One Breath Away from Burnout - A Bored Body (Part Deux)

One Breath Away from Burnout - A Bored Body (Part Deux)

IF YOU’RE NOT careful, you’ll get as bored with your workout routine as your body is with you. So make sure that you add some variety to your daily workout. Yesterday I offered three tips to jump-start your fitness routine. Today I offer four more:

4. Alternate walking days and weight lifting days. This is the very best fitness advice I can give you—it’s good for burning fat and fighting osteoporosis. Purchase leg weights and do a few exercises with the weights strapped to your ankles. You won’t believe the results! Also, buy small dumbbells; I started with two-pound weights and then graduated slowly to heavier ones. I lift nine-pound dumbbells (mine are pink) for fifteen minutes, twice a week. See my video at www.ellenmiller.com to see the results. Pretty good biceps for a grandma, eh?

5. If you don’t like walking, dance. Turn the music up loud, be a Disco Dolly, and dance for fifteen minutes straight. The results: a heart that is pumping and a happier disposition. No way can you dance for fifteen minutes and not walk away absolutely giddy. Do you have a daughter? Ask her to join you—it will be good both for your health and your relationship.

6. Don’t diet. Everyone wants to attribute women’s fussy attitudes to hormones, but I disagree. I think women are out of sorts because they suffer from low blood sugar! Is the whole world on a diet? There are two books on my Web site about “diets” that I recommend: French Women Don’t Get Fat by Mireille Guiliano (follow her advice and you’ll never have a weight problem) and Peter J. D’Adamo’s Eat Right 4 Your Type. The philosophy shared in this book is very interesting—it explains why different people burn different foods in different ways. It worked like a charm for me, and I get to eat.

7. When you’re tempted not to work out or eat right, watch a documentary on the Special Olympics. Ladies, you are in possession of precious gifts: a healthy heart, strong lungs, and two good legs. Be a faithful steward of the body you have been blessed with and take care of it.

Women tend to the needs of their families and professions, ignoring their own well-being and fitness. If you really love your family and your profession, demonstrate it by investing in yourself first. You’ll be much better prepared for the day when those oxygen masks fall.

Commit your actions to the LORD,and your plans will succeed. (Proverbs 16:3)

I’m taking care of me for the people I love. What about you?