I have been walking every day on a treadmill…usually about one hour and I usually burn about 280-300 kcal. I am starting to enjoy walking.  I go to a gym that has the treadmills and elipticals with their own individual tv’s so I get engrossed in a show or movie and the time just flies by.

“Trust Yourself”(page 6) of Jack’s book, “The Jack LaLanne Way To Vibrant Good Health” discusses family, friends or coworkers in your life who may question why you are beginning to diet, exercise and persue a life of postive actions.  Change can be scary or unsettling for some when they see someone they know begin the road to discipline and self-improvement.  Jack published this book in 1960 at age of 46. He talks about some of the guys he hung out with in high school so I am guessing his senior year would have been 1931 or 1932. Some of his friends called him “muscle man” or “health nut”.  His yearbook cartooned him running for a touchdown with a bunch of carrots under his arm. He said “I was considered a crackpot”. Jack mentions that he recently(in 1960) saw one of his friends and barely recognized him. His friend had had a stroke and had left-sided paralysis and was dragging his left leg and having difficulty with speech. That was 49 almost 50 years ago! The longevity that Jack has enjoyed and note, positively enjoyed is worth mulling over. Jack graduated high school 79-80 years ago and is still going strong! And survived heart valve surgery!  Incredible man and incredible motivation.

 Here is the menu:

Breakfast is the same for all 7 days:  2 eggs, grapefruit, coffee or hot mint tea

Beverages for each lunch and dinner can be coffee, hot mint tea or a diet soda(Jack says hot mint tea is the best)

Meats should be about 4 oz per serving; No Alcohol, Salt and Little Seasoning; We are using organic oil/vinegar salad dressing and using it to add flavor.

DAY ONE

Lunch: 2 or 3 eggs, tomatoes                                                 Dinner: 2 eggs, combination salad, 1 slice of toast, grapefruit

DAY TWO

Lunch: 2 or 3 eggs, tomatoes                                                   Dinner: 2 lamb chops, sliced tomato, raw carrots, cucumbers, celery

DAY THREE

Lunch:  2 or 3 eggs, spinach, grapefruit                                Dinner: Steak(top ground round), tomato, lettuce, celery, grapefruit

DAY FOUR

Lunch:  2 or 3 eggs, spinach                                                      Dinner:  Steak(top ground round), tomato, celergy, grapefruit

DAY FIVE

Lunch:  2 or 3 eggs, tomato, grapefruit                                 Dinner: Combination Salad, Fish, 1 piece of toast, grapefruit

DAY SIX

Lunch:  Fruit Salad(nothing else)                                             Dinner: Steak(top ground round), tomato, lettuce, celery, grapefruit

DAY SEVEN

Lunch:  Chicken, raw carrots, tomato, 1 slice of toast      Dinner: vegetable soup, chicken, cooked cabbage, carrots,    

                                                                                                                   celery, grapefruit

The worst time of the day for my husband and I to break a diet is at night. We bought the most beautiful organic carrots at Whole Foods and they are nice to have for something to crunch on at night. I save my carrots from dinner to munch on later. But overall I’m not that hungry.  Yesterday I went to the gym and walked for an hour on the treadmill and burned about 270 calories.  I later went back with my husband while he worked out and got on the eliptical and walked for about 15 minutes.  I find that the treadmills that have their own individual television keep me going because I get interested in a show or movie and time passes by quickly. Motivating story: There is a man who comes in to the gym who is 91 years old.  Back in the 1960′s he was a salesman and was on the road alot. He was overweight, never exercised and had back problems.  His doctor advised that he lose weight and exercise.  He took his doctor advice and lost weight and got into exercise so much that he got a local coach to do some personal training with him with weights. This 91 year old over the years and continuing today has won numerous awards for Power Lifting in his senior categories. He lost his wife about 7 years ago but stays active. He still drives and keeps a routine. There is a local coffee shop that he goes to to read his newspaper and stay socialized.  He took up ballroom dancing about 5 years ago. I can’t tell you what an inspiration it is to see a man who is 38 years older than me showing up at the gym each day and working out.  He starts off with stretches, does the machines then free weights. My goal is to be like him when I am 91!

Jack wisdom of the day: “Visualizing Your Ideal” Who embodies your ideal? Perhaps yourself as you were in high school or in your courting day? Try now to remember your proportions of those glorious days; your weight, measurements, dress size. Write them down where you can refer to them every day as we go along together. Why not enter them on the chart of your “coming-in” figures. You may, of course, never quite duplicate them. OR YOU MAY EVENTULLY IMPROVE ON THEM AS I DID!  

On Sunday, my day one, I posted my embarassing current measurements.  These are the measurements I had when I was 18 years old and attending Louisiana State University(Go Tigers!) I was taking a yoga class and my measurements were taken on January 28, 1975:

Weight:  116 lbs; at 5′ 3″; My yoga instructor wrote that my ideal weight should be 108 lbs!  This is due to my very small frame and small wrist measurement. If that is so then I am 59.8 pounds overweight! YIKES! But I am now 53 not 18 so I have to adjust for 35 years. My goal is to weigh 120 lbs and see how I feel and how toned I am. The rest of my 1975 measuresments are:

Height: 63 inches Wrist: 5 1/4 inches, Bust: 32 inches, Waist: 26 inches, Hips: 36.5 inches, Thigh: 21.625 inches  

I’m in a positive mood but I would be lying if I said that typing the above numbers didn’t make me sad. First, I can’t believe that 35 years have passed by and I remember being measured and the yoga class like it was yesterday. Second, I wish I had kept up yoga all of those years. I could have been slim, trim, limber, healthy, looked good in clothes, and saved myself alot of angst if I had only been consistent with my efforts. I turn back to Jack LaLalanne and his wisdom and will remember, “The years you’ve lived are gone, like all the $10 bills you’ve spent and forgotten. You can’t do a thing with those years except remember them. The years you have now are currency you can use.”  I will keep remember that today as I go about my daily routine.

So off to the gym. Have a wonderful Tuesday! And Do Don’t Stew!

In contrast I’m a stewer born in 1956, when Jack was 42. I am 53 years old. Like millions of other menopausal women of middle age, I have sadly let myself go. Starting and stopping diets, exercise regimes and numerous projects over the years, today I find myself 50 pounds overweight, living in a messy house, and finding it hard to complete projects I start. I picked up Jack’s book a few days ago and began to read and really absorb what he was saying. Never mind that the advice was from 50 years ago, his words make sense and inspired me enough to want to begin anew. As Jack says on pages 34-35, “I look at it this way. The years you’ve lived are gone, like all the $10 bills you’ve spent and forgotten. You can’t do a thing with those years except remember them. The years you have now are currency you can use. They’re as good as new.”

Jack starts his book on page one with “Get a calendar and circle the date. This is your day. Starting today, something is going to happen for you-something you may not have thought possible.” He calls it on page 34 your Rebirthday. So here I begin on December 13, 2009, my Rebirthday, to follow Jack’s advice and change my life.

Mirror, Mirror On The Wall(page 2) The first thing Jack asks is for you to strip down naked and take an appraisal of yourself. “Now take off your clothes, all of them, and stand bravely up to the mirror.”  Yikes! I am apple shaped. At 5’3″ and small boned,  I’m carrying 171.6 pounds and my body fat distribution is mostly around the abdomen with rolls of fat leaning forward and down towards the floor. In other words, there is no waistline at all. I am saddened by my naked visualization. I use to have a rockin figure when I was in my 20′s and 30′s. I was even approached a few times to model even though I’m petite. My thighs and hips are rippling with cellulite and my face is heavy and puffy. Not a pretty site. “Does your mirror say it’s impossible to change what you see there into what you would like to be? It’s taken years, your mind tell you, to get into this condition. So it will take a like number of years, you think, to undo it? Ah, but that’s not the way it works.  The longest journey begins with the first step. You have taken that step by examining yourself candidly. It won’t take years. I tell you flatly it won’t even take months. We’re going to get results right away.”

“Honestly Now, How Do You Stack Up?”   Measurements are the next step. Jack calls this the “Coming-In Tape”. Here is how I “stack up” (E-Gad!)

Chest: Around Bust 40.5 inches Under Bust 35.5 inches

Arms:  12.5 inches

Waist: Just Below Rib Cage 40 inches, Middle Waist 41 inches(this is actually supposed to be the smallest part of the waist; I told you I was apple shaped), Low Waist 42.5 inches

Hips: 44 inches(OMG!)

Thighs: Largest Part, near groin 25.5 inches, Smallest Part, above knee 16.75 inches

Calf(largest part) 14.25 inches

Ankle(at smallest part) 8.5 inches

Weight(without clothing, upon arising) 171.6 pounds

Jack has a Magic Reducing Plan Number One on pages 59-61. He suggests that you follow Menus No. 1 for seven days, break training for one full day, then resume the plan for another seven days. He states, If you follow the program exactly as directed, you should lose one pound per day.”  My husband, Rick has volunteered to go on the diet with me. Tommorrow I will post the diet and give you my first day results.