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Why Stay Healthy?
What's that mean?
To strengthen your heart,
your muscles,
your bones so you'll be thankful a century from now when you're old?
I'll tell you why. Little things you do(or don't do) today will pile up. Whether or not you get whomped on the head with a dire diagnosis in two decades depends on what you do NOW.
70% of your immune system is in your gut.
A simple way to keep it in balance is to drink
ACAI juice,what Oprah calls "The Number One New Superfood"
Keep your immune system on track with
Acai juice.
Just 4 ounces has the antioxidant capacity of 13 servings of fruits & veggies.
(Or you could
eat that much every day)
Email me for more info
Acai on Oprah
Email me for more info on ACAI
Weight Loss Plateau
Busters
YOGA DEMO
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or go to my website
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Dear ,
People (and by people I mean all women) people have a magic number.
It's that number on the scale that is just on the OTHER side of the
gulf
(on the count of three, let's all shout out our magic
number,1-2-3!)
You know the gulf.
It's the 5,10 or 50 (fill in the
number) pound gulf between where you are and where you want to be.
Most people(and by most people I mean most women) the gulf is like the
difference between a passing grade and an "F", between Harvard and The
Belmont County Branch Of Ohio U,
between third base and all the way,
between being nominated and actually winning.
And most always, the gulf is wider than it needs to be, with the other
side being more beyond reach than it needs to be. The other side is
often unrealistic (thank you Uma and Anjelina) and I've also noticed
that the magic number is usually a few "el bees"(get it? Ell
bees-lbs)below one's "set point."
Set point is where your body likes to be, weight-wise.
It's the
poundage that your body gravitates towards even when Thanksgiving
dinner is served on manhole covers disguised as plates or
an evening
alone with an open sleeve of Oreo cookies.
It is your stasis.
Your set
point is often where you have to battle to go below.
You often discover
the definition of the word "plateau"when you try to challenge your set
point.
You could be clipping along on a diet or exercise routine,
steadily losing one or two el bees a week.
Then, screeeech!!!!
You get
within a biceps reach of your goal weight and you stop losing.
You
practically have to switch to only celery sticks and run marathon type
mileage to go below your set point. (Actually I've seen women running
marathon type distances and still be stuck at their set point).
What's a girl to do?
Two things.
Number one is to think hard about your
magic number and your set point and the gulf between the two and see if
you can somehow, some way
Reconcile the two. (I can hear the deceptively quiet, yet Nazi-like
voice in some of your heads, refusing to let go of say, 116 or is it
122? Or maybe 129?)
Can you consider the possibility of inventing a new magic number?
Would
it be ridiculous to have the old set point be the new black? The new
magic number?
On a side note,
do you know the feeling that makes you think that
your stomach shrunk after a few days of the flu or eating less?
Well,
that's not really your stomach shrinking.
The nerves that detect
fullness actually recalibrate to detect fullness with less food so you
FEEL full with less food. Same size stomach. Different sensation.
So if your gut can do THAT without you having to think it to make it
happen, then surely you can do the same type of mental recalibration
with your scales. Can you decide to detect less criticism with a higher
number?
The next question is what happens when you mentally recalibrate?
You stop fighting something immutable. Fighting to get to a magic
number (or worse, simply feeling self-loathing at the thought of not
weighing your magic weight) is like fighting high tide.
At a certain
point (this is where the word "wisdom" comes in)
you (hopefully)
realize that it's smarter to turn on your back and float or maybe
dog-paddle.
I'm not recommending sinking, mind you. Or drowning.
Just
going with the flow.
Just facing what is and working with it rather
than against it.
Geriathletes like me usually like to try the never-before-attempted.
All my life I've taken chances and attempted the, maybe not impossible,
but more like the highly unlikely.
I used to drive on an Empty tank,
I
used the mens' room if my bladder was full enough and the coast was
clear enough and I drank the milk without checking the expiration date,
not that a past due date would've stopped me from taking a swig.
But at
a certain Nora Ephron phase of my life,
wisdom started whispering to me
(in my mother's tone of voice) saying things like "maybe you should gas
up", "pee before you get in the car", "have a glass of water instead."
Wisdom.
Think about it.
Hoping to get to a magic number that was imprinted in
your brain long before pregnancy, childbirth, menopause and supersize
is like the kind of praying you do after you've spun the roulette wheel.
Which brings me to my last point which is you need to stop hoping and
Start.
Just start.
If you have a GPS system in your car you know that in order to get
anywhere, you have to program in your final destination. Any fitness
regime worth it's weight in dumbbells needs to do the same.
Pick a
long-term goal (closer to your new magic number,hey! Look! It's your
old set point!) and a long-term date, break it down into weekly goals
then daily goals, the minutes.
And just get STARTED on your way.
Never give up.
Never give up
does not mean fighting to maintain a weight that your
metabolism refuses to maintain.
Never give up
refers to dedication and
commitment over the long haul. One week of workouts becomes two. Then a
month goes by. You feel better. Your jeans fit better.And so on.
You get the picture.
So start recalibrating your brain about your weight by starting to
notice how you feel about where you are now and where you WANT to be.
Mentally try to let go, without letting yourself go. And don't just talk the talk, Jog the jog.
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Penny Hoff
Penny Hoff's Workout World |
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