Weightloss is hard work, no doubt about it

I am come to the conclusion that I am no expert when it comes to losing weight. My experience, research has indicated to me that is harder then I thought. Most people who are heavy may at times lose weight only at some point in the future put it back on. It can become very discouraging. 

In this sense, a weight problem is more like diabetes than a broken bone. Weight problems tends to be chronic. Often fat issues become other issues like diabetes. We may have been active and carry weight all of our lives with very little problems. But as we age this may change. Our health problems with overweight can move into various areas such is our cardiovascular health, certain cancers, mobility, and take on metabolic problems and inflammation. 

Most this stuff you may know. But looking at obesity, being overweight as a chronic and life long problem shows the need to adapt strategies that will be more successful. 

This is where I am no expert. I haven’t been able to do this yet. I lost 60 lbs. and life threw a couple curveballs I couldn’t hit,  the weight returned. Add on injury and having CP and walking (my lifelong friend) became difficult. I have been honest about this but not good enough to pull off positive results. 

Losing weight is no easy problem.   

“Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more;” Shakespeare

Jon Treloar put it this way:

Once more into the Fray...

Into the last good fight I'll ever know.

Live and Die on this day...

Live and die on this day... 

For me to turn the page moving to a better place I will need to be:

• Consistent - Consistency has to start somewhere. Anyone with a weight problem can sing the song of woe about the many times we lose this. The book of Lamentations shares:
• Because of the Lord’s faithful love we do not perish, [does not perish] (We don’t give up, Reeves paraphrase) for His mercies never end. They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness!

Consistency in health is a good habit. We can develop a good habit in about five months according to Dr. Cooper. Are you willing to start a new habit?

• Whatever diet you decide is good for you, it is about 80 to 90% of the real work that I will have to do to lose weight. There is always the motivation of looking better, but I know improving the way I live will help me to do the hard work that it really is. A heart healthy diet seems to be at the core of this.

Right now I am dividing my evening meal into two meals and going back to dividing meals I have out. 

• Exercise changes as we get older. We need to move it over lose it. Daily aerobic activity such as walking, running, biking, swimming may at first be just a goal to get started; but as we develop the skill it can be a key part of cleaning arteries, helping our inflammation and pain, and help us to maintain our ability to live like we want. Strength training helps us slow down muscle loss. We can still build muscle but we would have to be committed to a solid strength training routine for older adults. Keep in mind we build muscle more slowly as we age. Flexibility may come with movement, but as we get older we may benefit from stretching, yoga, pilates. It is worth looking at workout programs for seniors and as our abilities improve we can challenge ourselves. Exercise is very important to be in touch with your body and what your doctor thinks. For me I have moved from walking to biking.

The last two weeks I have been biking everyday. I will be getting bike scooter to go on outings and walks with Barb. The scooter has peddles for me to exercise. It comes apart for transport. I also have gotten my outdoor recumbent geared up as well. Biking has to be my walking. Keep walking 

We may not control health but we can make a new habit of exercise

Since the article brought up the subject of death; there is the possibility that our bodies are not healthy, we may find yourselves in decline earlier in our 60’s or 70’s. Medicine is invaluable in helping us when we are fighting diabetes, heart disease, and cancer. I take a little issue with the idea early decline is an issue of lifestyle. Some of these things are lifestyle problems but there are people with good lifestyles who are fighting these things. It's still remains that we can do the right things and bad things happen. 

It seems as if we develop the habit of exercise where we include 30 minutes of aerobics, a couple days of strength training, we increase our chances of living longer. And if we lived longer into our late 80s or 90s we tend to wear out and die with a brief decline to let us know to make a piece. According to Chicago Tribune article, An Active Lifestyle Makes Life and Death Better, by James Fell reports to us what Dr. Mike Joiner Mayo clinic and Dr. Jim Fries of Stanford University. Also weighing in is Dr. Spencer Nadolsky.

I have written similar data from Dr. Cooper from Dallas from his research. Regaining The Power Of Youth and Start Strong, Finish Strong.There is no doubt in my mind that exercise can be a habit that is good for us. Lifestyle dynamics in health give us something positive that we can participate in, in what is a very unpredictable aging process that we have little control of. 

I think their advise is sound “the quicker or earlier we start exercising the better as far as longevity is concerned. If we start exercising at 50 or later we definitely can help our quality-of-life.”

Both Dr. Cooper and Dr. Joyner believes aerobic exercise benefits younger people more and seniors who have more limitations “by musculoskeletal frailty”, need strength training to improve bone and strength health. Dr. Nadolsky adds, “My older patients who lift weights do a lot better at being independent.”

Exercise is good for our brain. Exercise increases oxygen to the brain and our brain is one of the biggest users of oxygen in our body. As we get older I believe that exercises are the best investments we can do for our selves and we know exercise improves the immune system which fights things that can hurt us. 

When we strength train as we get older we have to pay attention to proper form and safety. We may be starting at a point our life when we are weaker or we are battling some injury or disease. We also have to weigh in on what our Doctor advises. Recently I wrote about research that informs us it takes twice as long for us to see the benefits of exercise and we are younger. The positive side of that is we can see the positive effects.

Walking with the fat man excepts the inevitable problems with aging. Exercise can still be an option regardless of our limitations but we have to be realistic in our expectations and need patience if we are dealing with slow progress.

I think of two ideas we need to hold on to. One is our independence and the ability to carry-on our life. The other is exercise helps us to have the ability to help in our eventual care that we will need when we get older. Some walking and resistant training can go a long way in improving how we deal with getting older.

One more thought I like to share about strength training, If you're going to do it have a goal in mind to get stronger. Make a goal that eventually you will be lifting a little more weight or you are using a heavier band then when you started. Select fitness goals that you can get off the floor without holding on to something. That you can carry a bag of groceries or open jar. If you're more fit set a goal that she will do push-ups at a lower step. Push-ups can be done off-the-wall, leaning away from the wall, moving to counter doing the push-ups, moving to the stairs doing push-ups off to forced air, Then the third stair, then the second stair, etc. all away to the ground. Along the way you are getting stronger at each level resistance. 

No matter where you're at, your health as long as you have breath that there something that you can do. Keep walking

It is true talking about one's health can become "old hat".

Chicago lighthouse and tall ship, Lake Michigan

It is true talking about one's health can become "old hat". Something Dennis Miller said, struct true. "Everybody who hits 90 has problems." He said it funnier. We all have our struggles. Talking about them has a way of driving people away. There is way of saying, "way to much information."
I think we like hearing "I lost 100 lbs." "I have been cancer free for 5 years." "I just competed in my 50th marathon." With before and afterward pictures and a spot on a talk show. (Instant solutions)
As I look around that is not what I see. Most of the audience on Dr. Oz's show look over weight. All the tips and insights don't seem to show long term results. I went to a ball game the other day and it seemed like obese people were all over the place. The other day I saw a clip of an obese man sleeping at the ballgame and he was really out. The announcers saw the humor and shared their thoughts. The unaware fan sued them. The camera shows all of our fat and can be unforgiving.
There is good information out there and there are lots of people taking advantage of the opportunities to live better. But there are many who struggle.
In my life and research I find it is harder than we think to lose weight and live healthier. There simply isn't any easy solutions or fast fixes. It can be a common experience of little change over the years. Someone loses weight and check back in a year or two and they have gained it back. This story won't get much "copy" or be something everybody wants to read. A chronic condition and coping is not the most exciting news to right about. But I believe it is more common than overcoming.
For overweight people, working on it may be the only hope they have.
Don't give up. Recently on the day of my uncle's funeral I fell back and hit my head on a window sill. To say I had a big bump on my head is an understatement. I have shared some of my falls in the past. It is an ongoing problem. One of those things people don't want to hear. Some of the falls have interfered with my fitness. I now use nordic poles on uneven ground and thinking about cane support on sidewalks.
What you are trying to do pays off. What I have done has been good for me. I wanted to get a new cardiac doctor and glad I did. Had a stress test and my heart is healthy. The doctor wants me to really go for fitness. Biking, walking, working of strength and flexibility. Weight-loss will be a by-product of better habits.
Focus on the big picture. Our fight with heart, cancer, and diabetes is more important than a youthful or fanciful appearance. If you exercise and diet for the heart you will be doing the right things for cancer and diabetes.
Remember a fat person moving is healthier than sitting. "We were made to move," Leslie Sansone tells us In Home Walking. Doing one thing healthy will lead to another thing. Doing one thing healthy means you are doing one thing that isn't healthy. Look at what you can do and don't focus on negative stuff that may be around. We are all different so there are good ideas that are just right for us. Don't dwell on it, just do one thing at a time.
Each day is a new day. Screwed up yesterday. Hey so did I! Today we can go for a walk. Today we can eat one three quarter plate for a meal. Today we can have 5-9 servings of fruits and vegetables, "5 is fine, nine divine" Dr. Cooper reminds us.
Live well and reduce regrets. Keep walking

Making goals and habits

Our Daily Bread this week had a great devotion on Instant Gratification By David C. McCasland that I like you to read at http://odb.org/2014/03/03/instant-gratification/ Our Daily Bread can be a great habit.

Planning and goals are more productive than instant success. Being older there is the importance of the here and now, but some things still take time to happen. When it comes to health we may need to start today but results still take time. Clint Eastwood was interviewed on TV and he was asked how he still looked fit. His answer was simple and wise. He responded, "habits developed a long time ago". He still kept doing the things he had done since early in his career. He also talked about his love of music that he stilled loved and enjoyed. Mr. Eastwood had developed some good habits including his growth in the art of movie making. Gene Hackman, retired from acting has developed a love to write novels. Living is a good habit to keep doing as we age. We may have to make some changes.
When it comes to our health, it's good to make goals that won't happen tomorrow, or the next day, or in two weeks. I was just looking at an advertisement for following a particular diet plan, and it said in 21 days you can lose 10 pounds. The "then had a before picture". There had to be at least 60 pounds difference in the two pictures. Not that the ad was lying, but it took more than three weeks to lose that weight. A lot of times we look at those kind of ads or we look at ourselves and if we are not losing a lot of weight right away, we get discouraged and quit.

That's why think it's much better to make a goal to be healthy, to lose weight, or to get more fit but don't put those kind of expectations of great loss fitness or health right away. Instead let's take a look at putting the right habits into our life. For example, you may work or have a pension or some type of retirement plan where you have money coming in a regular basis. You take that money and you go to the grocery store and buy your groceries. You fill your gas tank up, you you plan for the things that you need to spend for that month and for things that you want to do. And then you know when you go cook a meal your or go to the store you have already provided the means to do that. It's a matter of a good habit. What are good habits that we can develop on health. They may take five months to actually make it a habit. According to Dr. Cooper says habit formation like seeing the size of a plate that is a good helping for heath that becomes automatic can take five months.  What habits are we talking about:
Well one, the habit of this the three-quarter plate looking at a plate filled with vegetables and an fruit with smaller amounts of carbohydrates and protein, not having to fill the plate. If we only eat one helping I guarantee you you're doing something that is going to help your health.
Two, the habit maybe to go for a walk for 30 minutes every day. It's not the change in one day that you'll see but in the several weeks you'll begin to feel all the benefits of that walk. In a couple months your health numbers will be better. When you start you might be a little sore. That's why we start walking where we ease into it. In time, a 30 minute walk is going to help you with your blood sugar, weight, breathing, health because you're getting a blood all moving throughout your body and the immune system always get a kick to be better that day. Read up on the benefits of walking, http://www.startwalkingnow.org/whystart_benefits_walking.jsp
http://www.sharecare.com/health/walking/article/walking-benefits
Three, another good habit is to drink eight glasses of water every day. Some of that water can be a cup of coffee or tea, but having a lot of fluids throughout the day, will help your health and believe me you're you're going to strengthen your immune system and you're going to be fighting cancer, heart disease, diabetes practicing these three habits and see change over time. Good health is something that we work at and it does take time to make the habit of it. Being in my 60's now, I don't need to look like I'm in my 20's trying to be one of those before-and-after ads. But I do want to better health. Keep walking