Kategori: Health

No, I am not exercising too much

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My fitness project has no deadline. At least not for as long as I am alive. Photo: Thinkstock.

My fitness project has no deadline. At least not for as long as I am alive. Photo: Thinkstock.

It’s been six months since we last saw each other, now we have a lunch date and as soon as my friend sees me she exclaims: ”My dear GOD, you work out a lot!” The exclamation is followed by: ”How do you have TIME?” and: ”It CAN’T be HEALTHY to keep on like that”.

Since she follows me on Facebook and Instagram, she’ s pretty up to date with my training habits. I can see how she’s giving me the glance-over and I notice the relief in her eyes when she realize that I haven’t become Twiggy-thin.

– What is your goal? she asks a little later when we tuck into the poached salmon.

– Well, to feel good, I answer.

– How? Lose weight?

No, not necessarily, I explain. I am rather trying my best to stay the same weight, since it’s been a bit tricky to keep the pounds off during the last few years, due to an under-functioning thyroid gland and errant female hormones.

– But you are getting completely obsessed, right? she persists. Her tone has change and is now a bit prickly, it’s obvious that she’s provoked by the fact that I exercise more than before, a reaction I’ve also noticed among other acquaintances.

Once again, I am forced to put my work out habits into proportion: I try to move two hours a day, five days a week, may it be walking, running or doing classes at the gym. But in all fairness, there is 24 hours in a day, which means I am mostly sitting on my butt or sleeping for the residual 22. My friend hum before she asks:

– But, when is your deadline?

That’s when I realize – I have none. Sure, my new lifestyle is certainly born out of a desire to be in decent shape when I turn 50 this autumn. The project had a starting date, but has no end. It’s not like I am going to stand up on my 50th birthday on September 18 and exclaim: Finished! No, I will walk, run and weight train as best I can, for as long as I live.

Now – there’s a deadline worth talking about.

Yes – 50 is the new 30!

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IMG_6215In September I am 50 and I have already given myself a gift: The promise that when the day comes, I will be in great shape, inside and out. I have finally made the adult decision to focus on the most important person in my life – myself.

You’re thinking ”midlife-crisis”. Nope, I have no age concerns. On the contrary, I like getting older and can, at last, honestly say that I am pretty happy with myself. Not that I’m flawless by any means, there are certainly improvements to make, but I’ve accepted what and who I am.

I have stopped worrying about what other people think about my person and my life choices. I have grown to realize that I am good enough, and that, my friends, is a really great feeling. But perhaps most important of all, only because I am turning 50 I don’t intend to slow down. On the contrary. Now – I am ready to step on it.

And I’m not alone. According to Harris Interactive, 50 is the new favorite age. The Institute asked 2 200 men and women of varying ages: ”What age would you like to be in the rest of your life, if you got to be in good health?”.

The answer? Yep: 50.

Fifty.

The big five-zero.

Why? Well, according to psychologist Barbara Becker Holstein, it is because the 50-somethings can do almost anything they like:

– They have almost every opportunity. You’re young enough to be famous or start an organic farm, and still have the muscle tone to work eight hours a day, she says to today.com.

Just my point. A sort of reverse adolescence is lying ahead of me. A future without anxiety or guilt, where I don’t need to fret over who I am. I just AM.

I can already taste it: The kids are on their way out of the nest (yes, it’ll be a little bit boring and empty, bit also VERY nice). The state of mine and my husbands bank balance matters less and less, since it only needs to support us two and our dog Monty (who is a skinny whippet and don’t cost much to feed).

Therefore, after almost 20 years of so-called ”life juggling”, I now have the time, energy and money to become the best version of Erika Scott, 50: Fit and fcking fabulous.

In this blog you will not only meet me, but also many other fantastic role models, who also embraces their age: ”The Quintastics” (or LL as I call them, ”Lucious ladies, and the occasional ” lad ”) , their ”prospects” (they are the 45 plus) and ”hang arounds” (from 40 years of age).

So whether you are LL, prospect or hang around – join me! Become fifty, fit and fcking fabulous, you too!

You know you want to.