And a Word about Exercise

I was just looking back over some older posts --- way back to when I first started my vintage fitness routine. It may seem like a lifetime - it's actually been just seven weeks - but there have been some positive changes during those seven weeks and not all of them on the scale.

At two weeks, I felt a new spring in my step.

At four weeks, I felt like an old broken-down woman.

At seven weeks, I'm no longer dreading my walks. I wouldn't say I'm looking forward to them yet, but they're definitely not the torture they used to be... That probably has a lot to do with the stretching I've been doing after my walks, the water I've been drinking on a daily basis, and that blessed iPod. Having something to keep my mind occupied has made such a difference! No longer am I stuck going over my lengthy mental to-do lists and worrying about this or that. I can listen to new radio, vintage radio, music. It's been such a help - especially during my new fifth lap around the track on my weekend walks.

I bought some new exercise pants yesterday. It's getting hot enough even at 6:30 in the morning that I needed something lighter to wear. They're stretchy and black and flare out a bit at the knees. In fact, they're probably the most fitted item I've worn in public in years. I felt a wee bit self-conscious in them this morning, but that soon gave way to relief that I felt so much cooler than I had the day before in track pants!

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette's Antoinette Donnelly wrote an article on reducing in October 1940 and stresses how important walking (and water!) can be to the woman who needs to lose any pesky weight gained during summer vacation:

Walk almost as much every day as you did when you were tripping along over mountain roads, through shady woods, along the ocean front. If you can walk all the way, or part way to your office, or if after your evening meal you have to say good-by to family or friends who don't feel like joining you for your evening "constitutional," do it! Walk briskly and take longer than usual steps. A loafing walk does not do you much good.

Include in your diet bran, figs, prunes, fruits with their skins, and use mineral oil to make salad dressings. Drink plenty of water, all you comfortably can. Make it a habit to chew your food slowly so you will not eat so much. Don't eat between meals. If you feel hungry, drink unsweetened fruit juice. Stay away from alcoholic drinks, for there is nothing that puts on pounds quite so quickly. Don't be tempted by the delicious hors d'oeuvres, for they're full of calories.

Miss Donnelly's advice about leaving reluctant family and friends behind is just as valid today as it was in 1940. (I'm not so sure about the mineral oil!) We can't always wait for the people we'd like to exercise with to have the same motivation as we do at the same time. Sometimes you just have to go it alone.