Hooking up with a fitness challenge

I'm on the road to becoming more physically fit and am inviting readers to give me support, offer some tips and share experiences through our City Parent Mom Club online forum. You'll find a link at the end of this column that will take you to ‘‘Hooking up with a fitness challenge‘‘.

Kathy Smith used to put me through my paces a couple of times a week back in the ‘90s. She helped me stay healthy through two pregnancies. My husband would hear her voice and say how nice it was that my friend had dropped by again.
That was when I worked out the requisite three times a week at a great aerobics class or filled in for missed sessions with a Kathy Smith video . Those tapes began to gather dust when the boys arrived. The dedication to exercise has come back in waves, ripples mostly. I do Jammin’ Cardio (formerly known as Dancefit) classes twice a week but that covers only about 30 weeks a year. Then I’m left on my own and Kathy’s visits are squeezed out by other commitments.
One of those commitments is a job and one time consuming aspect of that job is clicking through e-mail. That’s where Kathy Smith surfaced recently. She reached out her sinewy arm and gave me a shove. The virtual kick in my flabby butt was a pitch from her public relations company about her new book Feed Muscle Shrink Fat Diet: Six weeks to the Best Shape of Your Life. They wanted to send me a copy of the book and offered an interview opportunity with this veteran fitness expert.
Kathy and I had been pregnant at about the same time. I’d seen her age through the videos I’ve purchased during my exercise revivals and now, here she was in her 50s, luring me back into Spandex. As much as I take offence to the social dictate that I should defy my age, I’m also offended by the way my body has been changing. I don’t want to be, or look younger; I want to be strong and healthy as I move into the second half-century of my life.
So here’s the description of the book -– “…an innovative fitness and weight-loss plan that capitalizes on the anti-aging benefits of muscle …this clear and concise roadmap, complete with more than 70 recipes and a step-by-step workout guide, will help readers lose weight and reverse the aging process.’’
A little zealous perhaps, still it spoke to me with keywords like ‘‘concise roadmap’’ and ‘‘step-by-step workout guide’’.  As someone who doesn’t colour her hair – it’s light brown with silver-gray highlights – I’m not ‘‘anti’’-aging. To be ‘‘anti’’ aging is to die. Also, the term makes age seem like a bad thing.
During our brief telephone conversation, Kathy did convince me that with some effort I could stop losing muscle mass (repair the saggy bum, jelly belly and floppy arms). If left to dwindle until the age of 60, we’ll lose one third of our muscle mass, she explained. Working to retain that muscle does not entail lifting heavy weights or bulking up, Kathy stressed.
Before heading off to a television interview with a stop at Starbucks in between, Kathy gave me her email address and invited me to contact her if I needed help with the program. I’m heading into week three of the ‘‘six weeks to the Best Shape of Your Life’’ and haven’t yet had to cast a life-line although I do refer to the book several times a day. This was especially true during week one when Kathy cut me off of all grains and starchy foods. It was a great experiment which proved that you need complex carbohydrates for proper brain function.
I’ve taken on Kathy’s challenge as part of my job so I have to fit it in!  I’d welcome words of support and encouragement on our Parent-to Parent Forum at cityparent.com. Let me know your fitness struggles too.
Talk to you soon at ‘‘Hooking up with a fitness challenge''.