Dropped 22 pounds on the 12-week test panel and 30 pounds overall
Elizabeth Woodard knew she needed to make a healthy change.
“I was up thirty pounds over my ideal weight — meaning the weight I wanted to be at,” she says. A former exercise physiologist, Woodard was already very active, walking six to eight miles every day and going to the gym regularly. So she knew if she was going to drop those unwanted pounds, it meant changing her diet [AARP 2022]. Read her full weight loss challenge article now.
Beth Woodard, former exercise physiologist
Fun Fact: Beth Woodard, my wife advised me on sections of my book Ageless MirrorAthlete “Overweight & Unfit No More.” If you’d like to check out Beth’s contribution to Ageless MirrorAthlete book, go to Amazon and type “MirrorAthlete” into Amazons search engine, or click this link. Click on the books “Look Inside” for the free preview and read Beth’s full bio and more.
So your ready for a lifestyle change… And you want to learn how to turn around an unhealthy lifestyle and achieve fit healthy longevity. My recommendation, study other cultures within and outside of Western influence and compare a populations health, disease, diet, activities, religion, socialization behaviors, mortality rate and age per capita data – e.g., compare nomadic tribes, people in blue zones and certain religious cultures, etc., versus Westernized demographic and lifestyle statistics.
What demographic experts have found – cultures absent of Western influence live longer in good health with little to no disease. If you learn how to tweak your lifestyles closer to theirs, it is more likely than not you’ll achieve similar wellbeing and longevity benefits – even within a Westernized culture once you know how.
Many clients I worked with over past years were overweight and sought a quick weight loss and/or physical enhancement solution to lose body fat and get more fit. A question often asked from the overweight and unfit population, “are all fast weight loss and fitness and performance enhancement; and restrictive diet solutions and processed foods; and polluted air and water; and noise pollution; and unhealthy relationships bad for us?”My simple answer is “in the long run, yes.”
So how does one achieve the goal without dabbling in unhealthy fitness and diet fads and product gimmicks and mind-body numbing drugs, etc. Let alone decipher the good from bad consumer stuff… and not increase health risk? Although I can’t cover everything in this article, I can help you make a significant lifestyle change that will make a big difference in your life if your ready for it.
If you only “tweak a few lifestyle habit(s)” daily… as described in principles 1-3 below, you’ll improve your state of wellbeing, fitness levels and experience less illness and disease. But if you continue to find short cuts to cure what ails your mind, body and spirit and change nothing… living the lifestyle you need, want and deserve now may never come to pass.
Ageless MirrorAthlete, Chapter 17, “Longevity Secrets Divulged,” shares detailed demographic lifestyle habits and behaviors within a blue zone culture about people that just won’t die. Learn how they live long active lifestyles without disease. Like Nomadic people, they share similar lifestyles and longevity benefits. Learn about natural weight loss, increased fitness levels and living long active lifestyles – and so much more. Read the free book preview now. https://amzn.to/351RnMO
It is no secret, nomadic tribe activities include walking from place to place to shelter seasonally and hunt and gather for food daily to sustain a lifestyle on the move. There are many things we can learn about remote cultures absent of Western influence and disease. The most obvious, nomadic people don’t sit idle for very long, they also don’t have convenient access to processed foods and drinks; and don’t typically become obese with related disease; and live 10 years or longer on average than their Western counterparts. If your going to stay fit healthy long term, the most important activity change habit you must apply now is daily walking, biking or other aerobic activity.
“To begin living a nomadic-like lifestyle and begin receiving the fit healthy longevity benefits – first… Condition Your mind/body to walk Daily – then you’ll achieve the metabolism and cardio-muscular endurance of a nomadic tribesman” [MirrorAthlete].
If not able to walk based on current physical condition, or maybe your rehabbing from an injury, etc., their are affordable stationary leg and arm cycling home equipment products for purchase that will improve cardio and muscular endurance and rehabilitative benefits you need and deserve daily. This course will ultimately condition you to walk and/or keep the body in a good state of repair.
“What can we learn from these people and how can you tweak a lifestyle change program to reap similar fitness and longevity benefits.“
“I know many of you may be unable to walk abroad for your daily exercise for various reasons. That’s why I recommend a small investment in home exercise equipment to accommodate a busy lifestyle and/or medical condition and/or protection from a Covid19 environment” [Marc Woodard]
TODO Leg/Arm Peddler – “use as a bike pedal exerciser”
“A Mini bike peddler can be used for leg cycling exercise at the office or home to increase circulation and relieve tension. The pedal motion is smooth and quiet, you can do exercise while you are on phone, watching tv, working ,or playing video games.” Learn more about the TODO Arm/Pedal Stationary Exerciser/Medical Peddler with Digital LCD Monitor now: https://amzn.to/33ZhlBr
TODO Leg/Arm Peddler – “use as an arm pedal exerciser
“Adjustable resistance for customize exercise, easy to adjust the tension by rotating the knob, pedal is very easy, it is perfect for rehabilitation following a surgery or injury, also great for elderly to do exercise for their legs and arms.” Learn more about a variety of arm and legs cycling equipment for home and/or office use now: https://amzn.to/3nToAma
Principled Lifestyle Change Habits Require No Fads or Gimmicks
The reason so many people fail at long term weight loss within Western cultures is because of sedentary habits and unhealthy behaviors; consume too many processed foods and drinks and drugs; and/or use diet and performance enhancement fads and gimmicks throughout their lives and/or become overweight and get sick.
There are 3 fit healthy lifestyle change principles you can apply now based on demographic data of remote cultures mostly absent of illness and disease and live longer than their Western counterparts – I believe, if anyone applied these 3 core fit healthy longevity principles, they’d receive similar benefits.
Principle One – Walking is an aerobic exercise activity we’re physically designed to do well for life. Walking motivates the mind to find purpose and will power to achieve set goals – through walking the bodies natural release of feel good metabolic chemicals improves mood and state of wellbeing. The daily release of adrenalin and other healthy feel good brain-body chemicals during exercise also provides the motivation necessary to change unhealthy lifestyle habits and behavior into healthier ones. Which lead to healthy body weight, increased fitness levels and mobility; and wellness, etc.
Principle Two – Although most of us will never hunt and fish for sustenance, our marketplace does offer a variety of fresh whole foods identified as – Certified organic farmed fresh. Knowing how to identify organic vs processed foods and removal of unhealthy food chemicals is important if you want to achieve and sustain healthy body weight and good health for life.
“In the age of home food delivery… hunting for organic foods have never been more convenient. Leaving more time for daily exercise and an active lifestyle for self or with family” [MirrorAthlete].
Principle Three – When possible find a stress and pollutant free sanctuary to exercise [i.e., free of noise and air pollutants and processed foods temptations]. If possible find a healthy place indoors and/or transport oneself to a healthier place to exercise, unwind, relax and detox if only for a few hours. It does not cost anything to walk, or little cost to hop aboard public transportation to perform walking exercise in a cleaner environment. Once you begin applying “Nomadic Dual Purpose Exercise” [Defined Below], it will naturally reduce your body weight and increase state of wellbeing… and once repeated and conditioned daily – you’ll crave and have the will power to do it again every day.
“Find a quiet or remote or relaxed place free of environmental pollutants, noise and stress to exercise and achieve a feeling of wellbeing and wellness.“
Learn how to plan and exercise and achieve your fitness and wellbeing goals whenever and wherever you want now: https://amzn.to/2SPhzEG
Plan walking exercise daily to optimize the fat burning metabolism. During low stress walking activity – Carry a back pack with 2-3 liters of water. Plan to rehydrate on your walk and shop activity to your favorite whole foods store to gather healthy food products for your next meal. Shopping whole foods while walking is a lifestyle change practice you can condition yourself to do daily – similar to how a nomadic tribesman walks to fish and hunt. In doing so you receive similar fitness and healthy food nutrients at the dinner table.
“Take advantage of back pack technology. During aerobic exercise hydrate and have reliable communications should you need help on the road, or remote workout location.”
Nomadic tribes people walk miles daily to move camp, hunt and gather food – If you don’t exercise with frequency, or haven’t exercised with intensity or effort in a while, I recommend you begin a slow paced daily walking activity if there is no medical reason not to.Once you condition yourself to walk daily, work towards increased walk pace, not less than 15-30 minutes in duration. The more you walk the more calories you burn and the leaner you become and the better you’ll feel. After exercise your metabolism also stays elevated for up to two hours – burning even more calories at rest.
When you begin a walking program, it is important to purchase a proper fitted walking shoe with sufficient heal- ball-toe and arch support.
Nomadic tribes people eat very little to no processed foods – Eat less processed and convenience foods and more whole foods and drink more water.Avoid processed ready-to-eat meals and sodas and beverages.Especially those packaged within colorful and attractive packages.This is code for “contains food chemicals.” Look at the food ingredient labels. If you can’t pronounce the ingredient names – buyer beware. All baked and frozen foods ready to consume have varying degree of chemical preservatives, additives, dyes, artificial flavors, Trans Fats and other chemicals to keep them fresh looking in appearance with long storage life. These chemicals are known to cause illness and disease long term.
Nomadic tribes people live outdoors in fresh air environments – Move yourself outdoors for exercise activity as often as possible – preferably in a pollutant free environment…. and/or before/after motor vehicle traffic rush.If air quality is bad regardless, go to a healthier air environment or exercise indoors. Be sure to drink 2-3 liters of water daily to help remove toxins from the immune, circulatory and flush the bodies filtration systems and keep bones joints well lubricated. Coffee, beer and sodas and energy drinks are not healthy alternatives to water.
To achieve a fit healthy lifestyle change and benefits similar to a remote culture based on the 3 common principles… Tweak your lifestyle to live more in line with a nomadic, or remote culture absent of Western influence to achieve the longevity benefits.
Marc T. Woodard, MBA, BS Exercise Science, ARNG, CPT, RET. 2020 Copyright. All rights reserved, Mirror Athlete Inc., www.mirrorathlete.org, Sign up for your Free eNewsletter.
A former client Sid asked specific questions regarding information I posted on MirrorAthlete’s first web site back in 2007. His questions provided an opportunity to share more of the company’s history with other reader’s and reflect on how we got into publishing our first book.
[Sid wrote] “I can’t seem to locate your MirrorAthlete pain chronicles I read back in the early years. I remember it as a unique informational pain management and personalized chronicles website. Have your memoirs been moved? ‘Where can I find them?And do you still take on clients for fit healthy lifestyle consultation and customized fitness and assessment programming? Im also interested to learn more on how you improved your fitness levels after injuries and chronic pain story.”
“A friend of mine coincidentally lives in your neck of the woods. She also recalled like I did, you produced and sold nutritional supplements under the name of Dynamic Dimensions in Tigard and surrounding cities, while offering 1:1 services in fitness assessments in the 90’s for a consulting fee.”
“I’m looking to become more fit and increase muscle mass and lose weight naturally. But now feel I’m losing ground because of lower body joint pain. Although I’m working with my doctor and yet another fitness trainer, ‘they don’t have that unique fitness trainer – pain management perspective I understand you’ve mastered. I see you’re on LinkedIn, FaceBook, and Twitter.
And a City councilor in your home town Tigard, OR since 2011-18. ‘You’ve not slowed down a bit – especially after what I remember of your 5 year mobility challenge.”
“I also hear you walk on average 7-10 miles daily on a regular basis and no longer take on clients. ‘would you consider taking on a former client?”
Sincerely, Sid.
From the Desk of Marc Woodard,
Sid, so good to hear back from you after all these years. Thank you for reaching out. You and your friends memory of what I was doing years ago is impressive.
Unfortunately I take on few clients these days… however I would make an exception for you. I found it more productive to put that knowledge and energy into a soon to be released ‘Very Unique’ fit healthy lifestyle book – A fitness and health book like no other… now that the book is published, it’s like I’m right there with you. Once you begin reading it the personal touch and consulting logic will be very familiar to you and comfort for others looking for similar lifestyle change support.
Beth and I still keeping the fitness faith by working out daily, Sep 2019.
I’ve included the personalized fitness and healthy lifestyle programs, processes and practices I used during past client consultations. Some will be familiar to you and a lot of new information I didn’t have at the time, e.g., industry secrets, client cases and stories; and my personal physical adversity challenge.
Once I became my own client’ – I also became forever “Ageless MirrorAthlete” with a renewed life purpose. My job now is to manage personal health and maintain sustainable mobility so I can be there for my family and community for years to come.
To answer your question directly, the pain chronicle link to the old web site contained memoirs throughout 2007-08. I ran that journal for just over a year while I was rehabbing my way back to good health and mobility after disease, injury and surgeries challenged me physically, mentally and spiritually for many years to follow. … Even before this time, and years after working with you, I began to outline a book publication ideal during a 1999 Mexican Rivera cruise. Little did I know, I’d actually published a book in 2019 based on that initial outline. It was larger than any project I’ve ever undertaken… and harder to put into words than ever imaged. I began chipping away at it in 2010. But really got serious about the ideal of publishing the book in 2012.
In 2018 – I thought, “God willing, it will be published this year. …” [Agless MirrorAthlete “Overweight and Unfit No More,” was published, 1 Jan 2019].
In early 2008 I decided to pull the MirrorAthlete Pain Chronicles from the original site and placed some of that context into the book manuscript. The original manuscript outlined in 1999 read more like a bunch of short stories. At that time I was not well versed on how to integrate factual information, with personal experiences and client stories.
“I wrote many manuscript versions after the first one, but still lacked an interesting story line and crux that would capture the heart, mind and spirit of anyone looking to self-improve themselves physically, mentally and spiritually – And would want to refer back to the content time and time again as lifestyle change programming needs occurred.”
Unfortunately for me I was more or less a skilled technical writer… not a creative story teller. Two very different and distinct writing styles. Learning how to integrate the two, including narration is not an easy ordeal.
So there you have it. It took years of failed manuscripts and grammatically incorrect submissions learning how to piece this thing together.
Marc Woodard, Oct 2018, East Mediterranean cruise contemplating 2nd Total Hip replacement [complete: Jan 2020]
I look back at those Chronicle posts and early article publications from 2007-2012; my writing style and grammar wasn’t good. I continue to slowly update article archives at this site. I have a lot of updating to do on older articles past 2018. I’ve also begun working on a second Ageless MirrorAthlete book which will be self-published by MirrorAthlete. Stay tuned for the sub-title.
Initially I didn’t plan to start a fitness and health information and articles publication web site based business… And still wasn’t sure I wanted to write a book since I didn’t consider myself a good writer. Even today it’s still a challenge to stay focused on writing well.
Recall, I nearly quit writing after submitting my first manuscript…
I hired a self-publishing review service to critique the chapter contents – they thought the content was great – however, they recommended I make ~550 changes. At that time the book was a 25 chapter manuscript.
Well hell, “I might as well have just thrown it in the garbage.” The whole thing was marked up in red. What an Ego-Defeating blow. Like many new authors, I had to make a decision, “Quit or press on, ‘thankfully I pressed on.”
Once I incorporated the principled fit healthy lifestyle philosophy into the umpteenth revised manuscript… “I don’t know – I lost count,” Everything began to fall in place. I knew I had something special and different than anything else out there in the marketplace.
“This is when the real work began – polishing and revising and modifying it to perfection before publication.”
I chose a self-publishing and editorial services to help me through minor book editing, styling and grammatical polishing. I was finally ready to submit a new and improved manuscript unlike the one marked up in red. This manuscript had significantly improved from it’s 25 Chapter version, to a lean 18 Chapters, with a whole lot more bang for the buck.
The new and improved manuscript fully incorporated MirrorAthlete’s 18 principled fit healthy lifestyle philosophy based on unique lifetime experiences, client cases, industry knowledge, fitness consulting trade secrets and a lifetime of relative education and experience.
In ending each chapter I’ve also included my Personalized Fitness Challenge Story relative to each chapters content, including programming processes and practices I used for years for clients like you. The chapters contents are also backed by hundreds of professional citations throughout the book.
Ageless MirrorAthlete, “Overweight and Unfit No More,” Ch17, Longevity Secrets Divulged, Cartoonist John Fiedler.
And to make it even more appealing for visual readers there are ~50 unique satirical cartoons, including useful tables and forms similar to what I used during 1:1 client consults. Our Cartoonist John Fiedler does not disappoint in humor which support the fit healthy lifestyle change context. Please feel free to learn more about John and his lifetime work by clicking on Ole Fuzz Cartoons.
Sid, now you can catch up with the rest of the MirrorAthlete and Pain Management story…
I’ll admit I’ve become a much better writer from those early years. I know the book quality and competitive writing style and consumer value is there. The recent book reviews after publication are better than I could have hoped for… listing the book as a [RECOMMEND]. This is representative of a grade A book.
It seems prior to publishing I read each chapter a hundred times. And to tell you the truth the content became more captivating to a point where I look forward to a reading it again and again… as I know others will. Often as I read, I still can’t believe I’m the author – It’s almost as if someone else wrote it “I have to pinch myself… ‘Yep it’s me.”
I guarantee – The reader will often refer back to it as I have; a lifetime reference to receive timeless customized fit healthy lifestyle change programming advise to sustain a state of mental, physical and spiritual well-being for a lifetime.
If struggling with physical, mental and spiritual adversity… I know the continuing Personal fitness Challenge Stories at the end of each chapter will resonate on a personal level; and be of great comfort. Especially those with mobility challenges, injury and disease.
Now thousands of consumers like you [Sid] will have my 1:1 consulting services without paying a consulting fee and continue to live life to the fullest regardless of fitness or health condition.
By having access to my timeless principled fit healthy lifestyle consumer truths and programming processes, anyone can experience living life to the fullest and without paying hundreds of dollars in learning how to achieve and sustain it.
Sid, thank you so much for the memories and opportunity to share MirrorAthlete history and update our readers on the making of MirrorAthlete and where to find the book.
“Good health to you and your family!” And thank you for your support.
Sincerely,
Marc.
Marc T. Woodard, MBA, BS Exercise Science, ARNG, CPT, RET. 2018-20 Copyright. All rights reserved, Mirror Athlete Inc., www.mirrorathlete.org, Sign up for your free monthly newsletter.
