Anyone else gettin old and outa shape??

[Freemon]

Well I have been...started gradually but before I knew it I was getting ready to turn 50 and the Doc says...lose some pounds...get the bp down as well as the cholesterol and heart rate. Whats this to do with gadgets..which I love...well I started a walking program of my own making after considerable reading. Three months later me and my Timex heart rate monitor are still going strong. It is my companion on my daily 5 mi. walk. Keeps me in check to not go seriously over my target rate range. Anyone else working with a HR monitor. Still got a long way to go but I already found 2 unused notches on my belt.

 

[pyrguy]

I'm startin' to become that myself.

Saw the Dr for my physical the other week. He sent me to a heart Dr (heart problems run in the family). BOTH Dr's told me to either loose weight or get about 4' taller.
Other than that I'm not in bad shape for the shape I'm in.

------------------
Dwight

It's a fine line between "a hobby" and "mental illness".

 

[MrG]

Gents,

Go here for some info:
www.bragg.com Site of the famous Paul C. Bragg, inventor of the health food store. Tons o' info here!
www.247you.com Health and martial arts. Whoopee!
www.mattfurey.com Intense bodyweight exercises guaranteed to kick your ass!!
www.championjuicer.com The best juicer in the whole entire universe. I've had mine for TEN years, and it still works great!

Hope some of these help. Remember, just cause you're old don't mean you're out. Strength to us is endurance; older logs burn longer.

 

[Jeff Clark]

Here's my approach. Rather than try and use will power to stop doing things I like to do (like sit around reading and eating), substitute healthier things to do that give you the same pleasures.

So my diet consists of eating much more food than I used to, just eliminate virtually all fat, and more than 1/2 of the sugars. I lunch at the local salad buffet ($4.29 for all you can eat) and STUFF myself with fruit, vegetables, a little turkey ham, a roll, fat free dressing... I eat about 3 plates full. The variety and the sweetness of the fruit is very satisfying.

My excercise consists of about a 4 mile walk at lunch time. This cuts into my reading and net surfing time. I need some of that mild mental entertainment so I "read" tape recorded books while I walk. My local library system has a great variety of novels on cassettes, but it seemed like the best were never on the shelf when I wanted them. I use the libraries website catalogue to locate the tapes I want to hear and put them on hold. They deliver them to the branch near my work. I've listened to dozens of tapes during my daily walks.

I put the whole thing together. I put on my cassette Walkman, start up a Tom Clancy novel, walk down to Souper Salad for a huge low fat lunch, take a long walk back along the creek bike trail. I'm full, exhillerated, entertained, and contented. No willpower or discipline is used. I'm loosing pounds and inches while feeling totally pampered. It even improves my work.

Somehow my urge for fats has gone down. In the evenings it's easy to get by eating 1/3 the burgers and other fats I used to.

 

[cardimon]

Out of shape? I've never been in shape.

The only time I feel my age is when I look at the 19-year-old college girls (we live in a college town), and then realize I could be their dad, being a full 20 years older.

That thought will take you down a couple of pegs. Sigh.

 

[Joe Talmadge]

Originally posted by Freemon:
.well I started a walking program of my own making after considerable reading. Three months later me and my Timex heart rate monitor are still going strong. It is my companion on my daily 5 mi. walk. Keeps me in check to not go seriously over my target rate range. Anyone else working with a HR monitor. Still got a long way to go but I already found 2 unused notches on my belt.

Heart rate monitors are the deal! I've used them for years, love them because they really let me control my workout. On days I want to work out hard, I can really see how hard I'm working, and not go dangerously high for too long. More importantly, on lazy days, I can get just barely into my target range and stay there. Before my heart rate monitor, I was never sure how hard I had to work in order to see benefit, so always worked too hard, and eventually quit. With the heart rate monitor, I can actually monitor my "easy" workout and see that it's still in the range I want.

I use a Polar monitor with a chest strap, I don't trust the kind that work strictly on wrist pulse. I've heard the new monitors that work on finger pulse -- like the Mio -- are pretty good too, thinking about trying one out just for grins.

Whether you're competing or just trying to stay healthy, a heart rate monitor should definitely be part of your routine.

Joe

 

[Raptor]

Jeff,
I offer the following advice from my own experience:

DON'T GO 100% FAT FREE !!!

I wish that someone had told me this before I ended up in the hospital.

I took 1 1/2 yrs total to lose 65 lbs. It was gradual. First I ate less fat (meats). Then started looking at labels. Then I started the move towards becoming a vegetarian. I lived that lifestyle for about 4 months and was feeling great. Then the wife and I decided, one night (after smelling Burger King cooking), that we would cheat and have that for dinner. Within 45 mins., I was being rushed to the hospital (in a ambulance). I was having a gall bladder attack. Two days later, they removed a ganggreen (sp??) gall bladder from me. It fell apart upon removal.

The moral of the story is that apparantly it is NOW well known that if you rapidly remove all fats from your diet, and then eat something fatty, you too may suffer from this situation.

I believe, although I'm not completely sure, that it was Jenny Craig Weightloss Centers that were going through a lawsuit regarding this matter at the same time that I was recovering from surgery.

Exercise and eat a well balanced diet (preferably on the healthier/less fatty side) and you should be OK.

Be careful folks!!!!!!

--The Raptor--

Also (the wife just reminded me) that she did everything the same as me except that she would not deny herself a candybar (or something similar) once in a while if she was really craving it.
She managed to lose the same weight but she also managed to keep her gall bladder.

Take it for what it's worth.

[This message has been edited by Raptor (edited 11-28-2000).]