My Fitness Goal in 2010
Posted by Belle on 10 Jan 2010 at 11:18 am | Tagged as: Uncategorized
Belle doing yoga
I don’t know about you, but in my age, 40 something, it is extremely hard to keep my weight down. It is like yo-yo. Like I would watch my diet extra careful for over a month, and spend 4 to 5x a week huffing and puffing on the treadmill, and maybe successfully lose 5 pounds, then in just a day of eating a full course meal including dessert is enough to gain two to three pounds back. So unfair! I’ve worked so painstakingly hard to lose that 5 pounds for over a month only to gain a couple of pounds back. And then, I suddenly notice I can’t quite fit in my favorite jeans I wore just over a month ago. I mean, it can still fit if I suck in my abs and remain standing for the whole entire day. Because the moment I sit down for a standard duration, my pants bulge here and there. So uncomfortable that I wish of changing into a pajama pants right at that moment.
But I love that jeans. Pssst, I think it belonged to my younger daughter but it was a little too big on her so she abandoned it. I then took over it. Hands me up. And I vow to continue wearing it even if I have to constantly work hard to fit in it rather than buying a new one. It is an incentive for me to stay in shape, I guess.
Maintaining a certain weight for a person my age is no easy feat especially now that everything you buy at the grocery store seems to be bad for you. Almost everything! The vegetables are saturated with pesticides, the meats are full of hormones, dyes, and whatever else, the drinks are full of sugar. The water is mostly sold in a PLASTIC container that is not good for you. The desserts are nothing but sugar and fat. No wonder why obesity is prevalent in our society.
Anyway, I came up with some guidelines to keep me or you from getting obese. Do not ever skip your breakfast. Doing so just makes you crave for unwanted food later in the day. Bowl of high fiber cereal, low-sugar, with reduced fat milk and berries is highly recommended. I put goji berries and blueberries and slices of half banana in mine. Eat four or more serving of vegetables and 3 or more servings of fruits. Reach for whole grain bread, brown rice, and oatmeal. Stick with healthy fats like olive oil, vegetable oil, and nuts.
One good rule of thumb is eat lots of good food, and less of bad food. How is that?
If you are like some of the people who get midnight snack cravings, often times, a glass of water will take care of the problem. It is also nice to keep raw nuts in your pantry that you can nibble on when hunger pangs occur. If water and nuts don’t do it for you, try graham crackers (preferably chocolate flavor) for dessert. First, you spread a low fat whipped cream on a piece of graham cracker, top with another piece looking like a sandwich, and freeze. It tastes just like a chocolate ice cream.
Even though diet has a lot to do in losing weight, it is still best to add exercise in the program. Start with 15 minutes walk 4x a week, 20 minutes 5x a week, 25 minutes 7x a week, 30 minutes 7x a week, 35 minutes 7x a week, 40 minutes 7x a week picking up pace this time, until an hour a day 7x a week.
Lastly, patience is the key to losing weight. If you fail once, twice, thrice, despair not. Start all over again.
Keeping my weight down is also a problem that I face nowadays. I used to walk from work going home earlier last year but it didn’t work so well. When I bought a new bike and ride it going to work and going hom in the evening, a lot of friends were telling me that I am getting thinner. From my weight of 90 kilograms, I am now able to keep it lower at 79 kilograms. I’m still targeting a much lower weight, say, my original weight of 63 when I was still in my 20’s.
By the way, a friend featured me in his website. You can find it here. I hope you can take your time to view/read it…
Belated Happy New Year 2010!!!
Aging slows down your metabolism, Belle. And also, the same kind of exercise everyday makes your weight plateau. Your body needs variation. If you do your yoga on a monday, try jogging on a tuesday, aerobic exercise on wednesday, threadmill on thursday, etc. This will challenge your muscles more. But don’t forget to do your abdominal exercises everyday. Remember, persistence is the key to success. I hope this helps.
dodong, keep up what you have been doing. you are a role model/inspiration to our community. our government should promote this sport by constructing bicycle paths. not only it is life’s beneficial, it is also a big saving on gasoline. i went to the site where you were featured…awesome!
Doc Amy, thank you very much for the excellent tips. I will try to vary my exercise though i have been doing 3 different kinds of exercise in a week. Yoga on Mon and Wed, leg exercise on Tues and Thursday, and abs everyday for a week at a time. Though at times, I am so tired that I don’t feel like doing any exercises.