Also serving the communities of De Luz, Rainbow, Camp Pendleton, Pala and Pauma

Kicking It V

When you read this, I will have been exercising for 73 days. Not the longest period in my history of being on earth while it is the most dedicated.

Benefits: hmm, well, I do have a different set of aches. My shoes are loser. Interesting isn’t it that you gain weight in your feet? Next, I started wearing less makeup. That to me is a mixed blessing.

Every Friday morning, I meet Kellen at 7 a.m. to review my progress from the previous week. He assesses all concerns and then sets up an accelerated program for the upcoming week.

While a few routines have changed – mostly to accommodate an annoying ache like a sore neck or bad knee – the daily routines have remained the same since the beginning. Kellen’s weekly goal is twofold: first to add more weight to my hand weights and second to increase the cycles of daily training.

He even announced last week his future target is to have me do weightlifting! Can you imagine that?

My thyroid test results came back from the lab, and I will review those results with my doctor this coming week. After all the many times the doctor assured me if I would exercise for 90 minutes a week, great things would happen.

Perhaps I misheard. I thought there was a silent, yet, implied quickly in all of the times he told me to get off my backside and do something. It is the “quickly” that he and I will review when I see him. As it stands, weight loss is still painfully slow.

Here is my confusion. How can a person gain 5 pounds on a weekend holiday, yet take five to six weeks before it goes away? To me, that is just wrong.

Oh, I got another email fan letter this week. And may I say thank you if you are reading about my journey to my big 75. If anyone wishes to read the previous columns, they are on our Village News website under the “Lifestyles” heading.

My birthday plans have been adjusted. With only 155 days left until my departure, I had to change my plans since the bridge gathering at Lake Como was changed to May. It cost an arm and a leg to change my flight from Zurich to Paris. But I will have four days to cruise the Seine River and reacquaint myself with the Eiffel Tower. Next, I’ll fly to Venice for four days. My plans include making my way to Harry’s Bar for a Bellini, to Hotel Cipriani for lunch and to St. Mark’s Square to wander the basilica.

On Saturday, March 28, it is overnight on the Orient Express to London, arriving Sunday around 10:30 a.m. The following week, I’ll catch Agatha Christie’s famous, long-running play “The Mouse Trap, find a bridge game or two, find Hard Rock Café to get sweatshirts for the grandchildren and see the sights.

Lastly, it’s no joke when I say that going to the gym every day is a job. Being lazy comes easy to me. Like many of you, I’ve worked hard in my careers, raised a family and did all of the right things believing when I retired, I’d just take it easy, get out of the race.

Yet here is what happened. I no longer recognized who was looking back at me. Maybe that is why so many people keep talking about those glory-filled high school days or for those who went on to college – how marvelous it was then at their prime.

I want that girl back. She was carefree, fun and filled with excitement for each coming day. She laughed a lot.

If you are not laughing a lot, come meet the happy people at the gym. Lots of grownups with gray hair are yucking it up on the stair climber, the treadmill or even the boring bikes. These folks are animated, cheerful and have a twinkle in their eyes.

There you have it. If you are grumpy, come for a workout to lose the blues.

Elizabeth Youngman-Westphal can be reached by email at [email protected].

 

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