Exercising!Off stage - but you'd know him!
In Washington, very serious about getting PE back into schools.
Did you realize that Richard is now 60? Did you know he put on a business suit and went to Congress in Washington last fall to present all the reasons for getting Physical Education back in schools?
A lot of people retire when they have reached the top of their field and do not really have to work any more.
Did you know that you and I can log on to Richard's website and get everything we need to lose weight, including encouragement and motivation? Every day there is a fresh motivational message at the website.
I belong to the Club and so I have access to Monday night meetings and extra messages delivered to my inbox every day. I can also use the tools online to log my weight loss, what I have eaten today and journal my feelings as well. It is a very carefully designed website.
When I came to Texas, I was about 55 pounds heavier than I am now. (I lost the weight originally with Richard.) That means that right now, I have ten pounds to lose - again - because I have been about ten pounds lighter than I am now. Ten pounds is just about one clothing size, and I have some slacks in one more size down. I have lost about 16 pounds over the past few months and I appreciate the help I get.
There are plenty of us who will always have to be careful about what we eat. We should be exercising every day and drinking lots and lots of water. Now, I'm not going to tell you any more about that, because it is all at the website for you to read.
It is extremely easy for some of us to gain weight and we have to watch every single day exactly what we eat, or - yes - it will be back. Richard is that kind of person himself. By his own reckoning, Richard fell off about four times last year. That was three pizzas and one trip to a fast food outlet. (I would ask for Sainthood if I could honestly tell you I only fell off four times last year!)
Today was a day that was worse than a fast food outlet for me! Oh My Gosh (as they say now), did I end up at the wrong restaurant! It was at the Angelina County Airport and our friends invited us there and well . . . you know . . . I think I did see a salad or two on that blurry menu, but well, I had a patty melt. Of course, there was a bag of chips with it and a soft drink. OMG indeed!
Do you know how many calories were in that? Well, yes, I did not eat the whole thing, but I tell you, I probably am not entitled to anything more for . . . oh, about two weeks.
Of course, I am trying to make light of it, and this evening I had a very light soup and was back on track, but I cannot afford to gross out at a place like that more than once every four years!
Some people just seem to be able to eat whatever they want. Well, I can assure you, I am not one of those people. And I do not ever want to be looking at size 24 in anything ever again in my life. That's what I wore when I came to Texas. I don't ever want to be that big again!
Every day, I do a Richard Simmons tape and every day I eat very carefully. Every day I do special exercises for my legs and back and three times a week I go to Physical Therapy at a fabulous place where they are trying to make sure I never have to walk with a cane again.
Now, I have a distinct advantage because my Hubby helps me to eat healthy and makes it easy for me to do exercises. He does not bring fattening food home and there are healthy choices at just about every restaurant where we usually eat.
There is one thing I do for me every week. (Yes, I do go scrapbooking once a week, so there are two things I do for me every week!) As long as I am at home, I go to a special auditorium Richard has for one hour. There are generally about 60 to 80 people there and we all have weight loss on our minds.
Richard asked for every one's photos - and he has a book in front of him with these photos. Not everyone sent them in, but I did. I sent him one of Hubby and me when we married 12 years ago. That was a "before". The next one was of Keith and me two years ago when we renewed our marriage vows. Then there was another of me two years ago in Toronto.
At the Monday meetings, Richard knows all the people who have taken time to identify themselves, even though we have nicknames. It's hard to believe that he would take the time to be able to identify a group of people using pseudonyms!
There are many people in that meeting who are much heavier than I am and many of them will lose the same 20 pounds over and over. But Richard has all kinds of stories he never talks about of people who have literally lost 100s of pounds with his help.
The problem is this. Food tastes good. Life is hard. When things go wrong, it is really easy to open the frig and take out something fattening and consume the whole of it. That is exactly how we gain weight. We eat too much, or we eat the wrong things or we stay still and do not move or exercise.
Richard Simmons is currently on a special campaign to get physical education back into America's schools. Children are becoming more and more obese because they sit inside and play video games rather than playing outside or in organized sports or having physical education in schools.
When you are big, everything is harder. I know that. Many other people know that too. As we age, it gets harder and harder for us to do things that were simple when we were younger.
I do not think of myself as a vain person, but when I can go into the department store and buy just about anything off the rack, I just love it!
If you or someone you know has a problem with their weight, be supportive of them. Even if you do not have trouble, try to think how hard it is for them to resist some of the foods you can eat.
If you do not follow Richard Simmons, then you probably don't know that he gets up at 5:30 every morning and is exercising every day just like I have to. He knows he cannot go one day without "moving" and he knows he cannot have the pizza delivery magnet on his refrigerator.
Thirty some years ago, Richard opened a weight loss salon that you can read about on his website. He still personally teaches there when he is home and I think that is one of his greatest pleasures. Soon, he will be hosting his Cruise To Lose (to the Caribbean) and he travels around the country promoting fitness for every age group.
One thing Richard still does just about every day is sit down at his desk and personally make maybe fifteen telephone calls to those of us who are having major problems. That is terrific dedication!
Now that I am on Facebook, well, Richard and everybody knows I ate what I shouldn't have today. That is not really a problem because tomorrow, I will just double up on my exercise and try to make sure I am back on track. If you have a weight problem, I hope things are going well for you today and perhaps something I have mentioned will help you as it has me.
http://www.richardsimmons.com
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