Get healthy

I’ve beek keeping up with the Pilates Sculpt. I’m approaching my 10th session, and it’s true you can see/feel a difference after 10 sessions! I feel WAY stronger, and the abs part of the workout isn’t impossible anymore. It’s still really hard, but that’s ok!

I started a walking club at work in November, and have a few members. We walk over lunch at least twice a week, and there are even a few of us who are walking when it’s really cold (like -20 C). There will be more members I expect once the weather gets warmer. Wusses!!

Pilates is going well, I’ve been doing it for a week now.

I’ve also been eating SUPER healthily, and believe it or not, 2 days after I started exercising and eating correctly, I felt AMAZING. Makes me wonder how bad my eating habits were before…

...doing Pilates again this past weekend. I’d not been able to do it for a while, because of my surgery. WOW was it hard. I did it again last night, which made a difference. My muscles feel so much better!

I started Pilates Sculpt a couple of weeks ago. Boy, you don’t realize how weak your muscles are until you do something like that! I think it’s going to start to whip me into shape pretty darned quickly. I’ve done three sessions, and apparently a person should start noticing a difference in 10 sessions.

Had my blood work done, and found out last week that I have very low cholesterol, especially the LDL or bad kind. My doctor said it’s one of the lowest he’s ever seen. Maybe I’m one of those natually healthy people. Who knew?

Apparently I have the blood pressure of someone half my age—100/80!

• I already eat whole-wheat/flax/sunflower breads, because I don’t like white bread.
• I already eat non-processed rice, because I prefer the real rice to the parboiled kind (like Uncle Ben’s)
• Many years ago I switched to a non-hydrogenated margarine (Olivina).
• At the same time as the margarine, I stopped using white sugar (as much as I’m able to control it), and have used brown sugar instead.

I also have always drunk a lot of water, more than a litre with dinner alone, so that wasn’t a challenge.

Now, rather than counting calories, etc, I look at it more from a health standpoint: Am I keeping my fat intake to less than 30% of my total intake for the day (and try to make as much of that mono and polyunsaturated fats), and am I getting the nutrients I need? I’m finding there’s a paradigm shift in the way I’m looking at this transformation of my physical self—from what I can’t have and what I still have to accomplish, to what I can have, still having treats from time to time, and what I’ve accomplished already.

The thing that surprised me the most so far (besides that it’s been pretty easy to stick to) is how different I feel physically. Christmas time I indulged a little of course, but I found that if I had even some junk (less than I would have had before) my body doesn’t really like it. Makes it easier to say no!