Use It Or Lose It

"The trouble is, if you don't risk anything, you risk even more."

Erica Jong

(1942 - American author)

Not long ago, sitting at a table at a favorite Florida Gulf-front restaurant, my husband and I took in the panoramic view of Sanibel Island just in time to catch the last half-hour of sun gloriously setting on the breathtaking horizon beyond.

A handsome, elderly couple sat at the table next to ours. And as the wife gazed longingly out the window at the parade of sunset walkers strolling up and down the water's edge, I overheard some of the couple's conversation. Here's what I gathered:

"I never should have stopped," she sighed.

I knew exactly what she was referring to - the walking.

"I would give anything to be able to do that again," she continued.

"You could do it, if you tried," comforted the husband. "Start out slow."

"I never should've stopped after I recovered from my last illness. I should've got right back into it as soon as I began to feel better. I never made the effort or took the time. Deep down I knew I was just being lazy and putting every stinking, little thing I could think of first. Now look. I'm lucky I can walk to and from the car. What I wouldn't give to be out there with the rest of them and have that spring in my step once again."

I didn't have to ask any questions or nosily pry. I knew all too well what she was talking about. Many people of all ages seek my help, eager to benefit from my motivational "magic" - and a lot of their stories are the same. I hear the words, "I never should've stopped," over and over again. "I got cocky and thought I'd feel fabulous forever. And when I began not to, it required an even greater effort for me to start up again, so, I gave up."

It seems the age-old adage, "Use it or lose it," applies to much more than the libido. It affects everything in life. And the older we get, the more important it is to maintain a good level of physical activity - with walking being the number-one most important thing we can do to improve our health and to lengthen our lives.

It is essential to keep moving for as long as we're on this great planet. Not a day goes by that I don't pray and meditate for continued mobility, to be gifted with ambulation, no matter what it takes, right up until it's time for me to move onto the next plane.

Since I began my daily walking program in earnest - now going on seven years - I have come to realize just how crucially important walking and being able to get around and do for oneself truly is. Actually, it's what drove me to begin walking in the first place. That, and the fact that I needed an effective form of daily cardio to blast my excess pounds off and keep them off for forever. And what better cardio is there than walking? Seriously. We have to walk to get everywhere in life, otherwise life will pass us by.

Anyone who is able to make daily walking a part of their forever lifestyle is way ahead of every diet and fitness game there is. When you develop the habit of daily walking, eventually building up to a minimum of five miles per day (10,000 steps), your weight - with the help of a successful, healthy diet - will melt right off.

Just look at me. As of February 28, 2010, I'm down about 150 pounds, total, and still holding.

Begin at the beginning - start slow if you have to, but get your butt out there and do it every dang day.

At first, it's not the time or distance that count, but that you make the effort to walk daily. After about 35 straight days, daily walking will be your life-long, healthy habit - if you let it.

By the way, since January of 2003 I've logged over 20,000 miles, or almost all the way around the earth at the equator (25,000 miles), and am considered an "elite walker." Not bad for someone who "just never had the time to fit walking in" - even while my weight skyrocketed up to 317 pounds.

Now I know better. I want to make sure you know better, too.

When are you gonna start to use it so you don't ever lose it?


Laura Dion-Jones
550 N. Kingsbury St. #120
Chicago, IL 60654
312-933-7325
dionjones@aol.com
August 10, 2005© February 28, 2010
www.lauradionjones.com
www.lauradionjones.blogspot.com