I just got this great email and I wanted to share it with you all:
Dear Jackie:
Thanks for creating this unique and beneficial website. I enjoy
reading your postings and am a listener to your recently-launched
telephone conversations. I'm 72 years old, male, and a third of the
way through a long-term (4 months) commitment to lose 15 lbs through a
diet and exercise program of my own devising. PEERtrainer helps.
Dieting is tough, as you well know. It demands equal measures of
patience, persistence, and common sense. There are dietary
requirements (nutrition, portion size, frequency of meals) and
exercise requirements ( cardio and weight training, stretching).
Nothing can be rushed, and expectations must be kept in check.
Plateaus are common and seem to last forever. Yet gradually, a pound
at a time, interim goals will be met and written logs will confirm
incremental gains in physical conditioning. I have more to say about
goals below.
What motivated me to lose weight (this time: I've been here before)
was disgust at the sight of the stranger looking back at me from
behind the mirror of my medicine cabinet, and a desire to be healthy
enough to enjoy the remaining decades of my life. My poor habits are
changing. I'm paying attention to (but not obsessing over) the amount
and quality of the food I eat and exercising 4-5 days a week. I've
fought off discouragement after stepping on the scale and discovering
to my horror that I'd gained a pound since the last weigh-in, and I've
stopped weighing myself every day. To date, I've dropped 5 pounds.
Thursday night, you said that goal-setting is an important component
of any successful weight-loss program, citing the example of fitting
again into a favorite pair of jeans. I agree that goals are
important , and the everyday example you offered was one we can all
easily relate to. However, the reading I've done on the subject over
the years has taught me that the "rewards" associated with dieting
successfully and maintaining a healthy lifestyle are huge. In the
context of the service that PEERtrainer is providing, it seems to me
that "goals" and "rewards" are almost interchangeable.
My list of goals/rewards includes "lowers," lessers," "betters" and
"greaters." Examples:
lower body fat percentage, cholesterol, blood pressure, and resting
heart rate;
less physical pain and emotional anxiety
better breathing, skin tone, and sleeping: and
greater concentration, flexibility, balance, confidence, strength and
endurance, libido, and patience.
The beauty part of these improvements is that they all flow naturally
from eating well, exercising regularly, and keeping one's weight
down. One needn't concentrate on them; they just happen.
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