Jim Hines wrote a very interesting post on body image last week, which you can locate under this link. I have very little to add, because I think a whole bunch of angles on the subject have been discussed over at Jim’s place. Of course, leave it to me to find a tangent in here somewhere.
This week, I am a bachelorette for three days, while my husband runs off to blow things up camp a science teacher workshop. I’m usually the one that runs away from home on him. I expect the cats and I to have an off kilter week. Further twilight zone experiences will result for the next couple of weeks, because Bryon has foot surgery on Friday, and then he’s laid up for a bit.
One of the things this means is that I’ll be going to the gym alone pretty much for the foreseeable future.
Jim’s post got me thinking about the concept of healthy. Many people on the post agreed that regardless of your BMI, what’s important is healthy. I did some serious thinking about my physical condition. Am I healthy?
Well, no. I’m not. In April, a mad dash through the Minneapolis airport left me sounding like an emphysema victim. I can’t lift much with my arms. I can’t do many push ups (any?).
I don’t eat right all the time. Much of the time, yes, but ask me about ice cream and the Amana colonies in spontaneous color this weekend.
Being healthy is harder when you are sedentary. As a writer, I am generally not keyboarding and treadmilling at the same time. As an ELA coordinator, I sit at my desk, a lot more than if I were just teaching.
Teaching isn’t exactly aerobic. Yes, the soul search revealed two things. I need to move more, and I need to eat better.
It’s not because I want to be thin. It’s because I want to be able to dash across the Minneapolis airport. It’s because strong bones and muscles are much less likely to lose mass in my old age. It’s because I want to have more energy and pep.
And I want to eat better for many of the same reasons. As much as I love ice cream, brownies, and chocolate, these things are meant to be eaten in moderation, if not sparingly. Water and vegetables, lean protein, the things that make us run better. You know, nutrition?
How do you eat? How do you work out? How do you weight train? I guess I have to put my amazing grad school/author research skills to work for my body, because another benefit of healthy is longevity.
I’ll let you know how this all works out in regard to weight. I suspect I know the answer, but since my emphasis will be on eating well, and not on portion control, I’m curious.
In the spirit of my new philosophy, I ran for the first time today. For leisure. Since 1987. Yup, still Wheezy.
Do you all move? How do you get your heart rate up? Do you lift? They say women often make the mistake of not lifting. And how do you sneak in vegetables and fruit?
We now return you to your regular writing blog. I think I do need that treadmill for my computer…
Catherine
