Fitness is a Process

Continuing with the issues brought up by the Well column of Tara Parker-Pope (www.nytimes.com/well) from the New York Times, I'm a little taken aback by how many people seem to think of fitness as an either/or issue, as though we're either fit and healthy or a fat slug. Like most things, fitness is not so black and white. It's a process. It's daily choices, large and small. It starts with accepting where you are right now. What you did before surgery or chemo or radiation or hormones is not what matters now. Reality is that your body has changed and it's in whatever condition it is, right now. But you can choose to change it. Will you magically feel like you did before treatment? No, but you can make changes to feel a little better. It might be a small change, but it's in your control. At Life-Cise.com and Stay Fit Stay Strong, we recommend that adults get 30 minutes of exercise most days of the week. But if exercising for 30 minutes is beyond what you can do, break it up into more, shorter segments - exercise for 10 minutes, 3 times during the day, for instance. If that is too much, start with whatever you can manage and slowly build. Add little exercises into your daily life: lift the milk carton over your head 5 times before you put it away, walk a block before getting in a cab, take the stairs once during the day instead of the escalator. It's amazing how much these little choices can add up to begin improving your fitness level. As these little tasks get easier, do more: walk further, lift more, just keep the process going. You might not be climbing any mountains or cycling across the state of Iowa, but with small steps you might be able to live a more independent life or have a little less pain. And if cycling across the state of Iowa with Ragbrai (www.ragbrai.org)is what you want to do, just continue the process of fitness and you will get there.

Julie