Inspiration Day

Today there was a couple of incidents, one positive, one negative; both equally inspirational for me to get my life back into a healthy order.

First I was at the gym today and an elderly gentleman came up to friend and I to chat. He told us he had 10 great-grand children and that he was in one of the wars (I can't remember which, I think WWII), and he also told us that he was 92 years old! He even took out his ID.

Sure enough, he was born in 1919! Just think about everything he lived through, the Great Depression, a war, the Civil Rights Movement; it's amazing! Not only that, but he is 92 years old, using the weight machines at the gym! I told my friend after briefly chatting with the elderly gentleman, that I hoped to be in that good of shape when I was his age.

Today's run

I got me thinking later while running the treadmill; that is why I was at the gym in the first place. Not only is it to help me lose weight, but it is to help me live a long and fulfilling life.  As the title of my blog states, I want to live to be 100 and I won't reach that goal by living a sedentary life.  I need to remember my over arching and more important to goal of wanting to reach 100 to keep me motivated when losing weight isn't enough of a motivator.

Secondly, after I got back from the gym, I tried on a pair of jeans. I had tried it on a week or two ago and they were too tight, but I thought I'd try it one more time. Once again today I got them over my hips, but when it came to buttoning the jeans...well there was no way that was going to happen.

The offending jeans.

I fit into those jeans a year ago.  Needing to keep up an active lifestyle really hit home.  I worked really hard to lose weight and after I did, I slacked off. After all, I lost weight, everyone was complimenting me on the weight I lost, so I didn't need to keep working on it, right?  Wrong! And now I'm reaping the benefits of slacking off.

Not being able to button up those jeans not only really made me realize that I need to keep up an active lifestyle, but also that I need to watch what I am eating in order for all my working out to pay off.  Today I starting using MyFitnessPal again (find me on there if you'd like - Seifkat).  I tracked my food and my exercise and when I got close to my limit of calories, I stopped eating.  However, I still wanted to eat, just for the taste.  If I wasn't using MyFitnessPal, I know I would have over ate.  I will continue to use MyFitnessPal, to get my eating under control.

Some adjustments in my mindset and in my activities, but all for a good cause.

Mondays nights I go to Zumba.  The friend I go with is sick, so she wasn't going to go tonight.  I thought about skipping.  I reasoned that I already worked out that morning, which I normally don't do, so it wasn't as if I didn't workout. I could get things done around the house. 

Then I remembered those jeans.  I went to Zumba. Sometimes you just need a kick in the face.

What inspires you to work out?

Do you track your food intake?