Takin' Care Of U

[Peaches]

I look at you all's pictures and you are some good looking women. Pretty skin, pretty teeth, youthful demeanors.

What makes you want to take good care of your physical and mental health? What motivates you? Is it because you desire to preserve your good looks? Is it because you spent your 20s and 30s taking care of others and now you want to take care of you? Is it because you have had a brush with death? Is it because you want a better quality of life than you had in your youth, or another reason?

[KnottyAuthor]

I became a personal trainer on my quest towards better health. I work out to be healthy first. I work out also because my job requires I keep up with 20 year olds(pharmaceuticals). I do yearn to just exercise for the joy and not necessity of it.Other than that, I truely feel without health we have nOTHING. I LOVE life and embrace it to the fullest. That requires me to feed my body not my flesh. And so it is. Good ques!

[Savvyone]

I believe physical health starts with mental health...so while I'm dealing with great tragedy right now, I force myself to hit that trail every day and do at least 3 miles....anything more is even better but I HAVE TO get it in. It reminds me that God is still God and I love him anyway though I don't understand why I/we were chosen to go through this..... :(

I also don't want to get a weight related illness and become beholden to a bottle of pills because I didn't make the effort. I see so many couples, singles, etc....riding bikes with their kids either behind them or attached....they make NO EXCUSES, so why should I?

And yes, in my 20s and 30s it was all about my kids and others...now my kids are teenagers and in a few years will be grown and moved on....I don't want to have some "empty nest" moment where I get all depressed and all at a loss as to what to do with the next 40-50 years, ya know?....

[Denny]

Thanks! :P :D

Well I spent my 20s taking my health for granted, your metabolism is generally faster so what you eat does not stay on the hips, however something strange happens at the age 30 the food stays longer on the hips and the dial on the scales creeps up and up, so you can either keep eating as if your 21 or change your eating habits and exercise more. What motivated me is a desire to be healthy, having lost some friends to cancer when they were young (late 20's, early 30's) focused my mind more. I decided not to replace my car, being in central London a car for me is a waste of time, it spends most of the week parked, try and eat better and work out more often. There is no reason to not look good and look ourselves no matter what age one is, but the earlier one starts the better and your body and mind will thank you.

[LBellatrix]

@Savvyone: :hug:

@Denny: I miss London. I was only there for 10 uncommonly sunny days in April 2004 but I'm gonna do my best to get back there in the next two years. When I do, let's have a "cuppa," okay? :)

Right around the time I saw 40 creeping up on me I realized that the two greatest sources of wealth anyone can have is their health and their friends. Sadly I haven't been doing well on either front lately but I'm going to rectify that soon.

Re health: Prior to moving to IA I had a goal to lose approximately 70 pounds. When I moved I had lost 50 of them; since then I've gained 25 of them back. So now I want to lose 40 pounds, which would put me at my original goal weight, by my 44th birthday next June. I haven't been to the gym all summer, and now that I live 3 blocks from it I have no excuse BUT...this thread is motivating me to try walking the 3 miles to work today as a warmup for getting back on that elliptical. (It was after my London trip that I stopped wearing tennis shoes outside of the gym...my friend told me that one could always identify American tourists by their tennis shoes. Well...they're going back on today. :lol: ) I'm also looking into taking belly dancing classes and restarting Bikram Yoga.

As for food: This summer I went on and off South Beach but right now I'm just trying to eat as many whole foods as possible, including lots of fruit and veggies. After several days of eating this way, I bought a McDonald's double-cheeseburger meal and -- no kidding -- I could taste the chemicals! It was disgusting.

I have a super-health-conscious friend who spends $$$ on vitamins, classes, food, etc. and she epitomizes that saying: "Better to pay the gym now than pay the hospital later." I'm really trying to keep that in mind when I pull out my credit card. :unsure: I have to get old, but I don't have to be slow and creaky as well as old.

[Blaqdiamond4t]

I look at you all's pictures and you are some good looking women. Pretty skin, pretty teeth, youthful demeanors.

What makes you want to take good care of your physical and mental health? What motivates you? Is it because you desire to preserve your good looks? Is it because you spent your 20s and 30s taking care of others and now you want to take care of you? Is it because you have had a brush with death? Is it because you want a better quality of life than you had in your youth, or another reason?
[/b]
wishing you well savvyone.

thanks peaches--that's sweet of you. ^_^

i enjoy life way too much not to take care of myself. my wife and i will travel at the drop of a dime, foreign and domestic, and i can't do that if i'm not mentally and physically sound.

i'm not in the best shape right now, and i blame google :P , as well as myself. but that's being rectified.
when it's time to get up and go, i wanna go without worrying about having to worry about having my *whatever* medication, etc., or being stuck at home because of some self induced ailment.

another thing that motivates me, is not wanting to look like some of my old classmates. some of them look like they've been to hell and back.

i do want a better quality of life than i had in my youth. which is why i now have this very laid back demeanor. life is too damn short to stress about the little stuff.

lbell - it doesn't take a lot of money to be healthy. eat your fruits and veggies, cut the fat, laugh at least once a day, take your multi vitamins, and walk.

[Denny]

@Savvyone: :hug:

@Denny: I miss London. I was only there for 10 uncommonly sunny days in April 2004 but I'm gonna do my best to get back there in the next two years. When I do, let's have a "cuppa," okay? :)
[/b]

Looking forward to it, I'll have you walking your socks off! :P

[Fedyfro]

Thanks!

I think there are a number of things. The first is my mother lived to be 49 years old. She smoked and it killed her. I always watched what I ate, exercised in moderation and took care of my skin but I still found myself facing breast cancer at 40 and again at 43.

Those experiences helped me put things in perspective. I am a mother to two children under 5 and I want to be here for them as long as I can be. My faith and health are very important to me. My family is my focus these days. Everything else not so much. :)

[Peaches]

Thanks!

I think there are a number of things. The first is my mother lived to be 49 years old. She smoked and it killed her. I always watched what I ate, exercised in moderation and took care of my skin but I still found myself facing breast cancer at 40 and again at 43.
[/b]
Congratulations on being such a survivor!

[LBellatrix]

another thing that motivates me, is not wanting to look like someof my old classmates. some of them look like they've been to hell and back.

i do want a better quality of life than i had in my youth. which is why i now have this very laid back demeanor. life is too damn short to stress about the little stuff.

lbell - it doesn't take a lot of money to be healthy. eat your fruits and veggies, cut the fat, laugh at least once a day, take your multi vitamins, and walk.
[/b]

I hear you...especially on these points. A woman I knew in grade school died recently...she had a stroke followed by a heart attack. 43 years old. How the hell does that happen? (rhetorical question)

Re $$: I was mainly referring to the extra classes I'm thinking about taking. I'm on a pretty tight budget but I need something that's going to keep me motivated. And speaking of motivation...



Looking forward to it, I'll have you walking your socks off! :P
[/b]

That's what I'm talking about! That's going on my goal list: "See London on foot with Denny!" :D



I think there are a number of things. The first is my mother lived to be 49 years old. She smoked and it killed her. I always watched what I ate, exercised in moderation and took care of my skin but I still found myself facing breast cancer at 40 and again at 43.

Those experiences helped me put things in perspective. I am a mother to two children under 5 and I want to be here for them as long as I can be. My faith and health are very important to me. My family is my focus these days. Everything else not so much. :)
[/b]

I heard that... :yes:

[anabwi]

Having to take BP meds is what jump started it for me, but like BLL said, when I saw some of my highschool classmates looking like they'd been to hell and back in gasoline drawers, that was an added boost. :lol: :lol: