Category: Fundamentals

 

 

I once heard it said that retirement can be divided into three phases.  There is the “go-go” phase, followed by the “slow-go” phase, which transitions to the “no-go” phase. I wanted to postpone entry into the second and third phases for as long as possible but, in order to do that, I had to improve my health and fitness habits greatly or else I was destined to be a “no-go” pretty darn quick. Improvements began at the YMCA.

One year ago this month, Helen (adorable wife) and I joined our local YMCA. I’ll share her experience with you in the paragraphs below, but, as for me, my life was changed the moment I walked through the door. Please read on.

A few days after becoming a member I attended an exercise class and shared that experience on Easin’ Along. I noted in the article (click here for a link) that my track record with gym memberships was not good.  I had joined them before–usually in the winter months–but, by the time warmer weather rolled around, I wanted to be anywhere but inside a sweaty gym. Therefore, I was concerned that the inevitable would happen and, eventually, I would  fall back into my old pattern whereby exercise would be something on the calendar for next week. Thankfully, the inevitable never came to pass. I LOVE the exercise classes and never miss one if I am in town.

Helen and I attend two forty-five minute classes a week. Our Tuesday class is led by Donna, a pert, perky, and skilled fitness instructor, who successfully manages to push us well beyond any self-imposed limitations at every session. More importantly, she makes it fun.   On Thursday, we are led by Debra, an energetic young Mom with an engaging smile and a terrific two-step who keeps us in perpetual motion.  Debra’s dance moves sometimes have me tripping over my own feet, but that only helps me to concentrate. I’m grateful to them both for their contribution to my good health.

In addition to the exercise classes, I also began a program of gym workouts.  The individual workout programs are made simple by the online system, Activtrax, which insures that each routine is varied and boredom is minimized. In the initial months I went to the gym at least twice a week, along with my two exercise classes. My program was set…or so I thought.

After a few months of both classes and workouts, an old nemesis reared its ugly head.  Osteoarthritis, a by-product of many years in the home building business, flared up somewhat fiercely in my hips and shoulders.  I refused to give in, but I did cut the gym workout back to one session a week. The change in my routine helped and, while the pain is still there, it has subsided to a level that I can live with. I now take long walks in a nearby park in the place of that one workout.

Helen’s experience has been slightly different.  She attends the exercise classes with me, but the gym workouts are not her thing. In her past she’s had surgery to repair a torn ACL; another to repair a torn meniscus; plus, she has recurring pain from an old shoulder injury.  Therefore, Helen prefers to supplement her exercise program with her newfound passion…pickleball. This discovery came about one morning at the Y when she noticed a group of ladies having a gigglefest in the gym while batting a plastic ball around with a paddle. Her inquiring mind wanted to know what was going on and she was invited to join in. That’s all it took.  Now addicted to the sport, she plays as much as her busy schedule will allow. An earlier Easin’ Along post will provide more information.

Unfortunately, Helen suffered a setback recently when she bent over to return a serve with her lethal backhand and felt an uncomfortable sensation in her thigh. This sent her to the sidelines. After a few days she realized that life without pickleball was unbearable and she returned to the Y to see if Donna, our fitness instructor, had any remedies that might help her return to the court. Donna patiently led her through a series of stretching routines and told her that if she performed them several times a day, she would soon get relief.  The routines are working. I’m confident that she’ll soon return to action as the Attackin’ Assassin on the pickleball court thanks to the help from Donna.

Around the time this post was being prepared, I read a timely article in our local paper that included this profound observation: People who exercise a little, live longer than those who don’t. Admittedly, that is paraphrasing the results of a long study which found that a small amount exercise is better than none.  We’ve all heard it before—get up and get moving—a simple walk every day will do wonders for your attitude and overall well being. I concur completely.

The joy that we have experienced on our retirement road trips have been significantly enhanced by our ability to hike along a wildflower trail, ride a bicycle around a picturesque island, or stroll through every venue of a street festival. In no way am I ready to give up any of that. Participating in an active retirement lifestyle as well as maintaining a “go-go” mentality requires more than a modicum of good health. Our approach has been to achieve that through exercise and, even though exercise ain’t exactly Easin’ it is a delightful way to help us continue Easin’ Along the retirement road.

 

 

 

P.S. Diet and exercise plan working well so far…I’m down 13 pounds in 12 days.  Seven more to go!

 

This post won’t go down as one on my longer ones because…I’m hungry!

As noted in our last post, we are going to post a four part series on our approach to maintaining (and improving) our good health to be ready for another year of an active retirement lifestyle. With the Meat Loaf Dinner (and the leftovers) having provided a savory sendoff to 2016, it’s time to diet. This series begins with a post on an attempt to lose weight.

Readers of Easin’ Along know that food is a big part of what we’re about on this website.  In fact, our slogan–“Slow walking through the Golden Years with Faith, Family, FOOD, and Fun” points out the fact that we love good food, and love sharing our culinary experiences with Easin’ Along readers. However, with a New Year underway, I decided that it was time to crank it back a bit and give up on some of the love for a while. Don’t get me wrong…we’re still going to write about food here, and we’re still going to share our recipes (see last week); it’s just that I need to re-work my program a little until I get back to a reasonable starting point.

When it comes to body type, I’m one of the luckier ones. I’m 6’4” tall which gives me an abundance of places to hide bad stuff. Furthermore, I’ve got great genes.  Anyone glancing through an old family photo album would immediately notice that I descend from long line of ancestors that resemble scarecrows or string beans.  My history with weight gain is that I put it on slowly and lose it rather quickly. Nevertheless, I couldn’t put it off any longer…It’s my time to lose.

The realization that the time had come was when my clothes became unbearably tight. There is nothing worse than tight clothes.  Before we left on our trip through America’s Heartland, I ordered three pairs of my favorite Dickies Cargo Pants from Amazon–they’re so handy when travelling–but, right after Thanksgiving, I noticed that the Dickies were a little snug. They simply refused to nestle in between fold #1 and fold #2 on my hips…some of you may know what I’m talking about. Things only got worse from there even though I had: (1) stepped up the intensity of my gym workouts at the YMCA; (2) gave up desserts; and (3) went for extra long walks. It was all to no avail and thus, it was time to diet.

The same thing happened to me about eight years ago when I retired from my homebuilding career and was waiting to start some part-time projects.  I was pretty sedentary during that period and before I knew it, I ballooned up to 246 lbs–the most I have ever weighed.  Fortunately, my part-time work required a lot of walking and, with a little careful eating (grilled chicken sandwiches), I was able to drop 25 lbs in about six weeks. I may go back to part-time work at some point, but not in the immediate future, so I needed a plan and turned to Nutrisystem. The thought process was that if I was paying for it, and had Easin’ Along readers to share the journey with me, I might actually stay motivated to hit my goal of losing 20 lbs within eight weeks or less.

I ordered one of the plans for men that include all of the food, both prepared and frozen. The package was delivered last Friday.  I didn’t open the boxes containing prepared foods, but I did store the frozen items in the freezer as fast as I could without looking at them. Day One would be Monday and I knew that would be here soon enough.  I did pick up the brochures and took them (and a cold beer) to the Man Cave to begin the education process. What I learned was that the only box I needed for the next week was a red one marked “Turbo Takeoff”. The frightening thing was that this box didn’t look all that big. I took another sip from the beer.

By Monday I logged in my starting weight of 242.2 in the Nutrisystem app. I had read enough of the brochures to know that my breakfast would be a small muffin, some black coffee, and all the water I could drink. There would be a “Turbo Shake” to mix and drink a couple of hours later, then lunch of a small cup of Loaded Potato Soup.  In mid-afternoon I destroyed the wrapper of a Peanut Butter Chocolate Crush Bar and devoured it before I went to a meeting at the church where I sat “zombie-like” thinking of little else but dinner. Arriving back home, I opened the package of Rotini and Meatballs and cooked it in the microwave as I peeled a fistful of carrots. Admittedly, the dinner meal was good, but I was still starving and felt weak.  Nevertheless, I made it until halftime of the NCAA Championship Game and called it a day.

On Tuesday morning I drank my coffee and ate another muffin.  I was still a little lightheaded, but determined to make it to my exercise class which I did after another Turbo Shake. The exercise class helped and was enough of a distraction that I was able to concentrate on things other than food. The rest of Day Two was a definite improvement over Day One. I am now on Day Three and, while I am still craving a Thickburger and a large fry, my frame of mind is much improved. Taking advantage of the ability to eat an unlimited quantity of non-starchy vegetables has been a significant help in reducing the cravings (See picture at top). An improvement in attitude arrived when I weighed in that morning at 238.4. Progress was being made.

There is a still a long way to go. I will continue to post weekly updates on the diet progress until the goal is reached and may even do so periodically after that point in order to stay motivated. Again, the overall goal is to be able to participate in the active retirement lifestyle that Helen (adorable wife) and I have chosen for our Golden Years. Please come back to join us for the next posting and we will have an article on our approach to staying healthy through exercise.

Until then, we’re Easin’ Along…now, where did I put that celery??

UPDATE: Real progress…down seven lbs. by Friday morning!

 

 

It’s going to be a busy week. We had a wonderful Christmas with family and friends and are now packing up for a trip to see the grandchildren (and their parents) in Charleston, SC. Before we hit the road however, I wanted to take a few paragraphs to hit the highlights of 2016…my first full year of retirement.

I’m not sure what I envisioned a retired lifestyle would entail.  I suppose that I thought it would be a constant quest for something to do now that I was no longer working full time. However, I’m certain that I never thought that I would be asking myself this question…”When did I ever have time for work?” Admittedly, it took more than a few weeks to get to that point.  When we returned from our first road trip–Easin’ Along the East Coast–I found myself staring at the wall for a period of time before I finally realized that road was leading nowhere fast.

Fortunately, I had decided in the months before hanging it up that I would create Easin’ Along, a website dedicated to participating in and promoting an active retirement lifestyle. But, once we came off the road, what else would there be to promote? Writing one article a week about an active retirement lifestyle required activities to write about. To my delight and amazement, it didn’t take long to discover an abundance of things to do that were fun and gave me great pleasure. When searching for material to share, I only had one steadfast rule—whatever I was involved in had to interest me or else I couldn’t make it interesting to others. More than anything else, I think that is the reason that our readership has grown from a few visitors each month at the beginning to over three thousand per month in November and December of this year.

As a result, Easin’ Along has filled a great need in this first year of retirement. The need for something to write about has kept me very busy, and the desire to stay busy has produced a plethora of activity that interested me enough to write down and share. Now, looking back over this first year, I thought it would be fun to make a few observations about the lessons learned and point out a few highlights of a year of Easin’ Along.

Good Health is Critical

During our trip up the East Coast we spent four days in New York.  We were staying at the Navy Lodge in Staten Island and went into the city on the Staten Island Ferry every morning. Having no hotel in the city to work from, we did a lot of walking.  After the third day of walking non-stop, there was not a single spot of my legs and feet that did not ache from fatigue. It was at that point that I realized that an active lifestyle required good physical health. In January of 2016, Helen (adorable wife) and I joined our YMCA and began exercising regularly (link here) both in the gym and in classes. Without a doubt, this was the most important decision we made the entire year. I love the classes, and never miss if I am in town. Not only do I feel better, but being in shape contributes so much to my overall sense of well being and reduces significantly the effort required to get up and go.  Good health is just too important to neglect and I make sure to schedule annual physicals, dental visits, appointments with my dermatologist and, as noted in an earlier post, the dreaded colonoscopy.

Family is Still Most Important of All

We did a lot this year, but the absolute highlight came in July with the arrival of the kids and grandkids for a week at the lake. Our children live on each coast and we cherish every moment we can spend with them, plus having the cousins get the time to become reacquainted is so important to Helen and me. A picture gallery of that visit is posted here.

I am further blessed as one of the fortunate ones of my generation who still has a living parent.  My Mother turns 89 in a few months and is a true treasure in my life and the life of our entire family. Time spent with her is precious. This year’s Mother’s Day outing was a fun article to write. I look forward to doing that again.

The Learning Never Stops

One lesson learned is that whenever I get bored, it’s time to put on the learning cap and take a class in subjects that interest me.  A pledge to self was made that no matter what else was going on, there was always time for learning. This year I took two online courses in photography and, because I was able to retain the class material, I have reviewed them several times. Online courses are great but we have a top rated university in our lovely city, and there is no reason to avoid taking full advantage of the opportunity for enrichment. I enrolled in two classes related to website design and blogging from our university and learned much. In addition, I took a class from Alan Sims, a very successful local blogger (link here) and benefitted greatly from his willingness to share his steps to success. Learning is essential to a satisfying retirement.

Easin’ Along the American Highways

Perhaps the easiest articles written for Easin’ Along were the ones written about our two retirement road trips.  In January we spent three weeks driving along the Florida Coast, then took off again in August for a four week trip through America’s Heartland and around the Great Lakes. I have repeated often and will do so again…America is a place of staggering beauty and the best way to see it is on a road less travelled. The small towns we visited along the way are forever imprinted in my memory bank as precious gems, and writing about those visits has created, for me at least, a priceless journal of wonderful experiences. Furthermore, the time spent with Helen has served to strengthen our relationship and our commitment to making the Golden Years everything they can be.  There’s more to come.  This year the plan is for a road trip of at least two months leading us into the great northwest then down the Pacific Coast before heading east along the southern part of the country.  Stay tuned.

In summary, it’s been a great, fun-filled, and very active year.  We’re looking forward to 2017 and whatever that brings. We extend our heartfelt and sincere best wishes to all of our readers for the very best in the New Year. We’re so grateful that you have been with us at points along the way, and that you will come back often to join us as we continue Easin’ Along.