We can Work it Out!~ Oprah's "I Feel Good" Challenge 2011

Great Article and a wonderful challenge!

www.oprah.com/health/Exercise-for-Yo ur-20s-30s-40s-50s-and-60s_1/3 


 No interest or desire to run a marathon. Knees will rebel!

It is nice to see someone have a balance view of healthy & balance workouts...
There is no one size fits most approach!

Hula Hoop? No problem!










Weights? (Can do in moderation):


There is absolutely different approaches for different lives and generations; its all in the weigh you do the thin(gs) we do!

Zumba (possibly in a few more months or modified right now): 

 

Jump Rope (maybe in time) 
 

Walking? Can do and Do: 
 

 


Swimming/ Not me but its a winner! 
 
Maritza Correi 
 






Meditation? Ah yes for flexibility lowering blood pressure: 

 


It's the Weigh We Do the Thin(ngs) we do!

 

Who knows maybe one day I could look like this although I have to lose 40 years and 11 inches   


 

Gonnas be'GONE!

What I am writing about is not unusual for most of us when we make changes in our lives wanting to do things differently, see things differently and act accordingly.  It is part of a very flawed humanity, where people often in a need to level a playing field if they feel threatened or insecure, to diminish someone else worth when they see change. We do not have to look far to see that happening.

You do not have to be famous, wealthy, beautiful, highly skilled, educated or intelligent or skinny for it to happen. Just shift a hair and see what happens...

I just for once, was curious as I've entered my 6th decade, to understand without wasting too much time or energy, into comprehend why people, especially when it comes to engaging into a healthier, fuller life, why it seems to make others uncomfortable.

In the last several months, I have released over 60 pounds doing it realistically, holistically & carefully.

I still in order to reach my goal, have another 30-50lbs to glow; but it shall be done.  I am now looking to incoporate light weights, take a dance class and other things over the next several months...


  I am not doing it to catch a man, that I was ashamed of myself before or that I want to be out of plus size clothes.  And I thought that my doing this was about me, for me.

It is...

I am not running a race.  I am not trying to compare myself to anyone else nor trying to prove anything to anyone.  I thought I was a pretty cool mama before I began...Competition has never been my forte', I dislike it intensely.

But since the appreciable weight is being noticed also come the what I call the "gonnas" who are always gonna do something but never do & then they have to find fault with you because I did, not going to.  I had to get to a place in myself to accomplish this and I will be doggone if I will let the gonnas stop me.

 I more then proud of myself that I've held my ground...

I've learned that the sun was going to rise as it did so beautifully yesterday & the rain will fall as it did today nourishing my organic garden, no matter what the gonnas said or did.

And I am not going to be any less then the sum of who I am no matter what the goonas, gonna do.

Someone commented to me today that some jealousy could be involved; that some took my ability to speak well, my (as he put it) formidable strength, that if some one comes to me "they better have their A game ready" that the sum of who I am might scare some.

And you know what? They better (have their A game ready).

I am more then pleased with myself that after a very long time and struggle, I've gotten to the point where I came to know no matter what you do, even if you laid down and whine (or not) be passive or not having a learned helplessness wringing you hands to and fro in essence saying "Please like me,please like, I am not threat to you". it will be of no avail.

Cause the gonnas are gonna get you no matter what. It is never about you.

I bring this up because as we all reach hard toward our goals, there will be one or two (or more) gonnas. Live long enough and a gonna could come & get ya. People do not like their world disrupted or patterns shifted. When you release what has weighed you down it WILL cause a paradigm shift in others apart from yourself.

And if one doesn't like it rather using the awesome energy to change themselves, will use extraordinary means & lengths to put you right back where they want you to be, whether it is healthy for you or not.

Or whether YOU want it or not. 


So what did I do?  I wrote this poem:



Anyway
 By iiammoon©11

They are gonna laugh anyway...

So I might as well go out and play…

With all the life & vigor I can display

For...

They are going to laugh anyway...

Roll their eyes…

Smirk...

Wave their hands to & fro

So... I might as well sing loudly…

That song no matter how off key

Because that song  is  for me...

'Cause...

They gonna laugh  anyway...

Since I can't seem "to act my age"

I might as well jump in, Jimmy Choo's  & all...

in a puddle as muddy & messy as it wants to be…

It will wash off once I finish...

After I had a ball.

Because they are gonna laugh anyway...

All Rights Reserved JHM ©1-30-11

For cardiovascular relief...

Do what you Wanna! A la New Orleans second line!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3E1VBCcA76E

Dancing, dancing, DANCING Machine...Yeah baby!

Two-stepping may add fun to aerobic workouts, studies show
By Serena Gordon,HealthDay Reporter
www.sparkspeople.com

FRIDAY, June 5 (HealthDay News) -- One reason many people don't stick with exercise is that it's often not that interesting. But what if you could dance your way to improved health?
Two new studies suggest that you just might be able to do that.


Presented recently at the American College of Sports Medicine meeting in Seattle, one study found that salsa dancing could improve cardiovascular fitness, and the other found that less vigorous ballroom dances such as the fox trot or tango -- although not as much of a workout as salsa -- can add 2,000 steps or so to a person's daily walking total.


"Learning to dance can be a fun, social, local and friendly way to enjoy low-intensity physical activity and skill learning," said the author of the second study, Stephen Cobley, a senior lecturer in skill acquisition and sport/exercise psychology at Leeds Metropolitan University in the United Kingdom.


Dancing, or at least watching dancing on TV, has soared in popularity recently. In the United States, "Dancing with the Stars" draws a significant audience each week, and its British counterpart, "Strictly Come Dancing," has more than 8 million viewers, according to Cobley.
Because this show was drawing so many viewers in the U.K., Cobley and his colleagues thought to capitalize on its popularity and conducted a study by offering a 12-week series of introductory ballroom dancing lessons to a group of sedentary adults.


The average age of the 27 study participants was 53, and most -- 22 -- were women. The once-a-week, two-hour classes were led by an instructor and included dances such as the tango, fox trot and cha-cha.


The classes replaced what was usually sedentary time for the participants and added about 2,000 steps to their daily total, the researchers said. Experts recommend 10,000 steps a day for good health.


"Ten thousand steps per day is the recommendation, but how many seniors are getting that?" asked sports and lifestyle nutritionist Molly Kimball, from the Ochsner Health System in New Orleans. "Two thousand steps is still good, and every little bit helps."


But, she said, different dances, such as the salsa, would provide a much greater aerobic workout.

Salsa was the focus of the other study, in which Italian researchers measured heart rate and oxygen consumption in dancers who were doing a typical salsa during lessons, salsa dancing at a night club or doing a group dance called rueda de casino.


The study included 11 pairs of dancers who were, on average, 36 years old. Maximum heart rate increased between 58 and 75 percent for those doing any of the three dances, and oxygen consumption went up between 41 percent and 56 percent, depending on the dance. Nightclub salsa dancing appeared to be the most aerobic of the three dances, though all increased heart rate and oxygen consumption, the study found.


"Salsa is a spirited dance," study author Gian Pietro Emerenziani, from the University of the Studies of Rome, in Italy, said in a statement. "With this form of dance, you are clearly getting a workout. All three types of salsa in our study, practiced frequently, will have a positive impact on health and fitness."


And dancing has other things going for it, fitness-wise.


"With dancing, you don't necessarily have to go to the gym, you don't have to run in the heat, but you're still benefiting," Kimball said. The trick, however, is to make sure you're not swapping dancing for a higher-intensity exercise, she said.


She suggests that new dancers check their heart rate while dancing to make sure they're getting the same workout they got from a spinning class or a run.


Another caveat, she said, is to make sure you don't negate the benefits of all your two-stepping by having high-calorie drinks or snacks while you're out sashaying the night away.