About 20 years ago, I awoke one morning, only to discover that all my shirts had mysteriously shrunk overnight. As this was at a time when I had to wear ties to work every day, this was quite inconvenient. That day, I joined a health club and began a rigorous exercise regimen. I did well for months, culminating in completing a 5K run a mere second off my targeted time. Over the succeeding decades, that devoted daily routine simply vanished.
Twenty years and thirty pounds later, I decided to do something different. Finally, I got onto an eating program that actually worked for me, for the simple reason that it forced me to evaluate every single thing I ingested, limiting the unhealthy and increasing the amount of fruits & vegetables. I learned a phrase some time ago that went something like "act with integrity in the moment of choice." It's easy to eat ice cream daily or to swill a six pack of 20-ounce soft drinks within a week. But, those are lousy choices which I try not to make.
What I eat is but one part of what I consider healthy choices in my life. The other two are equally important. I have long enjoyed reading. When I traveled, I frequently took at least two books with me, spending my waking moments on airplanes engrossed in one volume or another. I typically read about 3 or 4 books at once, on a variety of topics. Over the years, I have found that I cannot go to sleep without spending 30 minutes reading whatever my current choices are. I'm now reading a book about each day of December 1941, in addition to Drift, by Rachel Maddow, a memoir from Madeleine Albright and a novel about the Civil War. I just finished a novel about North Korea and am about to begin one about Watergate. One might characterize my taste in reading as scattered; I prefer the term eclectic.
The other component is walking. I hate to run and never liked swimming. Walking is more my pace. It not only gets my heart pumping, it affords a time of reflection every time I do it. I have written speeches and prepared sessions; each walk also results in a planned day. I try to do so 5 days a week, 45 minutes a day. More importantly, I find when I fail to walk, my energy flags throughout the day. Jon Stewart closes each show with a moment of zen. That's how I prefer to start each day.
About those pounds? I'm halfway to losing all of them. That's my choice.
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