Thoughts on How to Get/Stay Slim
by Ralph Mayer
(Not for you, of course, but for you to share with friends ;) )
The cost of today's bicycles--WOW! My first bike was a 1972 Peugeot that cost a whopping $125 at that time. That was a LOT of money for me at that time as a college student. As the decades went by, many of my cycling friends would to say to me, "Man, if you'd just get yourself a "good" bike, you could go faster!" They soon shut up when they realized they often couldn't keep up with me--even on that heavy Peugeot U08. I rode that bike for thousands of miles--including ten MS-150's--over the years until I bought my next bike in the mid 1990's. My Air-Force-pilot son, Matthew, still rides the Peugeot in Idaho today. Last year I gave my mid-1990's bike to my other son, Jonathan, as I bought yet another new one. I noticed that it cost a bit more than the $125 Peugeot--whew!
We spend hundreds and even thousands of extra dollars on our bikes to drop an ounce here and an ounce there--lighter spokes, lighter pedals, lighter seat posts...and the list goes on and on. But just remember that it's YOU and the BIKE that are climbing that hill TOGETHER! A viable alternative for many of us is to just lose a few pounds ourselves. Do you realize that dropping two or three pounds off our body could be equivalent to $1,000 worth of savings on a bike!! But the big question is, "HOW do I do that??" How do I drop a few extra pounds and keep them off so I can climb those hills with a bit more ease? How do I lose some weight?
Speaking of “run,” let’s also look for every opportunity to burn calories. Today’s society is designed to help offer you every opportunity to avoid burning calories. When given the opportunity, choose the option that will burn the most calories. Why, you might ask? Well, body weight stabilization is a very simple formula for most people. With a few exceptions, it’s a simple formula of calorie intake vs. calorie burn. To gain weight, we must take in more calories than we burn. To stabilize our weight, we must take in the same number of calories we burn. To get rid of weight, we must use or burn more calories than we ingest. It’s really that simple.
I use the term “burn” because a calorie is strictly a unit of heat. That’s why you feel warmer when you’re burning calories. When the body takes on more calories than it can burn, it must store those calories intended for later use. Unburned calories are stored as fat—something the body has the ability to convert and use for energy later, if needed. However, many people with stored reserves never tap into those stores as nature intended. I’m convinced that our man-made environment is mostly designed to keep us from tapping into those reserves—but only if we don’t know any better!
Calorie intake doesn’t necessarily equate to quantity of food. For example, a pound of apples has roughly the same number of calories as a 1 oz. candy bar. One ounce is only 1/16th of a pound. Which do you think is better for you and more filling—a 1-oz. candy bar or a pound of apples? In fact, you’d be full well before eating a pound of apples, so you’d probably quit eating, thus reducing your calorie intake. That’s just one of many examples of healthy choices.
When I said “run” earlier, I didn’t necessarily mean to go out and run or jog. That’s not for everybody for a variety of reasons. What I DO mean is to look for every opportunity, or choice, to burn calories. For example, when going to the airport gateway, walk instead of taking the moving sidewalk. Heck, you’re going to be sitting motionless on a plane for hours, so do what you can to burn a few calories getting there! What are some other examples of choices? Let’s see, I could take a flight or two of stairs, vs. the elevator or escalator. I could sit in the break room at work and take on some more calories, or I could take a brisk walk around the block outside. Park in the upper reaches of parking lots and just walk to the front door of the store when you can. When I used to work in downtown Charlotte, I had to park just over ¾ of a mile away in a huge church parking lot. I had the choice of parking in a high-rise parking garage (for $442.00/month!!!) or park elsewhere and walk. I did a lot of walking when I was in town and not traveling. The first time I pedaled my bicycle from Columbia to Myrtle Beach, one of my students said, “What? You PEDALED your bicycle from Columbia to Myrtle Beach? My foot gets tired just holding down the gas pedal to Myrtle Beach!!” Everyone laughed, but she was right—for her.
My son returned recently from a Citadel study trip in Spain. He told me that one day he and a friend were walking down the street in Madrid and saw a young lady walking ahead of them. He said, “Dad, she had the most beautiful figure! We were going in the same direction, so we just watched her for awhile as we walked. Eventually she turned around to go into a store and we were SHOCKED to see that she had to be in her 50’s!” (Hey, that’s still young! What does he mean?) He went on to tell me how everyone in Spain seems to walk instead of driving cars. He said you rarely see any type of suburbs, so everyone can walk to where they’re going. I agreed with him from my travels to Spain, Portugal, France, Italy, Switzerland, etc. in years past. It’s just a healthy way of life where their calorie burn is much more in line with their calorie intake. Back to our simple formula.
How many kids in this country—I mean YOUNG kids—do you see riding little electric cars and such instead of pedaling or powering something with their own body power? What message do you think that’s sending to them as they’re unwittingly preparing themselves for a life of little physical activity? The odds are against them as they’ll have future challenges balancing calorie intake and calorie burn.
Also, muscle burns more calories—working or at rest—than any non-muscle tissue in the body. The more toned your muscles are, the more calories you burn even when sitting on the sofa or sleeping! I don’t mean they have to be bulky muscles, just toned and firm—like a good core strength that you get from Pilates, running, cycling, swimming, walking, lifting weights, etc.
As you think of ways to burn calories instead of the alternative choice, drop me a line at Vrider97@gmail.com and I’ll start a list that I can post here. Have you ever seen anyone circle in their car at the gym parking lot trying to find the closest parking space—then go inside and get on the treadmill or elliptical for 45 minutes?? You get the picture. Drop me some of your ideas, okay! Let’s help each other be aware of our choices instead of just doing the same ol’ things out of habit. If we CHOOSE to do that for a reason, that’s fine, but if it’s just out of a subconscious HABIT, that’s what we want to be aware of. It’s all about CHOICES! -Ralph J