Third place 1: Grace R

My achievements are modest but nevertheless significant for me. I didn’t start weights until my mid 50s and am still at it in my 60s, but otherwise my story is simply one of dogged determination. Others often comment that it was somehow easy for me – that I didn’t really have to work at it. Not so, but it has been ever so rewarding – probably about the best thing I’ve done for myself.

Somewhere along the path of middle age I morphed from a too thin person who couldn’t put on weight into someone who was overweight. The pounds came on very slowly at first, but the stress of dealing with terminally ill parents and two kids at university coping with living away from home for the first time, transformed me into the “before” photo attached.

Five years ago, at age 56, I started walking on my lunch hour and was thus able to maintain, but not lose, weight. I was feeling stale at work and felt that a new job would be the pick-me-up I needed. I didn’t get the job but came to the realization that first I needed to change myself. Our school board had just offered a discount on gym memberships. I marched into a Premier Fitness gym near work and signed up with a trainer. While I was active in my teens, horseback riding every day, I had never been in a gym in my life – almost fell off the treadmill the first time. I quickly discovered that this was a jock gym with members the age of my children, but I persevered.

By sheer good fortune I had a trainer who took me seriously and, in addition to nutrition counseling, taught me to train safely but intensely with free weights, squats, deadlifts, pushups and the like. I am forever grateful to him. At first I needed help racking weight plates but before long I had new members rushing to assist with plates I could easily heft myself and people were a bit awed by what I could accomplish. Sweet. And I discovered that I liked weightlifting – challenging myself. It is such an adrenaline rush for me.

Over several months I lost 25-30 pounds. I was thrilled with my new self and determined that I stay that way. Metabolism definitely slows as you age! Being active every day was now a given. At work, another staff member and I started the Biggest Loser Club, which was profiled on our school board’s wellness website. We ran this annually for three years, until we both left. Once I got myself back on track, getting that new job I wanted was easy.

I moved to another gym closer to home and experimented in yoga, Pilates, spinning classes and took sort of a perverse pride in the fact that I was the oldest in every group but could easily keep up. At this new gym I discovered an indoor rowing machine. What a fantastic full-body, low impact workout! I bought a Concept2 rower for home, for my cardio component. Concept2 has a terrific website where users can log their meters, get instruction and encouragement, compete in virtual challenges. I’ve rowed over two million meters so far.

My husband never complained about the many hours I spent at the gym but eventually suggested setting up a home gym in the (unfinished) basement. I was confident I would continue my regimen on my own so I left the gym and for the past three years have worked out at home. I find it easier to do something daily so it is an integral part of my routine. Not a morning person, I force myself to get up at 5:50 a.m. to exercise before work because it was too easy to skip a workout when I arrived home from work. In addition, I negotiated a shift in my work day to gain an extra half-hour in the morning. Being ten minutes from work helps too. I mix up weights, cardio, yoga/Pilates, stability ball exercises, jump rope, cycling in summer, etc. I’m happy with the level at which I’m working although I’m mindful that I can’t get complacent either.

We have a fitness facility at school that is well used by students but I encourage the office staff with whom I work to make use of it too. (I was one of the first to scale our rock climbing wall.) I took them to an orientation session with the phys ed department head so they would be familiar with the equipment. A couple of them are now going in at 7:00 a.m. to train with him and another spends half her lunch hour every day in the fitness facility. Alas, two of them have no interest whatsoever. My kids (late twenties) are both reasonably active. My daughter was encouraged by my experience to join a gym. Now living in England, she walks everywhere to keep fit, works out to DVDs on her laptop, and eats a healthy (vegetarian) diet. My son plays baseball in summer and curls in winter. I bought him a weight bench for his house but, unfortunately, it doesn’t get used regularly. You can push only so far!

I aim for a minimum of one hour of exercise each day and most days I meet that goal. I track what I do in rowing and weights as a guide and encouragement. Having had a rotator cuff injury in the past, I have to be careful about shoulder exercises – strengthening without overdoing. Your YouTube shoulder rehab video was timely. I set various goals for myself (e.g. rowing a half-marathon).

The gains are small but they are still there, nevertheless. I continue to watch what and how much I eat, but don’t feel deprived in any way. This often means I’m making two different dinners because my husband still believes dinner is “meat-potatoes-gravy”. My weight has remained constant for the past five years. My resting heart rate is lower than it has ever been. Body fat levels are as low as the doctor wants to see them for my age. So far, I don’t have to worry about cholesterol levels or high blood pressure. My hair is going grey (and I’m not colouring it) but I feel that I’m in the best shape ever. My daughter proudly refers to me as ’supermom’.

My doctor and I believe that my being so healthy and fit allowed me to sail through menopause symptom-free. Thanks in part to weight-bearing exercise, I have good bone density for my age. I have an abundance of energy which helps in everyday life. I can jog up the stairs of our 3-floor school without gasping for breath. I recently tried rock climbing in our new fitness facility.

Working out allows me to zone out and forget life’s stressors. It both calms and energizes me, and augments my self-confidence, which carries over to all areas. Although I have always had a good sense of self, I find myself more adventuresome now. With my can-do attitude I taught myself simple HTML programming/Dreamweaver, creating a website for our new school, populated with my own photographs .

I know I’m getting older but plan to keep doing as much as I can, as long as I can.