There is just no going around it. I still LOVE to eat. I am stuck at a point in my weight loss journey that I’ve plateaued and unable to lose that “last ten pounds.” I’m still okay. But if I don’t watch what and how much I eat, the pounds would creep back in just like that, like a sneaky monster that is cackling secretly when I am not looking, while constantly supplying me with sweets, carbs and all kinds of junk foods.
I said I will be kind to myself and allow myself some treats from time to time. But the “time to time” has become regular. I’d go to the grocery store and make sure I have snacks, like my life depended on it – at least my mental life. I don’t feel like going back home without anything “exciting” to look forward to as far as food is concerned, especially when you spend 8 hours daily working in front of a computer. So I have to have some treats for when my mouth gets bored.
Problem is, I feel bloated afterwards, and I can feel the sugar spike sometimes. My goal of losing more weight is also not happening. So how do I combat the weight gain? How do I balance physical health and emotional well-being? The solution I found is (drum-roll…): Exercise. Surprise, surprise, surprise.
So I work from home as I’ve mentioned somewhere here before, and I have exercise equipment in my (finished) basement that I can conveniently jump into during my work breaks. Emphasizing “finished” because the unfinished ones are uninviting and depressing to go down to.
The thing about exercising, you have to have some type of motivation or incentive to do it because it is hard work. And doing it in a cold and ugly environment saps your drive to work out. But as they say, where there’s a will, there’s a way.
No “finished” basement? No problem. Buy an elliptical or treadmill (they cost less than your iPhone). Place it in front of a TV or a computer on the main floor of your house or in your apartment so you are unable to say it’s boring to exercise. You have to have some type of mental distraction to not mind huffing and puffing on an exercise equipment. While your mind is jammed with your favorite tunes or simply litening to a motivational talk, you will not notice the minutes passing by – and the calories burning while you’re at it. So I don’t want to hear any of your lame alibi like you “don’t have any space” because I know you do. And worse, that you have “no time” – the lamest cop out excuse in my opinion. And don’t tell me you’d enroll at the gym ‘coz even with good intentions, I know you won’t regularly go.
The point I am trying to drill in your head is we should do our best to make physical fitness a priority in our lives and therefore make it happen as easily and as conveniently as we possibly can. No excuses for able-bodied people. And for you to use your machine without coming up with all sorts of alibis why you are unable to exercise.
You may ask, “what do you care?” Yes, why do I even care? It’s coz I want you to be a healthy, happy version of yourself because you’d be a nicer person to live or work with, instead of being a curmudgeon. I want you to spread love and happiness because who knows, I may even end up working with you someday. And even if you are far away, I believe in the positive version of the butterfly effect that can ripple its way to other parts of the world and affect strangers in distant lands in ways that you may never know. And unless you are deliberately terrorizing other humans, it’s safe to say that just like me, you want and hope to make the world a better place.
Anyway, so I broke the elliptical back in March 2023 because I was abusing it and using it a lot. It helped me lose 30 pounds. Well, if you ask me how much I lost as of today, I’d still say 30 pounds. So there is no improvement for many months now. The only thing that gives me comfort is that I am at least maintaining the weight. It’s still not ideal but at least it’s staying the same. My BMI is currently 23.3 which falls in the Normal Weight range, so I am fairly happy about that.
BMI Categories:
Underweight = <18.5
Normal weight = 18.5–24.9
Overweight = 25–29.9
Obesity = BMI of 30 or greater
Source: https://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/educational/lose_wt/BMI/bmicalc.htm
Thing is, IF I don’t continue to exercise, even if just 20-30 minutes on the treadmill, I’d gain weight so fast with these giving in to daily cravings. To gain a whopping 3-7 pounds, all it takes is a gathering one weekend or a few days of an out-of-town trip to see relatives and friends. And you know what happens when you visit people. They eat. You eat.
And eat I do. I’ve given myself permission to do that, ONLY because I continue to exercise. Every time I indulge, my mantra is “I gotta run to the treadmill, I gotta run to the treadmill…” and if there is no available treadmill, like I’m away from home, I simply have to find creative ways to perspire. There’s no justifiable reason not to. An equipment is not necessary to exercise. I know that if I sweat (especially if I can feel the salty fluid dripping from my head), it helps speed up my metabolism. And I got some catching up to do.
Working in increasing older adults’ metabolism is in fact the main principle in the reversal of aging. We know that children and youths have faster metabolism than older people. Young people’s metabolic rate demands for higher energy levels due to growth. They burn calories faster than older folks would. The solution to duplicating this is through exercise. You know it works because even at rest, you can feel the heat inside your body still blazing in there, which tells you that you continue to burn calories in between workout sessions.
Young people could care less. It is still physically innate with them. But with us older adults, it’s a never ending chasing game because if we snooze, we lose. That is, when it comes to amping up that metabolism speed. We eat and the calories are five steps ahead of us. Gotta run to the treadmill, gotta run to the gym. Gotta overtake it.
In my case, after a workout, the bloating disappears after several hours or perhaps overnight. Then I eat again, get bloated again, then exercise again. And so the cycle continues. It’s a tug-of-war between two opposing forces that is happening inside my body. Like my way of fighting for the youthful Helen of Troy – the face that launched a thousand… steps. And with adults, food is more skillful and way faster in catching up to our bodies than our effort in changing these foods into energy. Exercise then is our tool and our weapon.
Now we’ve seen senior folks lose weight because they no longer eat as much, and that’s better than being old and overweight. However, it’s sad to see them getting weaker and wasting away due to muscular atrophy, affecting their sense of balance that almost always leads to accidents and falling. This can be prevented by proper nutrition and physical activity. And starting early or as soon as we can is a wise course to follow.
At this time in my life, this is the state of my fitness journey. Occasional weight-lifting, some cardio (crunches, squats, planks, push-ups – every little bit helps) and most of the time, aerobics by using someone else’s elliptical or walking and running on my treadmill. And of course, the regular treats, which my mind permits to do because I exercise.
I’m not particularly ecstatic of my physical development these days. My progress is not Instagram-worthy. However, even if my treadmill sessions may last for only 10 minutes in a given day (20-40 most days a week), it’s sustainable. The idea is to not break the habit, because there is danger in falling off track. Lifestyles can dramatically change when we stop doing what we’ve become accustomed to doing on a regular basis.
But life happens to many of us and we must accept what’s thrown our way. Being kind to ourselves is as equally important as achieving the lofty goals we set for ourselves. What’s crucial is to still have personal accountability and bounce back from life’s challenges. When we do, it develops self-confidence and we soldier on without the need for validation from others. It helps in making us feel proud of ourselves, with whatever little successes we may achieve. We develop trust in our own abilities which gives us a sense of control in our lives. In an oppressive world that can easily weigh us down, this matters.
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Related Posts:
The Body is Responding [link]
The True Power of Exercise [link]
Quote # 31 – On The True Power of Exercise [link]
Quote # 38 – On Exercising To Live Life Fully [link]
See also this inspiring article of a 93 year old Irishman with the vitality of a 40 year old:
https://apple.news/Ad-6gzipvTiOtze-PgmTAbg
https://www.washingtonpost.com/wellness/2024/01/16/fitness-aging-richard-morgan/
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Video Source: The Reason Why the Most Disciplined Have the Most Freedom – Jordan Peterson (YouTube – @logosuniversity)
Image Sources: https://www.gleneagles.com.sg/health-plus/article/stress-eating and jokes passed on via Messenger
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This Writer's Delight 