Today’s post was going to coincide with the launch of my newly designed blog, but my brilliant blog host is still tweaking the site a tad, so I suspect we will go ‘live’ on the weekend. Yay!

Instead today I’m going to write about my mother. Well, sort of. (God, I can hear her hyperventilating from 300km away!)

A fabulous blogger, Karen, who is very supportive of me and my blog (leaving regular comments) has just returned from some travel and other commitments so left a few comments on my blog posts overnight (well, overnight here in Oz). One of her comments was about my last post – where I talked about social media and weight loss, fitness etc. My comment about normalising certain behaviour resonated with her and she sent me a link to an old blog post of her own, where she referred to someone training for a marathon… “Cos that’s what everyone else is doing”.

HELLO!? Been there, done that, own the t-shirt! 

You may recall a post earlier this year, when I’d decided to follow advice I received and quit my ‘learn to run’ program. The exercise physiologist I mention in that post reads my blog and knew how much I hated the ‘Couch to 5km’ program. She also knew I liked other forms of exercise and encouraged me to DO WHAT I ENJOY. A novel approach, huh?

In Karen’s blog post she talks about working out what WE want. Again… D-oh?! Why don’t we do this? Why do we (and by we I mean me) ‘learn to run’ cos everyone else loves running and talks about it on Twitter?

For me, quitting running and focussing on what I wanted to do was very empowering. And, as a result of ‘quitting’ running, my fitness hasn’t suffered at all. I’m gymming five days a week. This week I’ve participated in my usual 5 x 45min classes at my local gym: Faux Zumba; Cardioblast (old style aerobics); Pump; Pilates; and Circuit class. Ta Da! And, I don’t mind going to any of them. Some I don’t LOVE love (Cardioblast can be hard, and I never know what to expect with Circuit!) but I know they’re good for me and I need to keep increasing my fitness.

I left a comment on Karen’s old blog post – saying that I recognised the need for whatever I do to be SUSTAINABLE. I mean, the sane part of me knows this thing I’m doing isn’t a diet. This is forever. I’ve exercised in ways that I’ve burned out previously and in ways that basically weren’t sustainable.

So… I’m back to thinking about my own (darling) mother (Hi mum!) who’s keen to lose a bit of weight. She doesn’t need to lose much – just a few kilograms. She’s quite fit and healthy, although had a knee replacement and so (sadly) is still troubled by that a few years later… and yet – her exercise schedule is amazing for a (sorry mum!) 68 year old woman.

She does marching (I don’t know what that involves and try not to snigger when she talks about it!); tai chi, yoga, Zumba for oldies; disco dancing (again, one can only imagine what this involves!); and hydrotherapy a couple of times a week. She’s also very good at doing the exercises her physiotherapist has given her and does a couple of extra sessions at a friend’s pool. And… before her knee operation she also walked with a neighbour at some ungodly hour every morning.

So, I wanna be like my mum when I grow up. She happily heads off to something almost every day. Obviously her schedule is more flexible now that she’s retired, but she enjoys her exercise classes and maintains a commitment to her fitness. Something I can only aspire to. BUT having said that, I think I’m on the right track by focussing on exercise I enjoy and incorporating it into my lifestyle as much as possible.

Is this a strategy that works for you?