calm down and I still don't feel so good after. That makes me wonder if the spinning is really necessary and how the heck anyone does it 21 times.

I think I'll stick to the treadmill and then some weights.

Tibetan Five - Exercise?

I first heard of the Tibetan Five when I saw it on Hugh Howey's blog.  I tried it once or twice and then forgot about it.

I came across it again and again and thought, maybe this is a sign from the universe? Maybe I'll give this a shot. Everyday for a month? Can't hurt and maybe I'll feel better. If the arthritis in my shoulder and neck calms down it would be worth it. I had a car accident a few years ago and the injuries still flare on occasion.

You're supposed to do 21 of each exercise, but I started with 10. Whew! Some were easy, some were not. The ones on Hugh Howey's blog were very instructive, but I also needed to modify some stuff so I read more sites. This one's not bad and there's always the poster---->

The table and scoop bothered my wrist a little but that cleared up as soon as I moved to the next one. You can see it done to perfection on Hugh's blog, but mine were ...um... sloppier? Shakier?

I'm working on it. One month...I can do this!

I'm on day 3 now and skipped the workout today because I had to be down in AC before breakfast and it was an exhausting day.

My resolution? do it everyday for a month and see how I feel on New Years Day?
So what's your favorite exercise? Do you do it every day? How are the results?

(Insert plug for Hugh Howey's books here.)
Thank you, Hugh, for teaching me the Tibetian Five!

Blame it on the Couch

It's so easy to blame all the creaks and pain on getting old, but in examining my own pains I'm thinking the couch is more to blame.

Here on my big brown couch I sip coffee, write blogs and stories while the TV drones on in the background. It's a comfy place with two dogs curled up next to me and a wood stove over in the corner. (Getting chilly here in the northeast so we're ready to fire that sucker up!) Is there any better place than this big comfy couch?

Wait...is it getting harder to get up off this big comfy couch? Did my knee just creak? Back a little stiff? eh? Must be getting old, right? Or maybe it's the "time" on the couch and lack of time on the treadmill?

I keep making that pledge to do the treadmill in the morning or hit that weight bench I needed to buy, but then i come to the couch for just a few minutes....

Well, you know the rest.

Found this awesomely silly deck of
inspiration cards on Amazon. 

I go on Pinterest and find all the exercise pins for inspiration. It's so inspiring I stay on Pinterest until it's time to get ready for work and never actually get to that exercise thing.

What inspires you to get off the couch? Where do you find that mojo motivation?

That Elusive Animal; Exercise

I'm going to exercise, I plan to exercise, I know how to exercise....

So why do I spend my nights on the couch?

I had a treadmill and usually used it. I sold it for unknown reasons...
Now I miss my treadmill and I'm searching for a new one, but HOLY CRAP! they are expensive.  $500 for a decent one that looks like I could, might, someday run on it? (If I ever get up to the running thing)

Sports Authority is closing so last week I toddled on over to see if I could get a deal on a decent treadmill.
Yeah- No. They were still super expensive. I'm going again today to see if the prices are any lower.
I think when stores go out of business, they mark up prices before setting the discount. The sign says 70% off! However that doesn't apply to everything in the store. That 70% might be for a single dumbbell.  Do they really think we're that dumb?
Maybe? Because I'm going back today to see if there are any real deals.

So anyone out there exercising? Any motivational tips VERY WELCOME!

Couch vs Exercise & a Chihuahua

It's 3 a.m. and the Chihuahua woke me up.

I think she was either spooked by maybe some thunder rumbling in the area (I heard nothing) or she was hungry.

Now I'm wide awake and she's snoozing on the couch beside me. Oh, the things we do for our pups. She'll also get to sleep all day while I go to work. I think I'm going to have to take her for a nice long walk tonight to make sure she sleeps through the night.

I've walked two miles a day for the past few days. When I finish my legs feel like lead. I don't remember this from when I used to walk...age? I think no matter what happens after 50 we tend to blame it on age. Eyesight? Thinning hair? (Take the Hair, Skin, Nails vitamin in the pink box.) Sore joints?

Bah! I'm thinking it's not age that got us there, but inactivity. As we get wrapped up in life, exercise takes a back seat and that couch looks better and better. Then the couch becomes our habit and it's all down hill from there. So from now on my mantra is; Exercise before Couch. If the couch calls, I must earn the couch time with walking and weights.

Except at 3 a.m.

Good night ....again.

Monday Motivation

Hello Monday!
Back to the grind. Although I love my job, it does cut into my writing time.

It was a four mile weekend. Yay!  Walking two miles a day and I have hope this is just the beginning. With the help of Map my Walk, I've charted out kind of a track through the neighborhood that is exactly two miles. I tried to include as many of the little hills I could since that would improve the work out. I was about a mile and a half yesterday when it started raining. A light drizzle, nothing that would make me quit. I was back in the house less than a minute when the downpour started. I'm glad I wasn't on the far side of the neighborhood when that hit!
 Haven't hit the weights, yet. Really have to get that part done. However, I ate the last frozen yogurt bar in the fridge and I pledge not to buy any more until I lose 20 lbs. Ha! Wish me luck. I think I'm addicted to frozen yogurt!

Summer is here and the weather finally warmed up. It's nice to be outside again. Each new season makes me think it's time to set a goal. Not just exercise, but everything. I'm thinking about going back to school. I have a partial degree in English/Creative Writing and I'd like to finish. If I can finish the associates, there's a place in Vermont that will let you finish the bachelors within a year. It's called "low res." You go up for a week for orientation, then work on your own. I'd like to try this one. Even at my age, I still want that degree. It's been a big regret in my life. I should have done it in my 20's.

Any regrets in your 50's and 60's?

Exercising at 50 or 60?

Does exercise get scarier when we get older? Maybe, to some.
Then I see an older man running past me as I walk the neighborhood. He looks great, runs at a good pace, and, I imagine, has no fear of pushing his body.

The thought of working up to a run kind of scares me since I haven't run since I was in my 20's.

There's a program called Couch to 5K that combines walking and running/jogging to get a person ready to run a full 5K. Which I think is 2 or 3 miles? Yesterday I walked 2 miles through, up and around my neighborhood. Stupid me, I did it at 1 o'clock in the afternoon during the hottest part of the day. I really can't take the heat when I'm sitting still so by the time I got home I was kind of dizzy. But I did it! (There's a phone ap called Map My Walk that will track it for you.)

Today calls for rain so unless there's a break in the rain, I might just hit the weights today. I was reading Body for Life by Bill Phillips and one of the success stories was an older woman, 60+, who did the program. They showed her standing there in a bikini with an amazingly buff body. Made me think it was possible. A quick internet search found Bonnie Ave, champion body builder at age 60! So I believe there is hope.
Not sure if I'm ever going Couch to 5K but I am going to get off this couch.
Anyone else start an exercise program after 50? What's your story?
Come on! I need some inspiration!