Don't want to be bedridden in your old age? Read this!

I worked until 8pm today, another 12-hour work day. Long story and I won't bore you with it. I don't really have a choice. Perhaps unemployment, but that's not really an option.<br /><br />I was home by 8:30pm, after deciding not to go to the gym tonight. I had a horrible night's sleep last night, coughing and tossing and turning, the sleep of the old and the sick. I had skipped my morning workout. This makes four days of not working out.<br /><br />I was whining to my husband that this is how it starts, miss one day, then two days, then four, next thing you know it's been a month of not working out. Four days of no gym is a near record for me in the past 17 months. He started telling me that I needed to ease up on myself, that I was going to make myself sicker and blah blah blah. We've had this dicussion many times in the past.<br /><br />As if on cue, right at that very moment a program came on PBS about Aicar and it's effect on the human body. It's some sort of 'exercise in a pill" drug (not FDA approved, yet). I was fascinated, but one part really touched a nerve with me.<br /><br />They talked about how Aicar could be helpful for the elderly that are bedridden and can't exercise. They did an experiment on a healthy 60-year old woman (remember, I'm almost 54). She stayed in bed for ten days, and wasn't allowed to get out of bed for anything, not even allowed to sit up. In ten days of bed rest her muscles aged....are you ready for this? <strong>Fifteen</strong> <strong>years</strong>! Ten days of bed rest was equivalent to aging 15 years. She had also lost <strong>two pounds</strong> of muscle from her legs alone in those ten days!<br /><br />Are you thinking what I'm thinking? OH MY GOD! These are damn scary statistics.<br /><br />If you want to watch the videos, they're <a href="http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/sciencenow/0403/03.html" target="blank">here</a>. The program will be online in it's entirety on July 15.<br /><br />All of it was interesting, but I was really intrigued about the Aiding Aging Muscles. Most of you reading this are mere children compared to me, but keep this in mind for when you get older. Exercise is essential, not optional (unless you want to end up in a wheelchair or completely bedridden).<br /><br />Yeah, try to keep me out of the gym tomorrow morning. No way in hell am I going to miss another workout.<br />~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<br />In a effort to prove to you guys that I eat more than enough food, I'm going to start posting what I eat every day. You'll be amazed at how much food I eat on this unintentional maintenance thing I've been doing. More tomorrow about my plan to get back on plan and actually lose weight again.<br /><br /><strong>Breakfast</strong><br />Coffee with nonfat sugar-free creamer<br />(the creamer is a bad habit that started recently and must stop) - 1<br />1 free-range organic fed chicken egg (from a friend that has chickens in his backyard) - 2<br />1 Thomas Light multi-grain muffin -1<br />1 sl. 2% extra sharp cheddar cheese (3/4 ounce) -1.5<br />4 sl. extra lean Canadian bacon - 1<br />Points = 6.5<br /><br /><strong>Lunch</strong><br />1 Light Flatout bread (sundried tomato) -1<br />5 oz. turkey breast - 5<br />Spinach, 1/2 cup - 0<br />Tomato, 1/2 cup - 0<br />Light mayo, 1 T (usually use hummus but was out) - 1<br />Points = 7<br /><br /><strong>Afternoon snack</strong>:<br />2 cups fresh blueberries - 2 .5<br />Points = 2 .5<br /><br /><strong>Dinner</strong><br />(this is unusual but it's late, almost 10pm, and I'm not at all hungry because I'm still a little sick)<br />6 oz. yam slices, baked with two teaspoons olive oil and sea salt - 3 + 2.5 = 5.5<br />1 cup 1% organic milk - 2<br />Points = 7.5<br /><br /><strong>Total Points for the day = 23.5</strong><br /><br />Without any APs, I'm allowed 19 daily Points, plus 5 weeklies, or 24 Points maximum. I was within my Point range for the day.<br /><br />This was a strange day. Too busy at work for snacks, and I'm really not very hungry. A very rare occurrence for me and one I intend to take advantage of.<br /><br />By just typing out what I ate today I can see major flaws. Not enough protein or veggies or fruits or dairy. I'll do better tomorrow.

Don't want to be bedridden in your old age? Read this!

I worked until 8pm today, another 12-hour work day. Long story and I won't bore you with it. I don't really have a choice. Perhaps u...

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