On aging

Yesterday I was at a multi-generational event for the first time in a long time, with people I had not seen in a long time. I was struck by how the older members of the congregation who were struggling the most with mobility had so little muscle, regardless of how much body fat they carried. I know people sometimes talk about carrying extra weight being a protection against the wasting that happens with age and illness, but seeing such a variety of people and bodies really drove home that it’s not just extra weight that helps, it’s extra muscle. If I’m going to eventually lose muscle mass for one reason or another, I want to make sure I have a lot of it to start with! 

So I guess that means more protein, more exercise. Especially core strength. My legs are already pretty muscular, but I could use more strength through my back, abs, and arms. Seeing the effects on posture of using a walker, and just the general struggles to push oneself up out of a chair, or pull oneself along a railing, arm strength is definitely not something to neglect!

A new thing

So all my life I’ve wanted to learn to dance like Ginger Rogers.

A while ago I noticed that a dance studio had moved into my neighbourhood. I looked them up online, and lo and behold, they have Absolute Beginner tap lessons! Guess what I started tonight!

My first observation is that my balance is lousy. Not so bad standing on my right foot, but quite wobbly standing on my left foot. I’m guessing in part because my left foot is the one I broke a few years ago, and my left calf is still smaller than the right, all these years later (maybe not as bad as it was).

My second observation is that seeing myself in a mirror in public is hard. I just look so stumpy and awful. And like a trainwreck, it’s hard to look away. Ugh. Hoping as I build some skills and grace, some confidence will come along with it.

Why daily weighing is better

I know some people don’t like weighing—especially daily—because it leads to disordered eating. But for me it tends to help, when I remember to do it! 

Here’s why:

Nothing moves in a straight line.

If you’ve ever looked at stock market values, temperature changes, basically anything you can track over time, you'll know that they’re always ziggedy-zaggedy, with ups and downs and “corrections.” Tracking daily allows you to get used to the uppy-downy, and know that it’s part of an overall pattern. Tracking once a week, or less regularly, you only get the blips, not the full picture. I was reminded of this recently by a progress graph someone posted online:

Lots of ups and downs. This is a mountain range! Now, imagine if they had only weighed on three days over that period. They might think their weight was following the orange line:

This line—although accurate—only tells a small part of the story, and might make it seem like their weight is basically static, with a slight increase! But look at the overall trend:

It’s going down. You see that when you track every day, not when you only track once in a while. You can also start to see patterns, recognize good days and bad days, maybe figure out triggers, but more importantly, know that even if you’re going in the wrong direction one day, you can correct your course, you aren’t permanently derailed.

I've only been keeping track for a week this time, and not remembering to weigh daily, but enough to notice the usual two-steps-forward-one-step-back pattern. And the important thing to remember about that is it’s still a net of one step forward towards the goal.

1 week progress report

Well it's been a week since I started trying in earnest - tracking nutrition, getting back to running, doing situps in the morning, etc.

My general goal is to try to eat around 1500 calories every day, get my RDA in iron, remember my vitamins (they make such a difference!), eat meat every single day, get some kind of miles every day (run/walk/bike), and get my calorie expenditure over 2000 calories daily through exercise, and a few other daily selfcare goals (writing in my gratitude journal, stretching before bed, getting good sleep, etc.). I feel like writing it out there made it seem like more effort than it actually is. 

Anyway, here are the one-week reports:

Reading material

Re-reading this book: Exercise for Mood and Anxiety: Proven Strategies for Overcoming Depression and Enhancing Well-Being. It’s all about finding ways to exercise—and motivate yourself to exercise—by focusing on psychology and mindset. 

For example, you’re more likely to remember how you felt at the end of something than the beginning, so end on a high note, maybe by taking a break before the end to catch your breath rather than trying to power through (I did that this morning - ran 3km, walked a km, and then felt better running the final stretch of my 5k).

I also like that they focus on motivation as an external thing that you can set up, as opposed to some mysterious quality that comes from within. I am suddenly reminded of a neighbour I saw the other day walking his lil puppy—by carrying a stick with peanut butter on the end, just out of reach! Puppy didn't want to walk, but she wanted that peanut butter! Human people are more like that than we like to admit!

Pleased with this!

Hit my iron goals and then some, ate lots of yummy homemade food all day, and it wasn't an insane number of calories! Woohoo!

Made-from-scratch chocolatine

Made-from-scratch bun and red onion relish on my burger

1301 calories!

157% RDA of iron!!

 

Fresh start September

Hoping September will bring cooler weather and I will start running again. I ordered a book on Slow Jogging and hoping it will provide some inspiration! Meanwhile, I am going to start tracking nutrition again. So far I have gotten my RDA of iron every day this week!