FatBlogger

What We're Doing!

Hi!

Here is where we are going to keep a running commentary on what we are doing, our activity journal if you will. Here we can brag, give support, bitch... whatever. It will always be in the upper right corner of the blog under "EXERCISE!" so click and comment often!

OCTOBER RULES!

I have few commenters, but many readers, and many of you are overweight, or at least health and/or body conscious like me. I see in many of your posts that there is a marked move toward depression at this time of year, but it does not have to be so.

October, November, December...the holiday months. They are a lovely and terrific time of year...unless you are fat. These three months are like a no man's land of weight-loss, a dieting purgatory where many of us simply wait them out, getting fatter, getting more depressed, as we wait for the New Year. We shrug these months off as "a loss", figuring what is the point, there are just too many parties, too many cookies, too many good meals to turn down. Many of us can not seperate such celebration from food. It is a HARD time to lose weight, it is a HARD time to say "no thank you".

On the other hand, it is a great time to get moving. It is beautiful outside for many of us, the air is crisp and clean, people start wearing sweats instead of shorts (thank God!), our dogs, our children, ourselves, won't die in intolerable heat! People exchange "let's go swimming" for "let's go apple picking"...this I can do. The mood, the time, it is right for moving. so I say we remove this anxiety about dieting and instead begin preparing, by laying a foundation of better health to build on.

I was contemplating how to move me into action, and then it just seemed simple...move yourself into action! Why am I continually linking exercise and activity to a diet? Why do I continually dump the exercise when I can't, or won't, stay on a diet? Why is the joy I get from moving in fresh air, at the mercy of potato chips? I might not be able to make the commitment on a diet right now, but I know I can make the commitment to exercise and activity, and whether or not I am losing weight in the process is irrelevant, exercise has so many benefits regardless, it just seems right.

Reading the book, Changing for Good , has illuminated many things, but nothing as bright as the fact that solving a problem is a life long thing, it might not take your whole life to defeat it, but it will take a good portion of it to manage and keep it from returning. That kind of commitment can be broken down into separate parts, so each good part of good health is not dependent on the rest. Why not begin with moving more?

There are  92 days in these three months, 13 weeks... a whole season. If we started with just 15 minutes of total exercise this week, and added just 15 minutes more each week, by New Years Eve we will have built an exercise habit of at least 30 minutes of exercise, 5 days a week!

Think of it, by adding just 2 minutes a day, we can be moving along with a trainload of momentum going into the New Year, burning calories and building muscle, 150+ minutes each week!

This isn't going to be an all or nothing, bust your ass thing. We are talking slow and steady here, building in time and intensity over three months, eventually reaching the recommended levels of adult fitness by the CDC .

Come on...who is with me on this? Don't leave me hanging here! We can do this, who will make this commitment with me?

Many of you might be well beyond just 15 minutes, or ready to do much more...thats cool, we could use people like you to give us inspiration and keep us going, but all I am saying is, here is the minimum, and this is all we have to add each week. For many of us, we can begin to find the time, the place, the activity that we will need to love, if we are going to build a lifetime of fitness. That kind of commitment takes some time to work out, time to build, time to make a habit.

Still not convinced? Consider CHA...

A commenter to my long running, much Googled post God I Hate Being Fat. She gave me the push I needed and put me over the top on this issue.  CHA  has commented a lot on that post, and has gone from an overweight 14 year old girl hating herself, contemplating suicide and cutting... to an overweight girl loving herself and walking 4 miles a day! This girl gives me hope, as many people do here, both commenters and bloggers alike, that things, habits, moods, can be turned around and often times it begins with steady, fun, enjoyable movement.

Finally, consider this - If we begin this week, with just those 15 minutes, to find the time, and the places and the activities that move us, and we continue into the next year with this regular activity, by the time Summer rolls around we will have lost 20+ pounds, just by that activity alone! If we combine that with a few modifications to our eating habits, we can lose a whole lot more. Not fast enough weight-loss for you? Maybe, but then...how long have you been trying? If you are anything like me, years would be the answer. Let's get it right, let's do it right. Let's get this down. Let's build an exercise habit...for a life time, not dependent on the latest fad diet, book, pill or weight loss plan. Weight loss and weight management is NOT a temporary, transient, or quick fix thing.

We can come here to share our triumphs and our missteps, we can look for support and share ideas. We can talk about other steps that we can take to build a foundation of better health, and we can do it together. Not just my ideas, but our ideas.

Again, I say, who is with me? Can I get a witness people! Amen!

Let's throw off the shackles of diet! Amen!

Let's free ourselves to enjoy the movement of our bodies! Amen!

Let's get 15 minutes of good exercise this week! Amen!

Let's get me some more coffee! amen?

Look... the bottom line is New Years is only three months away... only three months... but that is still plenty of time to lay down that strong foundation of better health, starting with activity. By the time New Years rolls around, with three months momentum behind us, we will be in a better position to begin limiting calories, go on a diet, whatever. Let's get ready for then...now.

OK, I have said my peace. I am serious.  All are invited. We can do this together. Who wants to come along?

Heal...

I don't find this study surprising at all. In fact we have talked about how exercise and activity has lifted many a depressed spirit or two.  Apparently all it takes is 30 minutes. That is what I did yesterday on the treadmill, 30 minutes of walking. I was actually thinking..."This is lifting my spirits, I need to do it more often!"

I have been gradually increasing my exercise. For two weeks I exercised 3 times per week, this week adding another day, Monday + Tuesday, Thursday + Friday. It is not changing my weight at all, but at least I am getting back in the habit. Plus I have been walking the dog more often and for longer distances. Good God, if you ever wanted a work-out buddy to keep you on track, just get a dog used to your walking routine and he will never let you forget it. At the same time every night my lab will not stop following me around, he gets so close most people think I have a tail coming out of my bum! He will pace to the window, look back at me, then come over to me, then go back to the window....on and on until I give in and take him! What a pain! Of course, someday when he is too old to walk and I am too old but still walking, at least I will have him to thank for it. Thanks dog.

The Benefits of Exercise...

I don't want to nag, but I do want to drive home the point, maybe more so to myself than any of you; increasing activity is the very best, first step to take towards improving your health, and maybe that of your children. As you know I have been reading the book by Dr. Pratt, "SuperFoods HealthStyle", here is a list of his verbatim, pgs. 15-17, on what exercise can do for you...

• Exercise can make your heart stronger.
• Exercise burns calories and helps you maintain a healthy weight.
• Exercise is essential in keeping off lost weight.
• Exercise decreases inflammatory markers (e.g., reactive protein).
• Exercise helps to control your blood sugar and thus helps to manage or prevent diabetes.
• Exercise can improve circulation, which has myriad beneficial health effects.
• Exercise can decrease blood pressure.
• Exercise increases your cognitive ability, including your ability to concentrate and remain alert.
• Exercise before or after a meal diminishes the postprandial rise in potentially harmful triglycerides (a type of fat).
• Exercise decreases your risk for metabolic syndrome.
• Exercise can decrease the levels of "bad" low density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol, and increase the levels of "good" high density (HDL) cholesterol.
• Exercise boosts the immune system.
• Exercise can reduce back pain.
• Exercise lowers your risk for upper respiratory infections.
• Exercise helps relieve arthritis.
• Exercise lowers your overall risk of dying prematurely.
• Exercise can make you stronger and more flexible.
• Exercise, particularly weight-bearing exercise, can make your bones stronger.
• Exercise increases your level of endorphins - brain chemicals that increase your sense of well-being. Thus exercise can improve mood and could even fight depression.
• Exercise reduces the frailty of old age.
• Exercise is an essential activity to prevent cataracts and age related macular degeneration.

I am going to add one of my own here, and my favorite;

• Exercise sets an example for our children to follow, and reduces the chances (which are increasing at an alarming rate) for childhood obesity, diabetes, heart disease and cancer.

Like I have said in my post a few days ago, I plan on re-reading this list whenever I feel particularly lazy, it has a way of sparking a bit of energy in me, and a little spark can go a long way!

Activity: The Panacea

OK, I am really talking about exercise here, but I loathe the word. Why? because for the last two decades it has only been an exercise in futility for me...or has it? Many of us who are overweight, or are struggling to maintain our weight, find the exercise part of diet & exercise difficult. There is never time, there is never energy, you don't have the right equipment, the excuses are many...and I have used them all at one time or another.

We have all heard and been aware of the benefits of exercise, something new seems to pop up nearly every month, with every study, but unlike so many conflicting food reports, each exercise study only confirms, and adds, to what we already know...it is very, very good for you.

Here are a list of diseases that can be prevented with regular exercise, or at the very least, the conditions of which could be improved making life easier and more comfortable.

Arthritis

Alzheimer's

Depression

Obesity

Stroke

Heart Disease

Type II Diabetes

Coronary Artery Disease

Chronic Lung Disease

Cataracts

Osteoporosis

Breast Cancer

Prostate Cancer

Colon Cancer

Endometrial Cancer

The list is massive, and while thorough, only what we have studied to date, it grows larger every month. Conservatively thinking here, the list above probably constitutes over 75% of early death and injury figures in the country. As I was compiling the links, and reading through a number of different ones, I was struck by the magic pill that exercise seems to be, in study after study, simply walking briskly for 30 minutes or more, more days than not, can literally save your life from a premature death, and barring that, make it a hell of a lot more comfortable. In each case above, there were accompanying studies that that suggest that should you have, say breast cancer, that exercise can even improve you survivability and recovery time. Amazing. Astounding. With out a doubt, exercise activity, is the most important aspect of improving your health.

If you have a few moments, click on the links above and look for the common threads. Does something from the list run in your family? Are you genetically more predisposed to one thing over another? For my part, I plan on coming back to this post, may even make it a side bar item. I think it will help me, and remind me when I am feeling a bit lethargic, that I run the real possibility of feeling a whole lot worse. Get your paws ready Max, were going for a walk tonight!

Diet & Exercise is NOT one word!

I have always had this all or nothing mentality. Perhaps that stems from being a perfectionist, which most always leads to procrastination. If I can't do it perfectly right the first time, I do not want to do it at all. Although I know what is perfect and what is right is anyones guess, I still struggle with it, a lingering after effect of an alcoholic family.

This kind of approach to life, let alone health, can be devastating. It is an attitude that refuses to acknowledge that life is full of bumps, unfair, and that the only thing to do is keep moving forward. Waiting only begets waiting, and eventual deterioration.

I say all this because most of the time when I am trying to lose weight, and fall from grace because of a forbidden food or binge of some sort, I give up on exercise too. If I was to keep it up regardless of what happens in the food department, exercise would probably take care of my weight problems anyway. I am 50 pounds over weight because I eat an extra 500 calories a day, something that could easily be compensated for with added activity.

The worst of the whole thing is, I actually enjoy exercise, I enjoy walking and running and lifting weights. I enjoy pushing myself a bit further each day. Unlike a lot of people who struggle with weight-loss, exercise and activity has always been my strength.  When I "go off" a typical diet I throw the whole thing out, and figure..why bother? I know I am not alone with this kind of thinking.

The first chapter of Steven Pratt's book, SuperFoods HealthStyle, does not deal with food at all, it deals with, what he says, is the single most important thing you can do for yourself and your health...exercise. He makes a thoroughly compelling case as to why this is the most important thing you can do, and why you should keep doing it as long as you are breathing air. I am a believer now. Where I once used to think of "diet and exercise" as one word, inseparable, I now know that they are two words, two habits, one can be achieved and practiced with out the other. Together they are two pretty damn good things for you when done positively, but separate, they are pretty damn good as well.

If you take one thing away from this post, or FatBlogger in general, let it be this; Diet and Exercise are not one activity, they are two, and they can be done separately.

Tomorrow, time allowing, I plan on posting more about exercise and its benefits to your health.