Happy National Senior Health & Fitness Day!

Staying healthy and physically fit is important always but especially as we age. In 2016, I got my Functional Aging Specialist Certificate. The first chapter of the text for that course scared me to death! It talked about how fast you lost your endurance and then your strength as you age. I thought, “That is not going to be me!”

Lao Tzu said, “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” This is GREAT advice! If you’re not currently training, you don’t need to start out running 5 miles a day or lifting weights for an hour a day. You might be able to do it but will you continue doing it? Probably not because you will be so sore you won’t be able to move.

Find something you like to do! I love to dance. Dance cardio is currently part of my workout every day because it makes me happy. Along with that, though, I also do bodyweight exercise and bounce on a rebounder.

People think their metabolism slows down as they age but what really happens is that we start losing muscle around age 35. So by the time we are in our 60’s we have less metabolically active muscle and, therefore, can gain wait easily. You have to work on maintaining (or growing!) muscle. My favorites are swinging a kettlebell and I adore powerlifting because I’m super competitive and I like to see just how much I can lift. But you can do bodyweight exercises which can be a complete workout without a gym.

Don’t think that cardio exercise isn’t good for you. It is! But it can’t be all you do. Lift some heavy stuff!

I love to try new things and in the future, I want to run a 100 mile ultra marathon and I want to compete throwing shot and discuss at the Senior Olympics. And I for sure want to do a powerlifting competition. What about you? What are you going to do for your physical fitness?

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Happy International Being You Day!

I LOVE this day because it took me until the age of 41 to realize that being myself was the very best thing in the world to be. I am not like anyone else and that’s a good thing.

I’m super excited for the Ms. Arkansas Senior America Pageant because one of the areas of competition is the Philosophy of Life Statement. I can’t wait to stand on that stage and tell people about how I am unapologetically me and to encourage today’s youth to be themselves.

Remember what Dr. Seuss said, “Today you are you that is truer than true, there is no one alive who is youer than YOU!” Celebrate!

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Every year the North Central Board of REALTORS holds a fishing derby for Special Olympics athletes. It always happens this weekend and it was yesterday. This morning, in my timehop, a photo from last year popped up.

I’ve lost a lot of weight since last year! As I mentioned in my stories the other day, I try to stay off the scale. I come from a history of disordered eating and the attachment to the scale was really hard for me to let go of. But it messes with my head! So, I take my measurements every month or so and just base my success on how my clothes are fitting. But, I don’t often see any appreciable difference in how I look to myself. When I see people I haven’t seen in a while, they always comment but when you look at yourself every day, it’s harder to detect.

But here, in front of me, was the photo from last year. I had to put them side by side and, wow! There is a really big difference and that’s exciting!

I broke my ankle in November of 2018. That happy occurrence coincided with menopause and I gained a lot of weight because I couldn’t be as active as I used to be. Then, once it was there, I had a harder time losing it than I ever have in my life. I started following a carnivore diet and not only was I able to lose weight, I also felt better than I’d felt in a really long time. I coupled the diet with intermittent fasting.

I LOVE fasting! Mostly, I eat one meal a day, or OMAD. But, at times when schedule or social events dictate, I extend my window and number of meals. This has proved to be the perfect combination for me. I like to fast long enough to experience autophagy. This happens after 20-24 hours so I often will do a 42 hour fast once a week. Autophagy is the body’s way of cleaning out damaged cells, in order to regenerate newer, healthier cells. I think that’s the coolest and I know it’s helping me to be healthy.

I’m not a doctor and I don’t play one on the internet so please don’t take this post as medical advice. The books that helped me to understand fasting best are (and I read them in this order) Delay Don’t Deny by Gin Stephens, The Obesity Code by Dr. Jason Fung, and Fast, Feast, Repeat by Gin Stephens.

If you have any questions about the carnivore diet or fasting, don’t hesitate to ask. I am one step away from achieving my Carnivore Diet and Fasting coaching certificates!

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I’m always amazed at what I find in the Bible. I had “read through the Bible” on my goals list for many years before I finally completed it for the first time in 2020. I decided I wanted to read through it again. It never fails to amaze me how I get something different out of any reading in the Bible each time I read it. This week, I’ve arrived at the book of Job and read about eggs.

Well. Eggs. I adore eggs and it would seem that God wants us to eat the whole egg. I do not mess with the incredible edible egg. It is loaded with nutrients and most of them are in the yolk! I have the done the whole low fat thing in the past where I only consumed the egg whites but the egg is sometimes referred to as Mother Nature’s multivitamin because it is so nutritious but that means eating the entire egg, yolk and all!

Don’t believe me? Here’s some facts and benefits of eating the whole egg:

They are one of the most nutritious foods on the planet. They contain a variety of nutrients and are a rich source of protein.

Eggs do contain fat, but they help to raise your HDL (the good kind!) cholesterol, which is known to help reduce the risk of heart disease

Contain antioxidants that are in particularly good for eye health

Also contains all of your essential amino acids (which are the ones you must get through food)

Helps with weight loss

Lower in calories but filling and extremely nutritious

Helps to reduce inflammation in the gut

Boosts your immune system

Helps to lower blood pressure

Eating egg yolks will not lead to high cholesterol, heart disease, or weight gain, by themselves.

Egg whites do provide more protein but the yolk is what contains almost all of the fat- and water-soluble vitamins and minerals. Research shows that consuming whole eggs has more significant benefit than eating egg whites alone.

Eggs are one of my favorite foods. In fact on Mother’s Day, all I could think about was eating deviled eggs, which we did. I love to eat eggs prepared all kinds of ways, though, and I’m super talented in that I can flip the eggs in the pan. It’s all in the wrist.

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I’m really excited to say that I’m competing for the title of Ms. Arkansas Senior America 2022, June 2-4, in Hot Springs. This pageant is for women aged 60 and over. It’s is the state preliminary to the Ms. Senior America Pageant.

I’ve never been to Hot Springs before so that will be fun. A couple of other firsts – I’ve never competed in a pageant that wasn’t held in Florida and I’ve never worn green. I always have worn blue. I’ve also never done a pageant that had a talent competition!

This pageant includes the following competitions:

• Interview
• Evening Gown
• Philosophy of Life
• Talent

The last time I competed was in 2016 at Mrs. International. I thought I was finished after that but I feel like holding a senior pageant title will help me to work my Legacy Project: Living the Queenager Life and spreading positivity towards aging.

I’ve done a lot of things in my 61 years and I have a lot to draw from when going into a pageant. I hope to focus on health/fitness, community, and family in my interview with the judges. I understand it will be a panel interview with three judges. One time, I did a panel interview where there were at least 12 judges at the table. I didn’t know who to look at! Three will be much more manageable.

I’ve chosen my legacy project based upon an experience with a dear friend. I’m a real estate agent and have been helping friends find their forever home. In every house, she counts the stairs and is concerned that they shouldn’t have a house with too many stairs because in a few years, they won’t be able to go up them. The lot can’t be too sloped because in a couple of years, they won’t be able to walk on it. This makes me think – and I’ve said! – I will be running up the stairs when I’m 120! Both of my friends are healthy and active so when I hear these things I’m sort of puzzled by them.

Mindset is so important in life but especially when thinking about growing older. A Yale study found that seniors who hold a more positive view about the aging process actually live 7.5 years longer than people who perceive aging negatively. Although some health related things are genetic and out of the hands of the person who is experiencing them, healthy aging can be achieved by anyone by working to make better choices now so our lives are improved when we are older.

I feel that living the Queenager life will help women have a more positive view of aging so they can live a life of vitality.

I’m excited about the talent portion of the competition. I’ve never done a pageant that included talent. I’ll be doing a jazz dance to the song Come Dancing by the Kinks. It’s so much fun and I’m really looking forward to performing for the audience!

I’m wearing green! My interview outfit is green, my evening gown is green, and my talent costume is green. Green is one of my favorite colors but I honestly don’t wear it a lot. I love my wardrobe and think the color is great on me!

The Philosophy of Life is presented during evening gown. It can only be 35 seconds long. If you know me, you know I’m extremely long winded. Look at this post! I love to write, I love to tell stories but I do have my statement down to a powerful 30 seconds and I’m excited with how it turned out.

The pageant is at the Historic Central Theater at 2:00 p.m. on Saturday, June 4. If you’re in Hot Springs, come on out and see was Ms. Arkansas Senior America is all about.

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Fitness is something I believe in 100% I am down here on the floor stretching. Stretching is something that has gotten a little more difficult as I age but something that is even more important as it plays a big part in your overall health and wellness.

Flexibility is the body’s ability to move a joint or group of joints through a complete range of motion. In short, flexibility relates to your body’s ability to move.

The more flexible you are, the easier it is to move. Whether you’re walking, running, stretching, or going about your daily life, flexibility always comes into play.

Sadly, the aging process results in the natural loss of elasticity in muscles and tendons, which can cause stiffness in your joints and a decline in your flexibility. This is why I’m working at it every day.

Flexibility can help you:

Prevent injuries
Increase mobility
Improve your posture
Build muscle strength
Reduce physical pain

When your body is flexible, you can move with more strength, stability, and mobility. What are you doing for your flexibility? I find that getting down on the floor and doing the same exercises I did when I was a cheerleader in school are the same exercises that continue to keep me limber. But I’m open to trying new ideas. Whacha got?

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I got my rebounder 20 years ago. (20 years!) I had read some good things about rebounding and I knew I wanted to be able to benefit from them. I paid a few hundred dollars for a Needak Soft Bounce which was a pretty big investment but if you divide it over 20 years, not so much! I have replaced the springs on it once at a cost of $85. So when you think about paying less than $25/year for something that contributes SO much to your health, it’s a no brainer as to why you should bounce.

Bouncing is super fun. It doesn’t take a long time to get benefits, either. When I bought my rebounder, it came with a VHS tape (you can see how long ago it was!) that showed a white blood cell eating a cancer cell. We all have cancer cells in our bodies and our bodies are made to keep them in check. When I watched the video, my dad had just died from liver cancer. I saw the video and I was sold. Rebound every day for Lauri!

Some benefits of rebounding are:

Anti-inflammatory
20 minutes jumping up and down = 1 hour of cardiovascular exercise
Gentler on joints and bones than pounding the pavement
Firms whole body
Improves balance
Muscle strengthening – including the heart muscle
Improves bone density
Improves immune system
Improves skin
Improves digestion
Regulates bowel movements
Improves mood
Improves blood sugar control
Immune cells are more active

You don’t even need to bounce hard or high! There is a bounce called the health bounce where your feet never even leave the surface of the rebounder. The health bounce will bring these benefits. After I broke my ankle, I had a little trouble with the bouncing so the health bounce is what I did until I was able to bounce more vigrously.

What do you have to lose? It’s easy, fun, and it’s going to make you healthy. Have you ever rebounded?

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Today I want to talk about the 75 Hard Challenge. 75 Hard was created by Andy Frisella and it’s a mental toughness challenge. A couple people I knew were doing it and I watched them thinking maybe I’d do that someday. My friend, Brett, finished his challenge and that week I had a truly awful, really bad week in real estate. I figured getting some mental toughness might be exactly what was needed. Over the course of 75 days, I:

Drank 75+ gallons of water. When I got my real estate license, I basically stopped drinking water. But in the past, I would drink a gallon a day so I knew I could do it. I actually ended up drinking at least 154 oz every day.

I did 150 workouts, two a day for 45 minutes each. One each day was outside. I only had to workout in the pouring rain once but some days the humidity nearly did me in. Mostly I did a dance/walk video from @uptothebeatfit. One of the things I love about 75 Hard is that it’s completely scalable. You don’t have to do the very same thing as someone who has been training years longer than you or you don’t need to start at a beginner level if you’ve been working out. You can do the two workouts that work for YOU!

I took a progress photo every day. From where I started to now, I don’t see a lot of change but I know it’s there because I have measured. I lost 42 pounds and 29.5 inches. For the very first time in my life, my upper arms and thighs are the same size as each other. Weird? I don’t know but definitely remarkable.

I followed a low carb, mostly carnivore diet. I ate 5 meals in restaurants where I chose a salad with meat because I couldn’t figure out an entirely carnivore option. I had no cheat meals or alcohol. I feel amazing!

I read 10 pages of a self-improvement book every day. I read:

Can’t Hurt Me by David Goggins
Becoming Odyssa by Jennifer Pharr Davis
Eat and Run by Scott Jurek (I became fascinated with ultra running!)
Ask by Mark Victor Hanson

David Goggin’s book made me want to be a superhero and thus the books I read after that were mostly by extreme sports athletes.

The hardest part of this challenge for me was reading this last book. It just doesn’t speak to me and although my motto has always been life is too short for bad books, I pushed through because I can do hard things.

The coolest thing that happened was that my ankle feels good! I broke my ankle in November of 2018. I had tried to do 75 Hard a little bit before I actually did it but decided not to continue after the two a day workouts bothered my ankle so much. This time, I pushed through it and guess what? My ankle feels better now that it did since before I broke it. I’m not sure if I broke through some scar tissue or what but that was amazing and I’m super happy it turned out like that.

I’m not sure I gained any mental toughness because on Day 64, a client delivered some extremely harsh words and it affected me just like what happened that made me start the challenge. But I definitely gained clarity and was able to make some hard decisions.

Andy has created a whole Live Hard plan and it’s a year program to do hard things. I’ve tried a couple of times to get going and haven’t made it but I’m determined. Brett has just finished Phase 2 and I’m so proud to watch his success. I want that for me!

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I am so NOT built like a runner. Like I’ve said, I’m larger than life and built more like a linebacker than a runner. (I’m laughing, don’t worry!) One thing I learned is that while I might not be fast, I can go a long way.

I continued to run after I left the Corps and joined the Chicago Area Runners after I got back to Chicago. I enjoyed race days and the preparation leading up to them. I used it as my time to think. I’ve really never listened to music while running because it interferes with what I’m thinking about and I have gotten some of my best ideas while running. I mostly ran alone but would run races with my friends at times.

My favorite run that the Chicago Area Runners put on was called Chicago Avenue on the Run. It was a 10k that took place on Mother’s Day. I loved that race. The distance was great, the course was great.

The last year I ran it, I was trying to do better than I had in my previous race. I was getting towards the end of the course and I saw an older lady, with white hair, ahead of me. Ha! I can catch her, I thought, I’m sure of it. I think I was around 27 at the time. I picked up my pace as much as I could and started closing in on the lady in front of me. And… I went through the chute right after her.

The next day, her photo was on the front page of the Chicago Sun Times. She was an 86 year old mother, grandmother, and great grandmother. And I came in right behind her. I laughed at the time but now I feel like I was getting a glimpse of what my life would be in the future. Since I’m not built like a runner and I’m not fast, I would start winning races when there was less competition and I would still be running to a ripe old age. I like that idea.

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So what is a Queenager? I’m not sure there’s an actual definition. I was thinking about this new mission in my life and wasn’t sure what I would call it. But, then, photos of t-shirts to buy kept popping up in my Facebook feed, as they will, and they all seemed to have the word Queenager on them. Aha! Queenager is a great word and encompasses the feel I want to give this new direction in my life. I will make the definition and it is:

In my day to day life here, I am involved with many in the veteran community. They are all around my age and older but I find I’m the healthiest one of them all. Their talk is constantly of VA hospitals, treatments, and prescriptions. Every time I’m party to one of these conversations, I’m so glad to not be in that place and it makes me wonder if they wouldn’t be in that place if their mind, body, and spirit were in a different spot. I’m absolutely not judging because I have not walked in their shoes. It’s just something I think about a lot.

For me, I wasn’t always the healthiest person. I am a tall person with a large frame. I like to say I’m larger than life. When I wanted to join the Marine Corps, they had pretty strict weight requirements, kind of like the airlines had for their flight attendants back in the day. I was always around 5 pounds more than the height/weight chart said I could be. In order to go to bootcamp, I had to lose those 5 pounds to make weigh in. My recruiters ran with me and also told me I could take laxatives and water pills to help the weight loss along.

This worked but it became habitual over the course of time I served and, eventually, I was diagnosed with bulimarexia. Not bulimia. Not anorexia. Both of them together. Go big or go home, right?

I was discharged from the Marine Corps when I found out I was pregnant with my second son. I’m not sure how girls do it nowadays because I had to go to a doctor’s appointment in Virginia (we were stationed in Cuba) and was in the medevac system for a couple of weeks when my first son was only eight months old. When I saw him again, he didn’t know who I was. It broke my heart. For me, leaving the Marine Corps was the right decision.

I felt the effects of disordered eating for many years following and I’d like to say I’m past all that now. But it took me a really long time and I struggled with my weight for so many years always trying the latest, famous diet. I felt terrible for a lot of years, physically.

This is the story of my journey from those terrible years to the positive, healthy place I am now. I hope to encourage others to take charge of getting their mind, body, and spirit in order so they can live a great healthy life as they age, not just exist. I hope you’ll come along with me!

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