Carole Carson

Gamble Your Way to Fitness

When it comes to health, you have no control over the hand you’re dealt; however, you can choose how to play it. If you’re overweight and out of shape, the odds for achieving optimum health are definitely stacked against you. But you hold the trump card. By gambling your way to fitness, you can realize a sizable payoff.

Successful gamblers avoid long shots when it comes to health. Here are three winning strategies for getting FIT:

F = Fix the odds by eating foods you enjoy that won’t pack on pounds. Find an exercise you love that makes you feel like a kid at play. Whether the exercise is walking or swimming, tennis or Zumba, get your body in the game.

I = Insure your bet. Don’t count on beginner’s luck to last. Instead, integrate healthy habits into your daily routine to improve your chances of achieving good health and reducing the risk of illness. Your well-being is on the line.

T = Team up with others. Including more players raises the stakes and makes the game of fitness more fun. Create a good-natured contest with your friends and family. Share each other’s successes in a newsletter, or join a free online support community. Surrounding yourself with like-minded players improves your game.

To encourage individuals to have fun and avoid unhealthy behavior, the gaming industry has created the “Play Responsibly” program. You can apply this concept to your fitness program. Playing responsibly—eating healthfully and exercising regularly—is a winning plan.

Waitingitis—Five Symptoms of a Potentially Fatal Syndrome

I tore the meniscus in my left knee playing tennis. I felt the tear as it occurred. Arthroscopic surgery easily fixed the problem but recovery forced me to examine my views on the use of time.

Once home and with the worst of the pain dissipating, I immediately became an impatient patient. How long, I whined, would I have to wait before I could resume my life?

When I opened my eyes each morning, I asked: “Is today the day I return to normal?” Then I tried to walk. My stiffened knee reminded me I must wait a little longer!

In this vulnerable condition, I started thinking about all the other periods in my life where I felt suspended between the “before” and the “yet to come.” Limbo periods seem to be a regular feature of my life. In high school, I waited impatiently until I could leave home and start college. I waited through my first pregnancy by marking off each long day. I waited in the hospital to see if my daughter would survive cardiac arrest. The list goes on.

When I tally up the time, I realize how much of my life I’ve spent in one spot, idling my engine, waiting for the next stage or the next event. Waitingitis reminds me of driving a car with the emergency brake on—very hard to gain momentum and disastrous on the running parts of the vehicle.

In my medically imposed leisure, I’ve had time to identify five symptoms of this malady that could easily be confused with excusitis or blamingitis. Although waitingitis isn’t life-threatening, like obesity, it can lead to other conditions that are, such as heart disease, cancer, stroke and even dementia. Immunized with information, maybe I can avoid the damage of waitingitis by recognizing its symptoms:

1. Downward Spiral: A sense of decay and deterioration is present. If depression doesn’t cause passivity, it certainly takes over if I feel helpless long enough.

2. Excuses: Life is filled with remarkably plausible excuses that I try to convince myself, and others, to believe.

3. Powerlessness: The cause of my waiting always seems beyond my control. And since I have no control over what is going to happen next, my only alternative is to wait.

4. Myths: If I repeatedly tell stories about how real the obstacles are, I convince not only myself but others as well.

5. Self-Pity: It is easier to talk myself into accepting my situation rather than to seek the unique opportunities in each particular circumstance.

Recognizing the dark role of waitingitis and noticing when I am in that state freed me to handle my recovery more positively. While I couldn’t do everything, I could still do floor exercises in the morning with my good leg and upper body. As part of the healing process I noticed both improvements and setbacks. By keeping track of progress in my diary, I took charge of my outlook.

Going further, in a real turnaround, I began to realize the huge opportunity I had to use this time constructively. I became rested, I read broadly, and I had time to reflect and replenish my emotional bank. Best of all, I had a ready-made excuse to enjoy the upcoming holidays without all the fuss and work!

Shortly before the knee surgery, I finished teaching a workshop—From Fat to Fit—offered at the local hospital. Like me, they’ve finally realized the destructive power of delaying their intent to get fit. They are having fun getting fit, they are designing their own individual programs, and they are participating together—surrounded by a support team of their own creation.

We don’t have to wait for the perfect time to begin adopting healthful habits. Now is not only the best time to begin but it is the only time we have. The rest is obstacle illusions.

Breaking Out of Our Spiritual Jail: Weight Loss Lightens Our Spirits as Well as Our Bodies

When we make changes toward a healthier lifestyle—losing weight and exercising regularly—not only do our bodies respond positively in measurable ways (reduced blood pressure, lowered cholesterol, greater strength and increased flexibility) but our spirits soar as well. We break out of a spiritual jail. These feelings are the little "proofs" that we are headed in the right direction when we focus on becoming FIT:

F = Free: We are able to fly through life because we are free from the dead weight of remorse. When we feel bad about excess weight or about being a slug, our spirits are grounded. When we lose weight and become fit, we sprout wings and become more creative, energetic and positive. Unencumbered by guilt about not taking care of our bodies, we give up swimming in peanut butter. We have a lot more fun and feel fortunate that we found the key to our personal jail.

I = Inspired: We are inspired to become our unique selves—more centered and more confident of who we are and of what our purpose is. We become more intuitive and, at the same time, more informed as research on the impact of healthful eating and exercise confirms our decision to lead a healthier lifestyle. Our enthusiasm inspires others.

T = Transformed: Those of us who have lost weight commonly become unrecognizable. That is, we have transformed ourselves or reinvented ourselves as different people. We have triumphed over earlier limitations; our joy is apparent in our walk, talk and manner. Like an addict who has broken free of a destructive habit, we have escaped spiritual slavery and rejoined the productive members of our society.

Having been blessed with a second chance at life, we eagerly share that opportunity with others. Instead of dying with our potential untouched, we allow our lives to take off in the direction they were always intended to go.

Buff on the Outside, Genetically Altered on the Inside

From time to time, I find myself struggling to maintain my weight loss. I can gain five pounds without even trying. When this happens, I must quickly resume my careful regimen so I can drop back to my target weight range.

After five years of conscious effort, I confess to a certain longing for a magical solution.

Isn’t there a pill we could safely take that would help us shed pounds? Or curb an unmanageable appetite? Isn’t there a way to turn fat into sleek muscle without the time and effort of exercising?

You know the expression “Be careful what you ask for because you just might get it”? Perhaps to our detriment, our wish may come true as a result of genetic tinkering.

Nicholas D. Kristof, a New York Times columnist, reported on a research breakthrough that could change the form of warm-blooded species, including humans.

Kristof writes about recent advances in genetic engineering of cattle in which scientists have genetically blocked the production of myostatin, a substance that curbs muscle growth. The result is overmuscled cows without a speck of fat—all without exercising.

The cows look like what Arnold Schwarzennegger would look like if he were from the bovine species. For your own peek at the future, you can look at Belgian Blues here. The photograph would be laughable if the implications weren’t so serious.

When the same genetic engineering was tried on mice, an increase of 15-30 percent in size was noted. Also importantly, the middle-aged, overmuscled mice didn’t lose strength as they aged.

The genetic research was originally intended to help two groups—persons suffering from muscular dystrophy and seniors suffering from weakened muscles as a result of aging.

But once genetic engineering becomes available, do any of us believe it will be limited to those two groups? If steroids are a problem, imagine how the availability of genetic engineering would affect sports. Monday Night Football would become a contest between giants.

Wouldn’t it be tempting to undergo a painless procedure and bypass a lifetime regimen of eating carefully and exercising regularly?

Wouldn’t men find the magic solution hard to resist, given our culture’s emphasis on masculine strength? I’d like to think I wouldn’t succumb to a quick fix, but I’m not certain that I wouldn’t.

The implications for future generations stagger the imagination. Would overmuscled athletes be the norm and people who refuse to change their genetics be freaks? With two-thirds of us being overweight, we currently suffer numerous medical problems. Would those medical problems lessen if the majority of us were trim giants? Or would we create other problems?

Kristof describes a boy who, through an accident of nature, has the human form of the Belgian Blues genetic mutation. At age four, the boy is already setting records for weightlifting with his extraordinary muscling.

Where will the genetic tinkering stop? Probably not with the human race. Wouldn’t we want supersized chickens so eggs would be larger? Wouldn’t we want bigger pigs so hams would double in size? Wouldn’t sheep be supersized so farmers could harvest more wool?

We all know what happened to the tomato when it was reengineered genetically. Commercial tomatoes are thick skinned and frequently tasteless. Would human genetic engineering produce the same unsatisfactory result?

Spared by advancing age the opportunity to tinker with my own genes or alter in utero the genes of my offspring, perhaps I am better off than I know. Given my ambivalence, I don’t even have any useful advice for the next generation.

At least for the foreseeable future, for better or worse, I’m stuck with eating carefully and exercising regularly. To quote Popeye, “I’yam what I’yam.”

Coming to My Senses—Time Well Wasted

In an attempt to convey my resentment of the tyrannical clock, I once wrote a poem about a woman who was imprisoned by her wristwatch.

For years, it seems, my life has been measured in rushed increments. A half-hour to get home from work; an hour to unload the dishwasher, prepare dinner and start a load of laundry; and then a few minutes to pay some bills after a quick glance at the mail.

Living under the pressure of time, I gained weight and exercised very little. With a perpetual sense of no time to lose, I had no time to lose—pounds, that is. Only after I retired did I take the time to shape up, dropping over 60 pounds in the process.

Even in retirement, I feel time is scarce. When I become engrossed in writing, a few minutes can morph into hours. Before long, the day is over. Where did the time go?

Because the minutes fly by, I make myself start each morning with an hour of playtime on my living-room floor. The routine is a collection of exercises from a yoga instructor, a physical therapist and gym classes. I also include exercises that I made up. When I begin, my mind bombards me with tasks to accomplish that day. To escape their oppression, I repeat the mantra “Work can wait. First things first.”

During the exercise routine, I pay attention to how my body feels. Some days I can do more, other days less. I extend my limbs and stretch my back. In the process, I’m reminded that body awareness was a given as a child—not something I sought out each day. I didn’t need to come to my senses; I lived in them.

I experience the same conflict when I quit work in the middle of the day to play tennis—play being the operative word. Never am I so carried back to my childhood days as when I am running around on the tennis court with my friends. I laugh when I succeed; I groan when I miss. I give my partner a high five when we make a great play. The game isn’t about winning—though I hate to lose—but about being outdoors, running around in the open air and playing with friends.

While my self-discipline is spotty, my appetite for play is strong enough to throw off the tyranny of time. I can count on myself to exercise regularly—not for health reasons but because it‘s fun. Maybe my heart appreciates the exercise. Maybe my lungs function better. Maybe I can move more easily. Maybe I have more energy. Maybe I reduce my risk of stroke. Maybe my waistline stays trimmer. These results are all wonderful outcomes—but they aren’t the reasons I get out and play.

I exercise because, for a few minutes every day, I want to forget I’m grown-up. I want to be lighthearted and escape the seriousness of everyday affairs. For an hour or so, I want to live only in the moment.

John Seivert, a physical therapist, gives his clients one rule to achieve fitness: Play regularly. He said we will know what our exercise is because doing it will elicit uncontrollable smiles, fits of laughter and childlike behavior. Before you know it, John assures us, we will become more fit than we ever dreamed possible, no matter what our age.

Nothing reveals our values more than how we allocate our time. For the joy of it, I’m going to continue to spend hours each week playing—whether I’m stretching on my living-room floor or running on the tennis court. These moments help me come to my senses. It is time well wasted.

How to Know If You’re Ready to Lose Weight and Get Fit

Seven years ago, I stepped on the bathroom scale—and it broke. In that instant, I made an irrevocable decision to get fit and remodel my body by losing weight. I remember the moment as if it were yesterday. The incident was a decisive turning point: I took the fork out of my mouth, and I took a fork in the road instead.

In retrospect, the internal discussion (or should I say argument) I’d been having with myself during the prior months was coming to a head. I liked my self-indulgences and didn’t want to give them up. At the same time, I knew I needed to make positive changes because my appearance was making me miserable. The broken scale didn’t trigger my transformation; rather, it crystallized my need to change in such a way that I couldn’t return to my old habits.

If I could bottle the process by which a person irrevocably commits to make positive changes (such as lose weight, stop smoking or give up alcohol), I would indeed be a rich person. Although I can’t patent the formula, I can tell you what the ingredients are so you can tell if you are ready to get fit and remodel your body.

First, your current habits and lifestyle are hurting and distressing you. Maybe you feel bad when you have to move up a size because your clothes no longer fit or when you accidentally catch a glance of yourself in the mirror. Maybe your extra girth is causing medical problems that threaten the quality of your life or require drugs that stretch the family budget. Maybe you feel sad when you can’t take your grandchild for a walk because your joints hurt from carrying a spare tire around your middle. Maybe you’ve lost self-respect because you are unable to manage your impulses and say no to yourself. Whatever the reason, you are unhappy with the status quo.

Second, the pleasure you derive from your current habits is greatly outweighed by the pain and suffering you experience by being out of shape and overweight. The nightly raiding of the refrigerator, while satisfying in the moment, is causing you to suffer when you step on the bathroom scale or the waistband on your pants feels like a vise around your middle every time you sit down. The second and third helpings of food at the supper table make you feel lethargic, bloated and out of control. You have begun to realize that the price you pay for your indulgences is too high for the pleasure you derive from them.

Third, you realize that adopting healthier habits will lead not to a grim life of deprivation but rather to a life that is richer, more meaningful, more productive and more satisfying. You will enjoy the food you carefully choose more than you ever enjoyed your mindless eating. You will add far more joy and satisfaction to your daily life than you give up. Instead of being ashamed of how you look, you will enjoy the experience of being in your body. And you will appreciate the simple gift of life your body represents.

There you have them. Insofar as I can tell, these three conditions, when present, can propel you into beginning your own fitness remodeling project. Are you ready? If the answer is yes, start making the positive changes today.

Are You NEAT Enough to Stay Trim?

If you think I am talking about tidiness, you’re wrong. NEAT refers to Non-exercise Activity Thermogenesis.

That’s a mouthful. To understand the concept, think about it this way. You’re sitting in a chair, watching television—a sedentary state. The effort of sitting upright burns about five extra calories an hour compared to the calories you would burn if you were sleeping. Or you walk briskly for one mile and burn 100 calories. This activity is exercise. Everything else is NEAT.

NEAT is important because it significantly influences whether we gain weight or stay trim and fit, according to research conducted by James Levine, an endocrinologist and professor of medicine at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. Dr. Levine confirmed that people who spend their waking hours sitting weigh more than people who move around. His conclusion? Living in a chair-based environment can result in obesity.

Unfortunately, the chair-based environment is everywhere. We may sit at a table to eat breakfast, sit in a car or bus on our way to work and sit during our workday. We may sit during lunch and sit driving home, only to sit before the television with a remote control in hand. On the weekend, we may sit through a movie, ride a lawn mower or snow blower or sit in a car as we pick up fast food at a drive-through. For some people, 23 out of 24 waking hours are spent sitting or sleeping.

Dr. Levine has a visionary plan to create more opportunities for NEAT that will get us moving and keep us fit and trim. He’s designing dynamic environments for offices where work stations are mounted on treadmills. Instead of meeting in rooms with tables and chairs, employees conduct meetings while walking on specially designed parallel tracks. Walking side by side, the employees conduct business while engaging in exercise.

Dr. Levine is also continuing an educational drive to make people aware of how much they sit and suggest ways they can introduce more movement into their lives. Walking, shopping and moving around for any reason shouldn’t be underestimated, according to Dr. Levine.

After thinking about the implications of his research, I appreciate the layout of my home even more. I live in a two-story house, so I am constantly running up and down stairs. In addition, my office is located outside the house over the garage. If I’m working in my office and want to throw in a load of laundry, I have to walk down a flight of stairs, walk upstairs to get the laundry, back downstairs to the washing machine and then back upstairs to my office. To accomplish my task, I am forced to move by the different levels.

Besides appreciating the layout of my home, I welcome Dr. Levine’s development of the NEAT concept for a distinctly female reason. His research gives me another excuse, in addition to retail therapy, to go shopping.

Soul Food—The Weigh to Thinner Peace

When we’re focused on waist management, sooner or later we must address the question of why we consume more calories than our bodies burn on any given day.

Our environment is a minefield. We have continuous access to quick meals from fast-food restaurants. Refrigerators at home and vending machines at work are stuffed with a variety of temptations. Adding a sedentary job and a disinclination to exercise regularly could explain those extra pounds.

I don’t think, however, our environment is the underlying reason so many of us are overweight. As Shakespeare wrote, “The fault, dear Brutus, lies not in our stars but in ourselves.”

Were I to categorize my overeating, I’d begin with recreational eating. How fun it is to dine out with friends and enjoy a special meal. And I found that vacation eating is a kissing cousin to recreational eating.

“How can I resist,” I ask myself, “the hula pie?” I’m embarrassed to admit that I’ve researched which restaurant serves the best. I’ve spent hours hiking, ocean bobbing and playing tennis, so I should be able to eat what I want, right?

Another favorite is convenience eating—as I’m running errands, I realize I’m starved and buy whatever is handy at whatever store is nearby.

Comfort eating is also high on my list. Items in this category include my favorite foods, like garlic mashed potatoes and homemade bread.

Preventive eating is also important—that is, I’m about to go out the door and realize I won’t be home for several hours. I’m not hungry, but I think I’d better eat something just in case I get hungry. How crazy is that rationalization?

Craved foods represent a particular temptation. Nothing calls my name as loudly as chocolate-covered raisins sitting in a jar on top of the refrigerator do. And I can’t forget starvation eating which occurs when I exercise heavily, go too long between meals and become hungry enough to “eat a horse.”

My most common mistake, though, is to eat for energy. Geneen Roth, a regular contributor to Prevention magazine, asserts that “rest is a basic human need, like food and sleep and touch.” I run myself ragged, thinking I’ll rest when I get everything done. That moment, of course, never comes. Instead, to keep going, I fight fatigue with food.

Geneen recommends an alternative approach—to become a “steady rester.” Her approach requires us to give up the notion that each moment must be spent accomplishing something worthwhile.

Geneen also suggests borrowing the McDonald’s slogan You Deserve a Break Today. But she suggests a nonfood break-taking time to relax, putter, experience stillness or gaze out the window. A successful break renews our sense of self and well-being. Inner peace, rather than a piece of chocolate cake, is what we crave.

                I must learn to be a human being instead of a human doing. Otherwise, my next book will be titled From Fit to Fat: How I Turned Myself into a Weapon of Mass Expansion.

Exercising the Gratitude Muscle

Being the optimist that I am, I’m drawn to anything that promotes happiness. So I read with particular interest an article entitled “Cultivating Happiness: Will Positive Psychology and Gratitude Intervention Teach Our Kids How to Be Happy?” The article reported research results on the effect of gratitude intervention—for example, keeping an appreciation journal or writing letters expressing thankfulness—on the happiness of individuals, including families with children.

The impetus for studying what makes people happy is fairly recent. Nearly 10 years ago, Martin Seligman, now director of the University of Pennsylvania’s Positive Psychology Center, wrote several books, including Authentic Happiness and Learned Optimism, on what brings satisfaction and fulfillment. Later, as head of the American Psychological Association, Dr. Seligman was in a position to steer interest and research to the subject of happiness.

Today, teaching happiness has spread to universities, and some of the classes are the most popular ones on campus. The trend doesn’t stop there.

Emotional literacy is cited as a valuable skill parents can teach children. A leading group researching and promoting parental intervention to teach gratitude and optimism is the Greater Good Science Center in Berkeley, California.

You may be wondering why I am writing about positive psychology in a space normally reserved for conversations about fitness.

First, I am convinced that when some of us have pesky feelings that we don’t manage well, such as boredom, anxiety, worry and despair, we tend to stuff ourselves with food. If we eat our fill from the bowl of happiness, we may find it easier to resist other bowls, such as ones filled with chocolate sundaes. Moreover, if we teach the skill of managing mind-sets to our children, they will be less likely to medicate unpleasant feelings with food.

Second, practices that improve our emotional health also improve our physical health. Christine Carter, a researcher at the Greater Good Science Center, strongly believes that “families should have dinner together,” notwithstanding conflicting schedules, differences of opinion about what to eat and teenagers’ moodiness. Her studies, she says, have shown the benefits of this ritual in improving the emotional health of children.

Despite the demands of her own career and the complications of her husband’s schedule, Christine tries to practice what she preaches. Not only does her family try to eat together, but before each meal, family members say a prayer of gratitude. They also take the time to review the day’s events by savoring the good moments and extracting lessons from the more difficult ones.

The same practices can be used for those of us seeking to get fit and lose weight. As part of each day’s ritual, we can take time during our evening meal to express appreciation for the gifts we’ve received and to draw lessons from any difficulties. In practicing this ritual, we finish the day—whatever the events—in a state of appreciation.

Third, if I were to pick one factor that predicted whether someone could succeed at losing weight and becoming fit, I would pick outlook. Pessimistic, self-doubting persons have inadvertently stacked the odds against themselves. But confirms what I intuitively feel—that whatever our age, a positive, appreciative mind-set can be learned and must be sustained if we are to succeed in getting and staying fit.

According to Carol Dweck, a psychologist at Stanford University, almost all children start out positive and optimistic. Sadly, about half of them inadvertently lose that mind-set as they get older because of either feedback from others or self-criticism. To succeed in our fitness efforts as adults, we have to recover that youthful optimism and remember to take childlike delight in the gifts we receive.

Mike Carville, a friend of mine and owner of the South Yuba Fitness Center, begins his fitness classes by reminding students that the muscle they must exercise most consistently is the one between their ears. The best way to exercise it is to take lessons from whatever difficulties we encounter and give thanks for the good that comes our way.

     Plus, it takes 11 muscles to frown and 12 to smile. Given a choice, we might as well make the effort and use one more muscle. Every little bit of extra exercise helps, right?

Unite Your Fitness Team and Win the Battle of the Bulge

For many years, I viewed my inability to lose weight and get fit as a personal failure. Each day I would wake up and gingerly step on the bathroom scale. An impossibly high number would appear, followed immediately by distress over my weight.

Each day I began with good intentions and a willingness to continue, even in the face of repeated defeats. And each night I ended the day with the same ritual: I would promise myself that tomorrow would be better; tomorrow would be a new day.

After what seemed to be about the ten-thousandth time of going down the same tunnel and finding no cheese, I finally realized that perhaps I needed some help. So I reached out and created two kinds of fitness teams—a team of healthcare professionals and a team of supporters.

The first person I put on my healthcare team was my physician, followed by a physical therapist, who helped me figure out what exercises I could safely perform with a torn hamstring. A personal trainer in my local gym supervised my initial workouts to make sure I didn’t reinjure myself. I also consulted with my cardiologist, who reduced my medication following the weight loss.

The coordinator for the local hospital wellness center, Debbie Wagner, RN, helped address questions about nutrition, the kinds of exercises I should undertake and the psychological impact of making such dramatic lifestyle changes.

I first recruited my husband, Dick, to be on my cheerleading team. Then I added my best friend, Dale, who shared an interest in exercise and nutrition. Next, I added my offspring and a close neighbor. Before long, I had surrounded myself with people who, besides cheering me on, were also committed to become more fit.

I don’t think it is a coincidence that the outcome from this effort was different than the outcomes from my prior ten thousand or so attempts.

In retrospect, I realized I was smart enough to apply the same skills that had helped me in my career to my pursuit of fitness. That is, I created a company called Fit Carole. As the CEO, I defined my mission—to lose weight, become fit and adopt permanent, healthy lifestyle habits.

Then I recruited team members to help me realize my goals.

Of course, I relied on myself to set priorities and measure results. But as important as my tasks were, I couldn’t have succeeded without the support of my team.

I urge others who are beginning their fitness journey to create their own team. You may be one of those exceptional people who can achieve their dreams on their own; the rest of us mortals, however, need each other. United we succeed. Go team, go!