Get Healthy Bloghop!

Thanks to Alex J. Cavanaugh, Stephen Tremp, L. Diane Wolfe, and Michael Di Gesu for today’s Get Healthy Bloghop. “The Objective: Share with everyone something you have done that affected your health in a positive way.” 

 

You never know...When I added my name to this bloghop, I couldn't have imagined I'd be writing about health and fitness on the heels of major surgery. But I'm back with a smile to reinstate my motto: Life is hard. Eat chocolate. Dance it off.

As the big 4-0 menaced from afar, a decade or so ago -- gulp, I decided to get fit. But I'd do it right. I'd keep eating chocolate. And I'd ignore all the hoity-toity diet gurus like Scarsdale, Atkins, Calesta Flockhart, and the Olsen twins. Instead, I'd make the changes that I knew I could live with.

Upon quick research, I was elated to discover a little known but highly relevant fact: one teaspoon of fat equals nearly twice the calories of one teaspoon of sugar. A chubby sweet-tooth's dream revelation! So I readily took to avoiding saturated fats. Easy. The pounds started shedding. 

Next, I needed to cut down on sugar intake without reducing quality of life. Back then I survived off of fruit juices: tropical pineapple banana-y mango madness with kiwi and a twist of lime-infused grapefruit. Yeah, you think they're healthy, but they're packed with enough sugar calories to send you soaring to Uranus and back (That quip's for you, AlPenwasser.) Substituting teas and flavored waters was another easy fix.

Third, I joined a gym. Everyone does this, but I actually used my gym membership to workout 3-4 times weekly. Still do. It was slow and embarrassingly painful at first. Once you get your body into an exercise routine, though, it shouts at you when you stagnate for any length of time.

Now, ten years later, I've maintained a 15-20 pound weight loss. (I'm only 4'8" and 100-ish pounds, so that's pretty significant.) I still enjoy chocolate and sweets whenever I have the need or craving, which is virtually all the time. I'm rebounding from a surgery that was more grueling than anticipated. (I started chronicling it here.) The doctor calls me "tough" and can't believe I was living pain-free with a monstrous fibroid growing at light speed. But all's good now; I'm recovering smoothly. The fibroid was benign and removed. My brilliant doc advised me to ask my friends for money and food. I interjected chocolate, so he revised the list, with chocolate as first priority. Thought I'd toss that out there. Doctor's orders and all.

In sum, here's to a healthy you. Enjoy chocolate or bacon or bacon flavored chocolate or whatever gets you through the day. Then dance it off by doing the Chicken Dance, Night ClubTwo-Step, Argentinian Tango, Hungarian Hokey Pokey, Peruvian Polka Pole Dancing Gangnam Style, or whatever is your thing. Be well!