On Health... Or...If I Knew Then What I Know Now

My mother was never an active person- she liked to talk about it, but never really acted upon it. I think because her mother lived to be 93 and her dad lived to be 93, I just expected my mother to be around forever. When she died at 68, it made me think a lot about her general health, and subsequently mine, because after all, I am her kid.


I've always been pretty active, but in the past few years (my married ones, specifically) I've settled into a shlumpiness that was pretty hard to get out of. Prior to that, I ran and worked out fairly regularly (with occasional bouts of laziness). I once stopped drinking for almost a year, and concentrated solely on getting to the gym and working out, and it was probably the best shape of my life... other than the period of time I didn't own a car and biked everywhere... I WISH I could talk to that me again... I'd tell her to never stop. Her body was ROCKIN'.


When my mother died, I weighed about 170 lbs, my blood pressure and cholesterol were out of control, and I was depressed all of the time. But grief is a funny thing... I guess you could say that the best thing about it is that it's an instant diet suppressant- I dropped almost 10 pounds between mid December and February 2009. Finally I woke up one morning and realized that if I didn't start taking care of myself again, I would end up like my mother, so I downloaded the Couch to 5K Running Plan, and hauled my ass onto the treadmill.

Since then, if I've learned anything, is that you have to approach your relationship with your body like you would with another person...and you have to decide to commit to that relationship. If you can't do that, then you'll never be successful. You also have to hold yourself accountable- for me, that meant finding like-minded people to be accountability buddies, so when I had those days when I didn't feel like working out, they could motivate me, and I them. 

Endorphin's are the best- a runners high, or that feeling you get after a really great workout is pretty addictive- I always close my eyes after a hard run or workout, and remember the way my body feels. On the days when I'm not so motivated, I can recall those moments, and it's enough to get me going.

As for diets, I've tried a lot of them with different levels of success and failure. I've done cleanses, the Atkins Diet, the South Beach Diet, gone vegetarian and vegan and eating right for my blood type (A Positive). For me, a mostly veggie heavy diet with fish and chicken thrown in makes me feel the best...coupled with a hard workout that makes me sweat for at least an hour. It keeps my blood pressure and cholesterol down, and makes me feel happy.

All I know is that I don't want to end up like my mother- I want to live a nice long life, and I have to promise myself that I will keep my commitment to my body and my health. If I have a bad day (or what I call a day of poor food choices), I just chalk it up to being human, and make a point to make it up to myself as soon as possible. After all... it's OK to reward yourself now and then... for me, that means beer and BACON.