My journey to wellness coaching began with this blog - my personal quest to be the healthiest version of myself possible. Here's where I write about clean eating, fitness adventures, and raising a healthy family!
Okay, I'm not actually old. But when I turn 37 in June, I will be the oldest I have ever been! And while age is just a number and we're only as old as we feel...let me tell you my friends, I am feeling old.
Mostly because its come to my attention in the past six months or so that as I approach my 40s, everything that I have heard about aging and metabolism, all of those things that I know and understand but have doggedly assumed would not actually happen to moi, are in fact happening.
It's taking my body longer to snap back into shape after a vacation. I'm having to work a lot harder at maintaining my weight, much less trying to shave off a few pounds when I want to. And, I am starting to see wrinkles on my face! The wrinkles I could actually not care much less about. But the waistline is another story.
Is middle-aged weight gain inevitable? Is it something we have to accept? Well, as in most things the answer lies somewhere in the middle.
Hopefully not my middle.
But yes, we do lose muscle cells as we age. And yes, those muscle cells do get tired and less efficient. That's why strength training is important at any age, but especially as we age.
But does our metabolism slow down as we age? Yes and no. Metabolism is determined by how effective our bodies are at burning calories. And since we lose muscle cells as we age, and more muscle means more calorie burning, we often see a decrease in our calorie-burning potential because of that decreased muscle. Not necessarily age. But you know, when it comes to a slower metabolism, I'm not all that concerned with the "why?" as with the "how do I fix this?" The answer is what you probably think I am going to say: keep building muscle!
What this means for me is a few things: 1. Stop expecting to be able to fudge my calories on the weekend or on vacation and then snap back into shape a week later. That rubber band has lost its spring. 2. Keep workouts focused on building muscle, not burning calories. Include strength training - challenging strength training - in your workout no matter how old you are. 3. Watch this video frequently and laugh about the whole stupid thing!
Wherever you are in the aging process, no matter how springy your rubber band is, and even if you are just getting started in this health thing, just get out there and get healthy!
So last week, still on a high from ordering my GoWear Fit (which is on my arm calculating away as I type!), I bought and downloaded an e-book called The Fat LossTroubleshoot, written by a trainer named Leigh Peele, who also wrote the detailed review of the GoWear Fit that ultimately convinced me to buy it.
Now, let me confess something: I made a New Year's resolution this year to stop wasting my money on gadgety fitness doohickeys. I've bought (and lost or broken) more heart-rate monitor watches, pedometers, fancy water bottles, diet and nutrition books, kitchen appliances, and Lord knows what else over the years in the name of making my life easier. And I think I made pretty good progress making it all the way to June before I bought two new fitnessy things at once. :) So yay me.
I read the entire book over the weekend, making copius notes in the margins, and I think it was a good use of $40. In its 150 pages, Peele debunks a lot of myths related to nutrition for fat loss and sheds some light on a few realities that none of us really want to face, like the truth about how many calories we actually burn and how many we actually eat. And, I was very glad to spend $40 to find out that for about 95% of my training and nutrition, I am doing everything pretty darn close to perfect. Another yay for me! As for that other 5%, now that I know about them AND have my GoWear Fit, well I am pretty much unstoppable! I can do anything! Maybe I should call BP and offer my assistance.
The book is really helpful, with some great formulas and calculators designed to explain the incredibly complex human body (well, the part related to metabolism anyhow) in an easy-to-understand and readable format. Considering I really didn't care for the online persona of the writer going in (because I tend to not like people who are like me and plus the homepage of her website made me think that maybe I shouldn't be looking at it on my work computer), that is some pretty high praise! I really liked the book and came away feeling thankful to her for writing it. I would gladly give her some more money to tell me some more stuff.
Check it out - I'll be sharing some of her insights and my experiences with them here as they are relevant.
