76. Calculate my “real age” and make a lifestyle changes list

When I first looked into calculating my real age last year, I found the website www.realage.com. I was pretty shocked when, at 29, my real age was actually 36, but in a way understood – I was smoking and drinking a lot and not really intentionally looking after myself. I decided to add it to the list and take the test again, this time with the idea of making a list of lifestyle choices and getting a little bit of motivation to exercise on a more regular basis. A lot of my 101/1001 goals are written with the intention of creating good habits.

This time around I did a lot better. At 30, my real age is 33. Still not great as it’s 3 years more than my actual age but I’m happy there’s some improvement there from last time…I’m sure the quitting smoking and daily walks is helping. Now the next step is to build on these habits, create more health and wellness goals, and start actioning them into everyday life. I understand there will be a lot of changes to be made so I won’t be doing it all at once. I’ll work on it through out the 101/1001 project, and then hopefully throughout my life. Here are some of my ideas so far to get me started:

EXERCISE: Walking…start simple and try to work my way up to 10,000 steps a day (goal 68.) using the pedometer app I downloaded onto my iPhone. Goal 69 – Couch to 5k Program. Goal 67 – Have a personal training session. Goal 66 – Rollerblade! Lots! It’s fun and will help me get fit. And start riding my bike everywhere again because I love it!

FOOD HABITS: Start by having a detox (goal 65). Also my friend Kat gave me these tips: “ avoid anything white except for yogurt. Eat endless amounts of (preferably raw)brightly coloured vegies. No more than two serves of fruit. LEss sugar. One coffee, but all other caffeine requirements fulflilled with Green Tea. Liquid Chlophyll or lemon in water (balances your alkalinity). Eat heavy early, and lighter later on. Don’t cut out carbs, but eat the right ones and not too many of them. Snack on vegies, not carbs or fruit. Be stringent on a routine until you start to pick up (i.e. no late nights, avoid sleep ins). Extra Vitamin B won’t go astray. Don’t have a coffee after a high carb, or high fat meal – the interaction makes you feel fatigued. Do you have low-blood pressure? If so, have smaller meals more frequently. Eat out of your fridge, not your pantry: generally, if something doesn’t go off within a week, it’s probably not so good for you (lentils, oats etc the obvs excpetions).”

BACK & NECK PROBLEMS: Get them sorted. Goal 77 – Work on a list with my Physio of all the things I need to do to get my back out of pain and follow through diligently – reassess every 3 months. Goal 73 – Attend at least 10 Yoga/Pilates Classes. Goal 74 – 10 Acupuncture and/or Cupping Sessions

So I’m going to start all these goals slowly…but I will start them today.

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~ by Sarah Keogh on January 19, 2012.