Healthy, the new normal.
The back is fixed, hooray. Well nearly. All physio is done, my leg is no longer numb and I can bend over without pain ( I still groan though, I'm 45). So back to normality. Normality for a stay at home parent, as regulars know, means housework, school runs, breakfasts, lunches and dinners, clothes washing and generally drinking as many cups of tea as the day will allow. But what I have discovered, and has been backed up by my ever tightening trousers, is that my regular routine must include exercise. This, in a round about way, brings me onto todays topic.
Physical education, as we are constantly told by the press, is of upmost importance, not just for this generation but for all generations. We are told and advised by our oh so svelte press and politicians that we are an obese nation waiting for a giant heart attack to happen. About 2.1 billion people – nearly 30% of the population of the planet – are overweight or obese, raising the risk of diabetes, heart disease and cancers. A shocking and staggering statistic I'm sure you'd all agree. But why, I hear you cry, would a generally amusing blog trouble itself with such a thought? I tell you why dear reader, I'm one of them.
I know on my cover picture I look the dictionary definition of health and happiness (stop laughing) but only one of those two things is true. On discovering my weight, after just 3 weeks of inactivity, is pushing 17 stone (108kg or 238 lbs) I am now classed as officially overweight pushing obese. What troubles me most is I didn't feel it happening. For 25 years or so I have been around the 16 stone mark (101kg or 224lbs, last one, you'll have to work it out yourself from now on), before you gasp I'm brushing 6ft 4in so I'm allowed. Now, after just 3 weeks of daytime TV, I hit 17 stone and didn't even feel it.
My main concern is the children. If a generally healthy adult puts on that much weight in front of his growing family what message does that send? Am I a bad father, setting an awful example for life, because I choose a new size in my trousers instead of the treadmill? Am I a bad parent because the only time the kids see me in shorts and a t-shirt is if the temperature is above 18c (oh flipping heck, 64f)? So I asked my kids about my favourite lesson in school, PE, and was shocked. Neither like it. Why? Because they spend most of it stood still. A Physical Education lesson where there is very little education and even less physical movement. And I don't blame it on the school.
I blame it on us, the parents and guardians of our little galaxies. I especially blame myself, 14 pounds in 3 weeks just how many donuts is that!!! If I (and by I, I mean we) as the parent, the main adult in my offsprings life, don't set the right example why should we expect the school to?
Most of us don't like how we look when we exercise, I get that. I personally resemble the Hulk doing an impression of a strawberry running a fruit based sex chat-line, but is that a good enough reason for not doing the right thing? The same goes for time. I know many people who use a perceived lack of time for an excuse for not looking after themselves, but really? Is whatever takes this time more important than you? Is it more important than your family? Will you look back on your life wishing beyond wish that you'd spent just that little bit longer at work? Look, I know all of this sounds a little bit preachy, and given my expanding waistline, a little hypocritical, but I'm genuinely worried.
So I ask for advise, tips, recommendations even, on how we, the ever expanding population of this planet change. How do we motivate ourselves to show our children a new normal? How do we make healthy the new norm? And how on earth do you stretch so you don't pull a muscle?
Physical education, as we are constantly told by the press, is of upmost importance, not just for this generation but for all generations. We are told and advised by our oh so svelte press and politicians that we are an obese nation waiting for a giant heart attack to happen. About 2.1 billion people – nearly 30% of the population of the planet – are overweight or obese, raising the risk of diabetes, heart disease and cancers. A shocking and staggering statistic I'm sure you'd all agree. But why, I hear you cry, would a generally amusing blog trouble itself with such a thought? I tell you why dear reader, I'm one of them.
I know on my cover picture I look the dictionary definition of health and happiness (stop laughing) but only one of those two things is true. On discovering my weight, after just 3 weeks of inactivity, is pushing 17 stone (108kg or 238 lbs) I am now classed as officially overweight pushing obese. What troubles me most is I didn't feel it happening. For 25 years or so I have been around the 16 stone mark (101kg or 224lbs, last one, you'll have to work it out yourself from now on), before you gasp I'm brushing 6ft 4in so I'm allowed. Now, after just 3 weeks of daytime TV, I hit 17 stone and didn't even feel it.
My main concern is the children. If a generally healthy adult puts on that much weight in front of his growing family what message does that send? Am I a bad father, setting an awful example for life, because I choose a new size in my trousers instead of the treadmill? Am I a bad parent because the only time the kids see me in shorts and a t-shirt is if the temperature is above 18c (oh flipping heck, 64f)? So I asked my kids about my favourite lesson in school, PE, and was shocked. Neither like it. Why? Because they spend most of it stood still. A Physical Education lesson where there is very little education and even less physical movement. And I don't blame it on the school.
I blame it on us, the parents and guardians of our little galaxies. I especially blame myself, 14 pounds in 3 weeks just how many donuts is that!!! If I (and by I, I mean we) as the parent, the main adult in my offsprings life, don't set the right example why should we expect the school to?
Most of us don't like how we look when we exercise, I get that. I personally resemble the Hulk doing an impression of a strawberry running a fruit based sex chat-line, but is that a good enough reason for not doing the right thing? The same goes for time. I know many people who use a perceived lack of time for an excuse for not looking after themselves, but really? Is whatever takes this time more important than you? Is it more important than your family? Will you look back on your life wishing beyond wish that you'd spent just that little bit longer at work? Look, I know all of this sounds a little bit preachy, and given my expanding waistline, a little hypocritical, but I'm genuinely worried.
So I ask for advise, tips, recommendations even, on how we, the ever expanding population of this planet change. How do we motivate ourselves to show our children a new normal? How do we make healthy the new norm? And how on earth do you stretch so you don't pull a muscle?
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