Meet Chris, she is in her late fifties and wondering where the time went, married for nearly 39 years with four grown-up children and living in a beautiful little village in north Hertfordshire.
I've got my motivation back!
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OK, so my name is Chris, I am in my late fifties wondering where the time went, married for nearly 39 years with 4 grown-up children and living in a beautiful little village in north Hertfordshire.
One ‘grown-up’ child still lives at home and when she announced her engagement last week after a trip to New York with her now fiancé, I decided the prospect of a summer wedding was the push I needed to get back into shape. But how to do it? My husband and I both successfully lost some weight last year and managed to go down a size or two but seem to have lost a bit of motivation since Christmas.
Exercise is what is needed, I thought, because we do eat quite healthily and it would be good for us to get more active for many reasons. So - the gym? No - too expensive and I know I would stop going after a while. Swimming - maybe, but it’s such a hassle getting changed, having a swim and then getting dried and dressed again after work when I’m tired - and you never know who you are going to bump into. I am a teacher in a primary school in a town not far away and it would be just my luck to be there when children from school are having swimming lessons!
Walking? We do like to walk at the weekends after all the weekend jobs are done, but I need something a bit more regular. ‘I know,’ I thought, ‘We’ve got a Wii sitting in the other room which is used for different games by everyone in the family except me. I could give that a go!’
So I eventually worked out how to get it set up (which is very simple, by the way) and slotted in the Wii Fit Plus disc. It was a revelation! To start with I was weighed and assessed for balance and told that my body age was nine years more than my actual age! My motivation came flooding back and I was determined to get that down to a more acceptable figure. Then I started the activities.
I never realised that exercising could be such fun! It didn’t feel like exercising at all. The various forms of exercise are organised into different activities, and clear instructions and feedback are given.
Something I do everyday at work, I started with ‘stepping’ in the Aerobics section and then moved onto having a brilliant snowball fight in the Training Plus section. I wanted to try everything but decided next to have a go at the Ski Jump which is one of the activities in the Balance Games section.
After each activity the time spent exercising is shown and the number of calories burnt. Fantastic! Just what I need. I carried on exercising and tried the jogging next. I haven’t exercised for quite a while and this was just enough to make me slightly out of breath and my heart rate increase. I really felt like I was doing something worthwhile and having fun at the same time.
Finally, in my first session, I had a go at Hula Hooping. As a child, I would watch with wonder and envy at my friends who, without any effort, could keep a hula hoop going endlessly. When I tried, no matter what movements I made, the hoop would spin once or twice and then clatter round my ankles. Sadly this still happens on the Wii! I am just not made to hula hoop. I am going to keep trying though, and not only will I get fitter, I will be having fun and I will learn to hula!
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