Food for Thought

Eat this, not that. Portions the size of your fist. Or was it a deck of cards? How many points is that? How about calories? Yikes, what zone am I eating in? Here, have a cow. Don't touch meat...

Enough!

Getting a trainer and working out last week were painful (yet rewarding) steps in the right direction for Segunda and me. (It also didn't hurt that our trainer was easy on the eyes.) While we've already started slimming down and feeling great, we know there's another piece to the puzzle: the food we put in our mouths. Fad diets and the emotional roller coaster they send me on aren't the way to go. So I've met with a nutritionist.

Like getting a trainer, I opted for a short-term financial investment for a long-term health and financial goal. People are living longer, the retirement age continues to climb, and many older Americans are embarking on second, third, or fourth careers. We're going to need a lot of energy to get to where we need to go. And if you think focusing on your health is selfish, think again. This impacts your whole family, especially when you consider six in 10 women don't know how they'll pay for their long-term care. As I said last week, that's why I joined the new AARP campaign to empower women with tools to take charge of their future: Decide. Create. Share. Visit the website for resources.

I can't claim to have it all figured out, but I know that keeping my eye on (healthy) long-term results, rather than short-term pain, keeps me motivated.

What keeps you motivated? And if you consider yourself a health nut, what tips can you offer us?

Let me know,

-Gaby