It’s time to talk about New Year’s Resolutions and the challenges seniors face with exercise and eating right. Of course, it’s not just seniors who have these challenges. It’s pretty much everyone on the planet except for the few die hard exercisers who are aware of our bodies and how they need to be moved, twisted and stretched if we are to grow old gracefully. Here are some thoughts:
Most seniors don’t want to exercise, go to the gym, sweat, or do anything that takes that kind of effort.
Most seniors seek to avoid any chance of pain, injury and other negative possibilities associated with moving their bodies in a way they haven’t done for a long time, if ever.
Most seniors are pretty well set in their ways.
Most seniors are resigned to stress as a condition of life.
Most seniors don’t want to change their eating habits. Sugar tastes good — it doesn’t much matter if it is bad for us and causes all sorts of physical and even mental problems — it tastes good. Broccoli doesn’t.
Most seniors also know what they need to do to stay healthy, feel good and live longer. They are totally aware that exercise, good eating habits, deep breathing and lots of rest and sleep will provide the solution they want: That is to look good, feel good, live longer and enjoy the life they are living.
How do you reconcile the two contrasting attitudes? Good question. Is the answer self-discipline? Is the answer deprivation at the food trough? Is the answer hours and hours in the gym sweating and risking injury?
Does the answer include eating broccoli and Brussels sprouts the rest of your life? Is a permanent lunch of green smoothies in your future?
Is the answer to stress to stop reading newspapers and to stop watching cable news? Maybe even go to bed a little earlier?
The answer to all of the above is yes and no.
No, you don’t have to radically alter your overall lifestyle to where you are living a life of stoic deprivation. No you don’t have to become a performance athlete or even a weekend warrior. No, you don’t have to make steamed broccoli and carrots the mainstay of your eating and no, you don’t have to forgo ice cream on the weekends.
But YES, you do have to make some extra effort to move your body through simple exercises and movements. And yes broccoli, carrots, and other colorful veggies should at least play a part in your eating habits.
Yes you should give up being a BAD NEWS JUNKIE and Cable News Addict if you want to maintain your mental stability.
And yes, you must move out of your personal comfort zone and establish some new habits if you want that newly minted good looking body, less protrusion of your mid-section, that attitude of excitement for life, that feeling of vigor and health, and that vision of personal energy that will keep you going for the years to come.
The New Year, 2017, is upon us in just a couple of days. Should you make radical New Year’s Resolutions about your health, fitness and personal energy? Yes, you should. You’re not getting any younger chronologically, but you can get a younger looking body, a younger feeling body, and a dynamic and energetic attitude about life in general. You can feel good about yourself and you can improve the way those close to you feel about you. You can look and feel better almost instantly through exercise, movement, posture control, putting high octane fuel in your body for massive amounts of personal energy and vitality, by filling your lungs with the oxygen of life, and by getting the rest and sleep you need to recover from the activities and the stresses of your daily life.
New Year’s resolutions about health and fitness have almost become a joke because we break them so easily. But so many seniors need that kick-start that gets us started. When we see real progress toward improvement of our own health, fitness and personal energy; when we see the weight dropping off and our muscles developing, then we are building momentum to a point where we won’t want to break those well intentioned resolutions.
For those already on the path to Health, Fitness and Personal Energy, congratulations. May 2017 be a continuation of your effort. For those new to the concept of Health and Fitness, start now down that path and you will enjoy life to the fullest as you look and feel better to yourself and those around you. I have posted two short ebooks in previous blogs that will help you get started. One is on The first 10 minutes and you can get it right here. The other is on Beginning Core and Abs which you can get right here . Both are attachments to previous blog posts. And yes they are FREE! Oh, and don’t forget the Isometric Exercises for strength that I included in the last article.
I wish everyone reading this, a Happy and Prosperous New Year, 2017.
Thank you for reading.
Bob McMillan is a blogger, writer and speaker on Health, Fitness and Personal Energy for Active Seniors. He is a Certified Personal Trainer and Senior Fitness Specialist. This blog is published weekly at www.thecomealiveproject.com. Contact bob@thecomealiveproject.com.