Kicking It VI

Special to Village News

It is really odd. It's been about three weeks since I gave up artificial sweeteners. Which also means my daily Diet Coke is gonzo. And as it turns out, I've lost 3 pounds. Actually, it is so close to 3 pounds, shoot, it's like – wow.

Of course, my husband has lost 12 pounds to date playing his ukulele. The most strenuous thing he does is wave goodbye to me when I back my car out of the garage. His success dwarfs' mine.

Although, test results confirm I have a lazy thyroid gland even with double dosing – weight loss is slow. Of course, I did remind the doctor about his implied easy-weight-loss program requiring only three-30-minute workouts a week.

Honestly, he looked at me like I had just eaten a cockroach. Then he said, as he looked me squarely in the eye, "You might need to just live with it." What? We'll just see about that.

Meanwhile, I have been abandoned by my trainer Kellen, he departed saying something about visiting his parents in Washington State. Therefore, I am to carry on without his oversight.

Seemingly deceptive, David's Monday morning exercise class is filled with grown-ups – folks from my generation. His 30-minute core workout seemed like an obvious solution to my predicament.

Except, the first thing I did was hurt my neck. I spent the next day recovering with warm heat, aspirin and spousal sympathy.

On Thursday morning, I confronted said trainer about causing my excessive neck pain. His unsympathetic retort was a solid reminder about the importance of improving upper shoulder strength for better posture, i.e., balance and all that goes with it. After all, the head is heavy. The brain weighs about 3 pounds plus 10 or so pounds for the skull.

Balance may be an adult's most important consideration. Here is why. I do play a fair amount of duplicate bridge each week, and it goes without fail one or more of my opponents is nursing a body part. And often they were injured from losing their balance.

Better balance can prevent falling. After all, aren't we all concerned about being just one tumble away from a joint replacement? Even worse, landing in a convalescent facility?

With that in mind, try this simple exercise. You can start in the hallway because it provides support from the side walls.

To begin, stand straight by rolling the shoulders back. Simultaneously lift the neck back from behind the ears which will raise the chin up. The ears should align over the ankles, and the head will follow. Look straight ahead. Lift one foot, hold and count to 10. Now lift the other foot, and eventually raise the knee. Add time as balance improves. Standing barefoot will help spread the toes, which adds more support.

Before you know it, you'll be doing the yoga tree pose. Best of all, by standing tall you will appear 5 pounds thinner.

As for me, I only have 141 days to continue working on my stability before testing it on the canals of Venice.

P.S. Thanks for emailing notes of encouragement. Each one helps keep me on course.

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