Fitness is the Key

Fitness is the Key
 


I think this is my FAVORITE, fitness Quote.

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“There is a misdirected obsession

with weight and weight loss,

the focus is all wrong.

It's fitness that is the key.”

Steven Blair quote.

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What is yours?

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A reminder to sedentary workers: Move it or lose it.

Blogger-Jogger; Achieving the balance. - Photo above is of the author at age 64, in 2011.
Jogging is beyond me these days, but I made my septuagenarian status, and I doubt I'd have got this far if I'd not made an effort toward overcoming the health damaging effects of my creative life.

Australian researchers found that people sitting at their desks for more than six hours a day are nearly twice as likely to be overweight than those who sit for less than 45 minutes a day. 
 
The University of Chicago in 2001 found that a worker in a sedentary career may end up with a Body Mass Index 3.3 units higher than someone in a highly active job.

• ​Don't skip meals. It’s easy to forget to eat when you are highly creative or focused on e-mails and editing. But, you need energy. Plan to have delicious, nutritious, portion-controlled, balanced meals with a couple of healthy snacks. Keep sugary drinks and salty meals to a minimum.
• Compensate. Get active to compensate for your sedentary work, or find ways to make parts of your job active. Look into a treadmill desk. Reading is a large part of many professional's days, and can easily be done while using a treadmill. Listening to podcasts or dictating is, even more, portable and may be done while walking out of doors.
• Adapt your network. I'll always remember the shocked expression of a friend when I suggested that rather than meet for our weekly meal together, that we meet for a stroll along the local riverside walk. Find ways to socialise or celebrate that don't involve food. 
• Avoid boredom. Lay out healthy snacks. Have a filled fruit bowl between your work space and the fridge. A portion controlled serve of nuts beside you to nibble while working is great, as long as you are aware they are higher calorie than fruit and vegetable snacks. Speaking of vegetables, you can almost eat as many of the lower starch vegetables as you wish without gaining kilos. I make a homemade vegetable soup and reheat in a mug in the microwave. It's easier than eating with a spoon from a bowl for those who want something healthy and filling to eat between meals, while still working at their desk.

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• Are your art or writing activities sedentary?

• Would you allow a sedentary job to kill you?
• Art and writing do not have to be sedentary. You can have a balanced, healthy, slim and creative life. I want to encourage other creative people to maintain their health so they can do their best creative work well into their advanced years.
• People who sit at a desk for six hours a day are almost twice as likely to be overweight. I would spend six hours a day in sedentary creative work and thus I know, first hand, the need to ensure that this does not cause health problems and obesity. 
• I'm still working to balance my love of my creative sedentary jobs, (my creative skills of writing and painting), with fitness training, and now also with concessions for my senior age. 

Here are some great tips to stay healthy, and maintain your weight, despite your sedentary job.
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​Inactivity Kills

• Below 3,000 Steps a day and I am at risk of a pulmonary embolism. Move it or lose it—life, it's as important as that. 
• Fewer than 4,500 Steps: You're very sedentary
• 4,500-5,500: You're sedentary
• 5,500 to 7,500: You're headed in the right direction but need to step it up
• 8,500 and up: You're active, stick with it.
• Because these guides are created for fit younger people, check with your doctor before beginning any exercise program As a concession to my age and fitness level, I aim for less now that I sought to achieve up until sixty-five. I still set a minimum and an ideal goal and wear an activity monitor in these my septuagenarian years.

My garden is also my gym. I patter around in it at my own pace. I've adapted it to my senior needs by creating raised garden beds. I'm also growing my spring bulbs pots, so that I can raise them to table height to work on them. 

I've always loved my garden and I don't plan to give it up as I age, I'll adapt it to my changed ability to maintain it. 

​I get a yard man in a couple of times a year to do the heavier work. I only weed after  rain, when the ground is damp.  I put down a good 4" (100cm) of mulch to suppress weeds and reduce the need for watering. There are many ways to reduce labour in the garden, yet still have a glorious display of flowers to paint. ​​