A healthy body does help maintain a healthy mind.
Ask a runner the question, “When do you feel at your worst?” They generally reply that they feel sluggish and downcast after skipping their exercise routine.
I have not felt 100% since mid-winter. I (try to) blame it on February 2010 – snow storms, no outdoor activity, and a lot of dreary weather. There wasn’t much to be done except eat and look forward to spring. Now that spring is here, and nearly summer, I have extra pounds around my middle, and I am out of excuses. Even though I will not turn this blog into my personal fitness journal, I will be checking in now and then to talk about my trek towards a sharper mind and body.
If you are like me, perhaps you do not like the couch or armchair very much. Perhaps you do not like to park your tush at the television either. You might be active, as I am, but you do not engage in deliberate exercise. That is where I am at, always active, but have never been athletic.
My initial plans are to dust off the exercise bike and the weights, all done in “baby steps.” I am a strong believer that too much pain leads to too much discouragement.
Cutting out seconds at the dinner table normally does the trick for me. And watching the fat content as well. And, there will not be any purchases of trigger foods for a while. Do you have a trigger food, one that you simple cannot stay out of if you know it is in the house? My problem food is cheese. I love it all too much! Me and cheese have a love affair going on!
How about you? What do you do to maintain a healthy body?
P.S. I do not believe woman need to be a size 2 to be beautiful or healthy. We can be healthy, feel healthy, live healthy, and be happy, while enjoying the bounties of life.
Annies Goat Hill Handcrafted Soaps 
It’s hard to find the time for exercise…especially when I seem to spend all day chasing goats, or trimming their feet or trimming horse hoofs of clients…running used to make me feel so good, but now that I’m living out in the country, it’s harder to find a safe place to run, so I don’t.
Me, too, Mary. We’re going on a beach vacation in August. I cannot work miracles by then of course, but I can surely feel better. These thighs have not seen the sun in several years!!!
My trigger? Driving by Braum’s every day on the way to work. Guess I need to find a new route… ;o(
Hi! I agree, but I need to find an exercise bicycle first!!!
Can’t use my treadmill anymore due to my arthritis, but once I find an exercise bicycle, I’m with you!
I understand that completely, Shantara. Our street runs 55 MPH. It really makes for a difficult place to walk or run. You sound animal-busy too!
Oh oh, Vickie, your trigger sounds all too good.
I do the exercise bike, Lois, because they say it has a low impact on joints. Best of luck!
Oh boy have you described me completely.
Too many things in my life have an impact on me getting needed exercise.
Like moving my workout equipment to storage so I could move my brother into my spare bedroom.
I, just last week, was able to move part of it back inside. Now I have to get that schedule going again.
One thing I love to do is mow the yard. Several years ago I began losing weight by scheduling my meals with my outside work. I didn’t ride a riding lawn mower, I pushed a push mower. Then I had a health problem that put me down and the schedule was lost.
It is so much easier to get exercise during the warmer months, but in the winter….forget it.
My exercise bike turned into a great place to hang items (on the handlebars). Now, that’s pitiful when you think about it! 🙂 Perhaps we can check on each other’s progress, Becky. Activity does seem to be the key, including no late night eating when the activity slows down.
I haven’t rode our exercise bike in awhile though! I have lost some weight though since we went on a vegetarian diet though, we’ve been on this type of diet since the end of July ’09 though and it has helped with my Dad’s cholestrol as well.
Amy
Vegetables in our household are an issue because my dear husband does not like them, nor does he like to smell them cooking. I eat them raw for the most part. And that’s okay.
Amy, do you eat cheese and dairy products, no meat, or did you go completely vegan?
I am there with you – and ice cream is a killer for me – if it is in the house I’m obsessed. I have no excuses – even my breathing impaired husband gets on the treadmill every day! Being healthy is my goal – never will be slender again but I can be fit.
Your husband is setting a great example of determination. I had to giggle at your ice cream obsession. See, that’s how I am with cheese. I’ll buy a small chunk, tell myself that I can have an ounce here and there, and then I find myself cutting a small slice off more often than a person should ever eat cheese. Funny, isn’t it? I remember a man that I worked, Mark. His trigger food was peanut butter. He started the Weight Watchers at Work program with a group of us ladies and lost 22 pounds his first week after he rid his house of peanut butter. No lie. Now, if I could lose 22 pounds, it would be the cat’s meow. Again, though, like you said, the goal isn’t to be skinny, the goal is to be fit.