Want to live a long active life?

Then run.

Blood pressure

I haven't been to a physician since my girls were born, 4.5 years ago. BUT I just checked my BP on my home monitor that I used for a while while I was pregnant (put away and couldn't find since then) and 5 readings were between:

127 to 129 systolic
76 to 78 diastolic

(I had a couple lower readings, actually, but it was adjusted slightly wrong).

COOL!!! Not too bad for an overweight 50-year-old!
Now I wish I could do a blood lipid profile on myself and I wouldn't need to go in to the d*mn doc at all!!
So this triathlon stuff may be good for something after all, even if I'm not fast or competitive, eh??

Being fit or looking fit?

Small rant here.

I just received an email for the Discovery Health National Body Challenge with the subject header, "Will This Spring Find You "Fit To Be Eyed"? There's Still Time!" filled with urgent statements like, "The time to get fit is now!"

1) Is there a rush? A deadline? Doesn't this simply encourage people to crash diet, over-exercise, and make short-term changes that they'll never be able to live with?

2) Is this all about what someone looks like? Or is it about health? There's a big difference.

Still, everyone has to start somewhere. But fix-it-quick strategies are not generally conducive to long-term healthy lifestyle changes.