New Retirement Diet and Fitness Plan

Quite by accident I discovered a new diet and fitness plan that is really working for me. I call it Fit For Fun!

I love to settle into my recliner with either my journal or computer on my lap and meditate, wander and write. It was becoming a habit and on some days I was so lost in my own little world that it wasn’t until my bum was numb and my tummy was rumbling that I stirred myself out of the sitting position. I enjoyed those days but decided sitting so much wasn’t healthy and something had to be done.

My sister and one of my friends had been talking about their Fitbits and how they were doing more walking because of the 10,000 steps per day fitness target. I made a plan. I bought a push cart for the golf course and ordered a Fitbit. Walking when I played golf gave me about 16,000 steps on my Fitbit’s happy little readout and it told me I had burned over 1,800 calories. Add on the steps for the rest of the day and I was laughing.

There were still those days when I wasn’t playing golf and the temptation was great to just hunker down in my chair for hours; but yesterday I stumbled on a new plan for non-golf days. My sister and I drove to Calgary to do some shopping. It is a 3 ½ hour drive each way. Add on an hour for driving around from mall to mall in the city and we spent 8 hours sitting in the car. We left at 7:30 am and got home about 8:30 pm – 8 hours in the car and 5 hours power shopping. On the trip home I asked my sister how many steps her Fitbit had registered. “Close to 15,000.” I was surprised.

Our last stop had been at the wine store and we were both tired and looking forward to a chilled glass of sauvignon blanc when we got home. I got to thinking. “How many calories in a glass of wine?” Google to the rescue “121 in a glass and 609 in an entire bottle.” Hmmm … we had eaten some vegetables and a bit of fruit on the road; I ate some rice and plain vegetables in the food court of the mall for lunch; and, instead of stopping for something to eat before we hit the road come home, we borrowed a pair of scissors from the nice man in the wine store, opened the salami I had bought at Costco and had a few slices each … still lots of calories left for wine.

So there you have it. My new retirement diet/fitness plan. Play 4 or 5 games of golf a week and spend 5 hours shopping on the other days. Well over 10,000 steps per day with lots of calories burned leaving plenty for wine at the end of a fun day. Fit For Fun!