Tuesday, September 28, 2010

WHEN THE SCALES RING A WARNING BELL.....

This could easily be me struggling to zip up my jeans.

The other day I dug up my favourite pair of jeans from the cupboard. It has been months since I last wore them. To my horror, I had to struggle to zip up. What used to be a snug fit was now a tight fit. I knew I was in trouble when the bathroom scales read 56.4 kg.

My ideal weight is 52 kg. Anything beyond that means I haven't been physically active enough. If your daily routine is anything like mine, we sit too much. We may not realize it, but many of our daily activities involve sitting down, often for hours on end: working at the pc, reading, watching TV, listening to music, attending meetings /seminars, marking assignments, chatting with friends over tea, taking meals, driving, waiting... Before we know it, we are several kilos heavier than we would like to be.


Thanks to years of going to the gym, road running and qigong exercises back in the 1980s and 90s, I've managed to keep obesity at bay. But since a major operation two years ago, I've slacked off on my exercises. The kilos have started to pile up, and I can see unwanted flab here and there.

As of 3.18pm today, I've walked 6057 steps. Still half the day left to get the numbers up to 10,000.

Nothing like brisk walking at our age to shed off those extra kilos, and give the heart a good workout at the same time. I've bought a pedometer to keep track of the number of steps I take a day. The good doctor says we should aim for 10,000 steps. Some days I fall short. But I tell myself a few thousand steps is better than a few hundred.

 Source: The Sunday Star 26 Sept 2010. Click on image to enlarge.

The Sunday Star carried an excellent article "A Physical Reminder" about what we can do to keep our weight down. Exercising is one way to beat chronic diseases like diabetes, heart diseases and cancers that plague older people. The others are adopting healthy eating habits and an active lifestyle.

It's a constant struggle to maintain good health. But we owe it to ourselves and our families to take responsibility for our health. I am sure none of us want to spend our retirement years struggling with pain and hefty medical bills.

2 comments:

Freda said...

Oh to be 56.4kgs......

foodbin said...

that's quite an ideal weight- exercising is good.