Mr. Spock made famous the "Live long and prosper" quote, but in a way it's not a blessing. It could be. Perhaps "Live a long and healthy life" would be a better blessing. The wages of sin is death (that's in the Bible) and eventually everyone is going to die. So I'm going to die but I'm going to make it my goal to get to death as healthy as possible.
After the age of 30 something happens to our bodies, both men and women. Muscle mass decreases; reaction times slow down, metabolic (calorie burning) slows down and a pound or two that used to come and go comes and stays. After 10 years that 2 pounds is now 20. At 40 you look in the mirror and hardly notice, but when you see some of your old photos you do!
When Jackie and I were married,
she weighed 87 pounds at 5'1". Forty years later she was still about
5'1" but weighed nearly 130 pounds. When she weighed more than me, she
got ticked off. She dieted, and it didn't work. We did a 7-day juice
fast and she lost about 5 pounds but that came back shortly afterward.
All along, she has done some kind of exercising and teaching a ballet
class, but it wasn't affecting her weight gain. What she didn't have
was a plan. There are all kinds of plans--some really good ones and some that aren't good at all. 
Jackie
got on the scale yesterday and came out and said, "It says 118.4
pounds." She was beaming with joy. She took a picture of herself in a
dress she hadn't been able to get in for 2 years. How did that happen?
Our beloved daughter-in-law, Becka, met a much more giant of a
challenge than Jackie and overcame it and we watched. She had our grandson,
Cadence, and gained 70 + pounds, was depressed and fixed that all up by
eating and being more depressed. That went on for a time and then she
saw a Beach Body Challenge video and something clicked in her heart and
she jumped in. Here she is after losing that 70 pounds. She told us
what she did so Jackie said, "I can do that." Becka suggested she order
the 21-Day-Fix program, so she did and was off on a new adventure. The
21 days came and went and we made some amazing discoveries. She was no
longer taking blood pressure medicine. She was doing exercises that
she never dreamed of doing and did them without killing herself (though
she sure can sweat!). And here's the most amazing of all: She hadn't
had a single migraine. Jackie has had severe migraines for 42 years
(hmm...that's how long we've been married). Exercise was one of many
triggers that caused them and when she would work out, she'd get a
migraine. Prior to starting the 21-Day-Fix, she had a migraine that
lasted 5 days. She lost some weight and inches and said, "I'm gonna do it again." She has been doing a modified version of it right now, but in June she is going to do the full program again. It doesn't teach weight loss, it teaches life-style changes that lead to better health and, as a bonus, you lose weight if you need to. If you don't, like me, you just get healthier.
Live long and prosper. I don't think so. I say live healthy and give away the treasure God has put in your life. Becka has a support group that you can participate in (along with Jackie) starting in June. If you want you can participate in it, too. We're easy to find: bobandjackie@gmail.com, Facebook.
I'm entering the middle of my challenge, the P90. I'm soon to be 66 years old and in good shape, but I'm suffering from "furniture's disease," that malady when your chest drops to your drawers. The P90 starts out slow and easy and over the 90-day course you will progress to greater challenges. There's weight work, aerobic work and ab work. Yes, it hurts a little. But like I said, when my time comes to move to the eternal dwelling, I want people to say, "But he was perfectly healthy. He was still surfing, running and biking." And then I want to hear these words from Jesus, "Well done good and faithful servant, enter into the joy of the Lord" Come join us. Who knows where we will find ourselves next year?
