Ten things you're not too old to do!

I'm always surprised at the places that inspiration will turn up. Today, I was browsing the financial headlines in Yahoo and came across an article about "ten things you're not too old to do". I look at the financial headlines for more than just my amusement. About the same time that I started Body for Life, Cheryl and I started an investment program (actually, we already had some investments in various retirement accounts and profit sharing accounts, but this new program is aimed at generating income and building wealth). A lot of times, in addition to the hard financial news, there are several links to feature articles about what to do with financial freedom once you have it.

I think the presence of such information on the financial pages is a reflection of something I've observed about successful people in my age group. I've noticed that many people I know are focused on financial success, about obtaining wealth and retiring debt, but most of us are not focused on money as an end unto itself. Many of us see financial success as just another tool to use in building a meaningful life. So the financial pages will have articles on travel, on education, on raising a family, and on other things that look beyond the accumulation of wealth towards the actual living of one's life.

All the same, I was pleasantly surprised to find this article:

http://biz.yahoo.com/weekend/never_1.html

Among the suggestions... have a kid, learn a foreign language, pick up a musical instrument, take a year off from work, get a college degree (or add one), mend fences, change careers, or...

http://www.forbes.com/2005/05/31/cx_ln_0601featslide_2.html?partner=yahoo

Yes, "get skinny". In addition to the enticing photo of the slim bikini-clad example of "skinny", there's actually some sound advice in this one-paragraph article, which recommends a combination of dietary modifications and exercise. It also quotes James O. Hill from the "National Weight Loss Registry" (http://www.nwcr.ws/). I checked out the NWCR website and there's some interesting stuff there. While perusing the links page on the NWCR, I found "Shape Up America" (http://www.shapeup.org/) with it's 10,000 step program and it's "Shape up and drop 10" program (it looks like they have programs tailored for people at all different levels). All this from one headline on the financial pages.

Returning to the "ten things you're not too old to do" concept, you might wonder if the shapely form in the "get skinny" picture belongs to someone old enough to ever be concerned that she was too old to get in shape. Well, check out Debbie Dye, 2004 Body for Life Champion on the Women 40 to 49 years of age categorie or Michelle Lee, 2004 champion in the 50 to 59 years of age categorie. Honestly, I think those two look better than the winners of the lower age brackets in 2004. You can find them both here:

http://www.bodyforlife.com/challenge/champions/2004champions.asp

I decided I need to do some planning for the last week of my challenge. I went back to John Hussman's page (http://www.hussman.org/fitness/) to see what he had to say about preparing for the final photo shoot. I liked what he had to say. It seems like a good moderate approach. I've seen some suggestions on other sites that involved nutritional approaches that seemed very extreme and very unhealthy. As for what I'm going to do with John's suggestions, I think I'm going to step up my aerobic workouts through the end of the program by adding more moderate aerobic activity (not just walking). I also will probably cut back on carbs the last few days, as he suggests. I doubt I will use a diuretic. It just doesn't seem healthy to me. I'll also probably do the carbo load the night before the shoot (although I don't think I'll be eating two bowls of fruit loops). I actually did this by accident one time. I had been on pretty low carbs for two days, sort of by accident, and I had a slice of french silk pie for dessert on my off day (about six hundred calories of pure sugar). Wow, did my muscles ever expand!

So, I have a plan, I have inspiration and I have the end in site (at least until the next challenge). I feel good about what's coming up. I will keep you posted.