My 10-Year Plan

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Years ago when I was the Health Guide at a mental health website I wrote about my 10-year theory:

That you should give yourself the gift of 10 years to achieve your version of recovery.

Wanting or expecting to achieve dramatic results via drastic measures is dangerous to our mental and physical health.

If you don’t like yourself as you are now how will you be able to like yourself in the future?

Being happy isn’t predicated on achieving a goal. One goal I’ve have for a long time hasn’t materialized yet. Only I accept where I am in my life.

It took me 10 years of lifting weights to get the body I have now.

A person cannot give up exercising after only 2 months. You need to give yourself 4 years of consistently working out to see long-term gains.

“Drop 2 Dress Sizes by Tuesday” should not be the goal. Lifelong health and wellbeing should be the goal.

For the first 4 or 5 years I lifted weights 3x per week for 50 minutes in each session.

Then I had a setback where I had to act as my mother’s caregiver.

My trainer at the time a woman started creating shorter routines I could do in my apartment.

After she left a guy trainer who is exceptional like she was took over.

For going on 4 years I’ve been lifting weights in my living room mostly 2x per week for 30 to 40 minutes in each session.

I’m 56. I’m fitter than I was when I first started training at 46.

The point is that loading up exercise on the front end will improve your odds of being able to consistently work out for the long-term.

Continuing to act as my mother’s caregiver (she is 83 and in ill health) I often can only exercise 1x per week right now.

My first trainer at the gym left to open his own boutique fitness center. He had told me that as long as I continued to exercise I would maintain my fitness level.

Life happens. Stuff happens. Setbacks are to be expected. It’s not a question of if you’re going to have a setback but when.

Setbacks will occur often. That’s the nature of living life: being thrown curveballs.

In the early 2000s I had written: “When life throws you a curveball hit it out of the park.”

I would say that giving yourself the gift of 10 years of engaging in an exercise routine is mandatory.

The goal like said is not to become thin or skinny.

According to a research study people who work out feel better about their bodies even if they don’t lose weight.

My secret was not giving up the fight. Continuing to exercise even when I’m able to work out only 1x per week.

In the coming blog entry I’ll talk about the research-verified fitness strategies in the book Eat Move Sleep by Tom Rath.

This common-sense guide guide touts that small changes can make a big difference.

The keyword in that sentence? Small. Making changes doesn’t have to be difficult or arduous.

On Being Different

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An outlier, I’ve come to terms with the fact that I’m different.

I describe how I “operate” as being unusual.

No–I don’t identify as “Queer.” I prefer to use the word different or unusual.

Too I choose not to conform. Instead of using “she/her” as my preferred pronouns I use my given names as my preferred nouns as in “Chris/ Christina.”

It’s because I’m different that I don’t expect other people to be live act think and dress the way I do.

I’m able to have compassion for others.

Often I wonder: “Can we at least try not to judge others as often as most of us do?”

I have grappled with the fact that living a totally judgment-free life might not be possible.

In terms of the myth of needing to be thin:

We should love ourselves first in order that we can love others too.

If you hate your body and by extension yourself because you’re not thin that doesn’t bode well for accepting another person as they are.

Most people wouldn’t exercise the way I do. I workout like a madwoman in training for the prizefight of her life. The sessions are so intense that I need to take a recovery day afterwards to rest.

Each of us has personality traits we can use to help us succeed in life. To discount these traits as a factor in our ability to overcome adversity is what upsets me.

It hit me as I’m writing this that someone should write a book titled “The Personality Trait Fitness Guide.”

Using your unique competencies is the best way to triumph.

Each of us has skills, abilities, and strengths we can use to overcome internal and external roadblocks.

In coming blog entries I’m going to talk about my own fitness trajectory in the last 10 years of lifting weights.

I’m going to review the Top 3 Health and Fitness books I’ve read in the last 5 years.

I’ll also bust the myth of always needing to buy organic food.

Everyone’s doing the best we can with what we were given.

No one should feel guilty or ashamed because they don’t live up to some impossible societal ideal of how much you should weigh or what your body should look like.

I tell you: Be a Rebel. Dare to be different.

Walk down the street like you own the pavement.

Regardless of the size on your clothing tag.

On Not Being Thin

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To start this story where it should end I have no desire to become thin.

I feel I have nothing in common with white affluent “Influencer” women who proselytize getting a “beach body.”

Using the term Thinspiration alarms me. No one needs to be thin if they’re going to go on a crazy “diet” to try to whittle down to their bones.

My body is at its “fighting weight” now. Which is great because by exercising I can burn off the anger I have at the injustice in society.

Hello folks–it wasn’t my goal to lose 20 pounds in the last 2 years. Nor do I like using the word “thin” or “skinny” to describe my body or anyone else’s body.

From the time I was 22 until I turned 23–in only one year–I gained 30 pounds. At five feet tall I was unhappy weighing 138 pounds. In the early 1990s I had about 5 sessions with an M.D. who had a practice focused on nutrition.

It took me 6 years to lose the extra weight.

In my forties I weighed 125 pounds.

Three months before I turned 46 I was going through a hard time. Suddenly and out of nowhere I told myself: “You must start lifting weights.”

Not at all so that I could lose weight or become “thin” or “skinny.”

I decided to lift weights as a coping mechanism for the emotional pain I was in. In March of this year I celebrated my 10th Anniversary of lifting weights.

So I went out and bought a cool DKNY pocketbook as a reward.

Again: the goal is not to be thin or skinny.

In the coming blog entries I’ll talk more about my weight lifting practice. I will review 3 health and fitness books that are right-on.

Too I will talk about my Left of the Dial lifestyle that is predicated on this motto:

“No judgments.”

2021 Summer Lower Body Routine

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Kettle bell squat (holding kettle bell @ chest) after each squat do a knee raise alternating legs 10-15 pounds 12-16 reps

Single leg Romanian deadlift (reach until you feel stretch in hamstring) 10 reps

Reverse lunges holding dumbbell high in 1 hand and low in the other 5-8 pounds 8 lunges each side

Donkey / glute kicks (starting on all 4s – alternately kick feet straight back to squeeze glutes

Alternating lateral lunges (feet wider than shoulders opposing leg straight – working leg bent – back and fourth)

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Burpees 12 reps

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V-shaped crunches 15 reps

Jumps side to side and front to back 20 jumps

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Side planks (as many seconds as possible) 2 sets each side

2021 Summer Upper Body Routine

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Band shoulder raises (1 leg and palms forward – curl band up and push above head) – 12 reps

Band rows (step wide on the band with both feet – leaning forward and alternating rows) – 15 each side

Push-ups (1 set standard – 2 sets modified)

Dumbbell curls (start palms in and rotate up on the way up) 8 pounds 12-15 reps

Overhead tricep extension (1 side at a time – only moving elbow) 5-8 pounds 12-15 reps

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Jump rope jumps (20-30 seconds)

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Plank tucks (tuck legs in plank position) 20 tucks

High knees kicks 20-30 seconds

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Plank with shoulder taps 20 taps

New Fitness Book

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Alysia Montano the author and athlete of this book is an Olympic champion. She is an activist who endorses clean sport. By using the word clean I take it she is against the use of steroids.

Though she is a runner I zoomed in on the exercises in this book to use in my own fitness practice.

My personal trainer incorporated one of the movements into the new routine he gave me.

In coming weeks I will supply the 2021 Early Summer Upper and Lower Body workout sheets.

This book I was able to find at a public library. It’s sold in bookstores as well. I was able to take this book home for free. You could check it out of the library should you want to save money.

I recommend buying the book.

It does feature strength training exercises which is what pulled me into taking this book home.

Eating to Beat Depression and Anxiety

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Drew Ramsey, M.D. published the new book Eat to Beat Depression and Anxiety.

I’m set to check the book out of the library soon.

The wind-up is that like I’ve forever touted in this blog the food we eat can improve our mood.

Per the Women’s Health magazine page that reviewed the Ramsey book the following foods up our happiness quotient:

Leafy Greens:

Kale and Seaweed

Rainbow Produce:

Bell Peppers and Avocadoes

Seafood:

Wild Salmon Anchovies and Mussels

Nuts, Beans, and Seeds:

Cashews Red Beans and Pepitas

Meat:

Grass-fed Beef

Eggs and Dairy:

Eggs and Fermented Dairy

Who says you can’t have yogurt in moderation?

I started having mussels once a week long before I read this Women’s Health review. Too I’ve always preferred cashews over other nuts.

If you don’t want to take my word for these things you can take the word of Drew Ramsey, M.D. who wrote the book Eat to Beat Depression and Anxiety.

2021 Spring Lower Body Routine

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  1. Kettlebell Front Squat (Hold KB by the base at chest height – feet shoulder width (10 lb x 12 reps)
  2. Dumbbell Lunges – Hold DBs sideways at shoulder (5 lb x 10 lunges each side)
  3. Bridge on Platform – lying down placing feet on edge of platform push with heels (8 lb x 15 reps)
  4. Kettlebell Dead Lift – keep back straight (10 lb x 12 reps)
  5. Calf Raises with or without weight (2 5 lb DBs x 15 reps)

Fast Paced step-ups – on platform with 1 riser each side (20-30 seconds)

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Crunches – lifting arms

Jumping Jack forward and back (20-30 seconds)

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Ab Hold – holding feet 6 inches above floor hold as long as possible

2021 Spring Upper Body Routine

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  1. Resistance band Chest Fly/Chest Press combo (band in back on coffee table or dining table) (15 reps)
  2. Kettlebell Suitcase Row (in forward leaning position) row kettlebells up with kettlebells held sideways pull shoulder blades together (10 lb 12-15 reps)
  3. DB Skull Crushers – Tricep Extensions – lying on back (bend elbow bring weight by your head extend back towards ceiling) (5 lb 12-15 reps)
  4. DB Curl holding DBs together (squeeze bicep at the top) (5 lb 12-15 reps)
  5. 2 DB Upright Row Start with both DBs in front of body palms facing back raise elbow as high as possible (5 lb 12-15 reps)

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Medicine Ball Slams (10 straight and 10 side-to-side)

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Standing Kettlebell Rotations (10 lb 15 reps)

High Knees in Place (20-30 seconds)

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Alternating Leg Raises (15 reps)

The 80 Percent Rule

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Years ago I had written in here about the 80 Percent Rule I adhered to: eating healthful food 80 percent of the time.

Devorah the health coach vetted that eating well 80-to-90 percent of the time was perfectly fine.

She believed that my indulgence in a pastry 2 or 3 times a month was okay too.

No– we should not think of treating ourselves to food as “cheating.” We should think of doing this as an “indulgence.”

There’s a difference: labeling food as good or bad is a moral judgment that sets us up to feel like we’re a good or bad person for eating the kind of food we do.

I have discovered chocolate souffle pots that I can order with my weekly groceries delivery.

The ceramic pots can be repurposed for ramekins to use for melted butter when you cook lobster for dinner.

Trying to be a saint 100 percent of the time will set us up to fail.

I can’t resist a cannoli on occasion : )