It’s interesting who you meet when you attend an event. The particular interesting people were at the home of family member who was hosting a gathering. There were two ladies who traveled the 1.5 hours to get to the event and were former neighbours of the hosts.
The two ladies, Rose and Pat (not their real names) were accompanied by Pat’s dog who was 15 and quite spry for an old dog. Rose was the driver, and as evening was nearing, she was eager to get Pat, who was talking up a storm, ready to go. Rose had a workout planned. She didn’t go to the gym in the morning because she wanted to arriver early enough; she still needed to get home and to the gym for her 1.5 hour workout.
Pat had a conversation with someone about renovating her place. She has thought about it but in seeing the neighbours do a full renovation after the hosts had fixed up the place prior to moving, she decided that someone will just come in and change it when she sells. We don’t know when Pat plans to sell. She is doing well on her own though she no longer drives. She is however 95 years old.
Rose, on the other hand is 85 still drives, and clearly workouts for 1.5 hours each day. I was fascinated when she told me how long she is at the gym daily, and wanted to know what she does. I can’t recall all the details however it is broken into different parts. She spends the first 40 minutes on the treadmill walking 3 mph at a 3% incline. For those who don’t know, 3 mph is a pretty normal walking pace. The 3% is an incline and with each percentage above 1 is an increase of 1 mph effort on a treadmill. She does some body weight exercises after that.
These ladies walk the dog regularly, not short walks. They say that a pet will resemble the owners. In this case the dog is spry at 15 and doesn’t look a day over 10 which is pretty great. When I meet people like these ladies it inspires me to do better. They put in the effort regularly. They are strong and have a strong will to keep healthy and independent.
Though their stories were fascinating and I may meet them again, I am fortunate to have inspiration much closer to home. My parents are in their 80s and remain on the farm. They are active and generally healthy and it’s difficult for me to remember they are not still in their 60s …which would be weird because I am in my 60s…which is weird, because I feel like I am still in my 40s, except I don’t have to take care of kids. As the average age span increases, it seems there are those who are younger while they are technically older.
Barring medical incidents and physical disabilities, most of us are capable of achieving similar outcomes. I have friends and family who have developed sudden disabilities. It is a tragedy particularly when they were once active.
I have been challenged for awhile and feeling stuck in many ways. The couple years of stress and concern, and other things left me feeling less whole. I gained 10 pounds over that period and have struggled emotionally on and off. Things were feeling really blah the last 6 or so months despite feeling happy that hubby is able to walk normally after the two hip surgeries and do the things he used to do. I needed a disruption…a positive one.
I joined a challenge. I did a soft start over the last couple weeks, making some small efforts to confirm my ability and become comfortable with apps and inputs and I waited until after a very busy event to make my first couple of weeks successful.
I joined Zero to 100 officially on April 1st. It is a 100 day challenge. Each day I exercise 45 minutes, eat healthy (track macros) and no junk food, no alcohol, and plan my next day. While I have spent a lot of years keeping active, this is a new level. My initial resistance was the food tracking and having diet restrictions. Resistance is strongest when it is something that we should do for our own good.
I had a realization a few weeks ago that I can do the exercise but didn’t want to do the food part. That was the moment of truth; the reason to do it is for the food part. Now that I have been doing it for awhile, in practice days, and my first full week as of today, it is not so bad. It does take extra time. It isn’t perfect. I am still working our the right amounts of things to not come out over my daily macro goals or for some macros, getting enough.
Some days are easier than others. I won’t pretend to not have some difficult moments. I have lost a couple of pounds and that good start does help.
I will be sharing more on it as I move forward. Have you done any difficult challenges?
A New Dawn 