Many people have memorable testimonies to share about their dramatic weight loss. I don’t. I don’t have an elaborate story of how I lost 100 pounds and made a dramatic change in my life. I’m just a wife and mom, over 40, whose pants were getting too tight and I knew I needed to take control before I had to replace my entire wardrobe. I lost 10 pounds. Not really impressive right? And while many won’t consider my change drastic, for me, it’s pretty powerful and goes far beyond losing those 10 pounds.
Since starting my own journey (which at the time I didn’t consider a journey), my approach to exercise has always been simple. For one and likely by default, I live in the country (at least 15 miles to town) and didn’t want to drive to the gym and secondly, I didn’t want to exercise in front of anyone. So with that, I was forced to use what was available to me to start “getting in shape”.
You can read more about Getting Started with Exercise in this post.
I think the biggest reason though as to why I possess a more simpler approach to fitness is because my goals are also different. It seems with the evolution of social media, so is the growing trend of half naked pictures of “fit” women as well. Now let me precede by saying that if you want to show off your six pack or two liter, that’s up to you….totally….I’m not going to judge nor criticize you for your choice. It’s simply a matter of personal opinion and conviction and it’s just not what I want to do.
Especially at my advanced age, it’s not all about looks anymore, ya know? The fitness industry can definitely be brutal and mess with your mind if you let it and will suck you into it’s comparison trap before you can scroll on to the next picture. Sadly it seems to be the norm nowadays to have such sexualized (aka soft porn) images put in front of us all the time and we think nothing of it.
What we find ourself doing is one, wondering why can’t we look like the body or bodies conveying along our news feed, but more so we also become conditioned to being only concerned with someone else’s appearance rather than the person themselves. I also don’t want you to feel like that what social media portrays as a healthy body is your only standard of what a healthy body or life looks like.
I’m also not saying that just because you’re in your 40’s, 50’s or beyond means that you can’t have that hard, toned body, but it does take work to achieve and maintain that highly sought-after ripped midsection and that’s just simply not a priority for me.
There’s no one I can really compare myself to except me. I know what I used to couldn’t do compared to what I CAN do now. I know what it feels like to only wish I could run the block and not give completely out of breath to now knowing what it feels like to run around the block and finish feeling stronger and empowered.
I’m also not fighting my age, but rather doing my part to take care of this one body I was given so I can enjoy every minute of my life while I age and (hopefully) age well. I want to take the stairs, travel, run, climb hills, kayak, hike, swim and play. Living well is about having the choice to do so. I don’t want to be forced with the inability to do something because I’m not physically able to do it.
Living simply is about enjoying life without some crazy, far fetched philosophy that’s out of reach. Heck, ya’ll know how much I use my picnic table as my “gym” and guess what? It’s worked! If I can use my picnic table to become fitter and healthier, then what can stop me or YOU!? Our possibilities are endless! While it’s certainly acceptable to use different modalities and equipment to workout with, you just don’t have to have all that fancy equipment to get in a good workout.
And that to me my friends, is simple fitness.