fit over fifty – Brick Marshmallows

Hair and skin care are everything. If you’re forty-five or older, you’ve figured that out by now. As we age, our skin and hair lose their vibrance. Heck, we may still feel like we’re in our prime, but we look in a mirror and see a stranger gawking back at us with crinkles, wrinkles, sags, bags, and drabby dry hair. We have at least one foot in the grave with all hope gone until we discover ULTA. (Cue the sound of angels singing) The Generation Xers and Millennials believe ULTA is hip and chic, created for them. The real scoop, though, is ULTA was created for those of us who are no longer climbing that hill. Let’s stop, raise our hands high in the air, and thank God for ULTA … am I right?

Here are a few of my ULTA must haves and the reasons why I must have them:

Tinted moisturizer is like putting a heavenly dew on your face that will even out your skin tone and make you look as fresh and new as Springtime. An over exaggeration, maybe … put this stuff is the bomb. My favorite pick is Derma E’s Tinted Moisturizing BB Cream with SPF 30. It has bilberry extract, which improves skin tone; vitamin C, which brightens skin; and vitamin E, which reduces the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles. I apply it over my regular moisturizer, which helps it to go on my skin much easier. I apply it to my face and go. It’s my makeup. Nothing else. It’s so much lighter than traditional foundation or powder makeup, and as we age, often times, less ends up being more. You can find it here.

The Derma E Ultra Hydrating Alkaline Water Eye Gel is a magic roller filled with cool healing gel. It hydrates the under eye area, making your eyes appear younger and less puffy. I use it at least twice a day and am hooked. It’s less than fifteen dollars, which makes it very affordable. Think of it like a lipstick. Apply it whenever you want that fresh glowing look. You can find it here.

The Juice Beauty Stem Cellular Anti-Wrinkle Moisturizer is currently my go-to moisturizer. I recently listened to a podcast that featured Dr. David Sinclair, and now I’m onboard with his take on the anti-aging benefits of resveratrol . This moisturizer contains resveratrol, as well as jojoba, shea, and vitamin C. It’s pricey, but it leaves my skin feeling completely hydrated … more so than any other moisturizer I’ve ever used. Moisturizing morning and evening is a must for healthy skin. I use serums as well (if you’re not using an hyaluronic acid serum, order it now), and the moisturizer goes on AFTER the serums. Apply using upward strokes, and don’t forget your neck. You can find this moisturizer here .

Are you into fitness? Then you absolutely need a dry shampoo. If you’re anything like me, you don’t always have time to wash your hair, so having dry shampoo on hand can be a life saver. In addition, because dry shampoo lengthens the time between shampoo, blowdryer, and flat iron, it’s actually a healthy alternative for your locks. It’s important, however, to invest in a good dry shampoo. If you purchase a cheap brand, you’ll find it might leave a weird residue on your hair. For the record, I’m a weirdo when it comes to dry shampoo, so I go outside to apply just so I’m not breathing it. You can find Big Sexy Hair Dry Shampoo here.

As we age, not only are losing vitality in our hair and skin, but we are losing muscle and becoming weak and flabby. In fact, after age thirty, we lose 3-5% muscle mass every decade. Many people have the misconception that you have to join a gym or a fitness class to be fit, but the truth is you can workout in the comfort of your own home. Here are five easy exercises you could begin doing at home today and everyday to fight back the flabs:

Push-ups. Three sets of twelve. Even if you have to start on your knees and work up to a full push-up, you need to bite the bullet and start doing them. Within a few weeks, I promise they become easy peasy. Push-ups are beneficial for building upper body strength, working the triceps, pectoral muscles, and shoulders.
Planks. Three sets on elbows or hands for one minute each. Planks strengthen your spine, your rhomboids, and your abdominal muscles, which promotes strong posture. Good posture means you’re keeping your bones aligned properly, and that’s very important as you age.
Crunches. Three sets of twenty-five. Crunches strengthen your abdominal muscles and core, improving your posture and balance.
Squats. Three sets of twenty-five. In addition to tightening your glutes, squats improve core strength, overall mobility, range of motion, and natural hormone production.
Donkey Kicks. Four sets of twenty-five. Like squats, donkey kicks tighten your glutes and improve core strength.

Just my thoughts,

~Mel

fit over 50, get fit, get healthy, Health blog, Uncategorized

Attention Online Dating Scene, Homecoming Queen, and Future Running Machine: Your Costume Is Everything

February 5, 2020 Melanie Hollis

“Costume is a huge part of getting into character. Your body soaks in what you’re wearing, and you turn into someone else.” ~Jane Levy

Relationships. Dang, we make them difficult, don’t we? I mean, it’s actually simple if you think about it. In each relationship, we play a role and wear a costume. As long as we stay in character, those relationships roll along without too many bumps in the road. In one relationship, we’re a daughter, and in another, we’re someone’s mom or grandma. At times we’re a friend or acquaintance, a student or teacher … a neighbor, sister, cousin, aunt, employee, or employer. Suffice to say, we’re many things to many people. And in each role, we put on a distinct costume, whether we realize it or not.

We offer a friendly smile and thank you to the bag boy who pushes our overloaded grocery cart out to the Suburban that’s literally rocking in the parking lot, locked and loaded with a couple of wild kiddos who just got out of school for the day. (Ummmm, yeh, that very detailed example might be personal to me.)

We offer a completely different smile and thank you to our mom when she takes the time to cook our favorite meal.

And when hubby brings home flowers, he gets his own special sort of thank you. Boom-chicka-wow-wow, right?

It’s a costume. A familiar role. And it’s as predictable and boring as dirt. As long as each role we play remains in its designated box, those relationships will remain dirt, predictable and familiar. The message is pretty obvious. Don’t ever, ever, everrrrr treat the bag boy like he’s hubby. haha. It’s much safer to stay in the box and to be dirt.

Some roles are easy. As moms, for instance, we know exactly what our role is, don’t we? The moment that baby is placed in our arms, we put on our motherhood costume, and you couldn’t rip that costume off of us if you came with a mechanical claw, a couple of raging bulls, and fifteen knife-wielding zombies who haven’t eaten in weeks. We are mom, dagnabbit, end of story.

The role of employee, employer, teacher, student, and acquaintance are straight-forward as well. These roles are far less emotionally driven than the role of mom/child, but we know what’s expected of us, and we can easily meet those expectations.

Other roles are more hairy-scary. Kids rebel. Grandma’s sometimes overstep and spoil too much. A neighbor might not like the color you painted your house. And a best friend might choose a new friend.

If a child would remain true to his role by respecting parental authority, his life, and the life of his parents, would be so much easier. If Grandma would support parental authority and willingly give up her Matriarchal superpower, more families would stay intact. If Joe-Blow neighbor would support his neighbor’s right to paint his house chartreuse green, there would be no need for fences or home owner associations (preach!). And if every best friend valued the gift of having an old friend who loved her way back when she had braces put on her bucked teeth, used pasty white Clearasil to cover zits on her face, and went through a third break up with the same loser guy … then friends would be friends forever.

Are you getting the general gist of how life-altering these roles are?

Well hold on, because if you have a significant other, things become even more complicated. What role do you play in your relationship with your significant other? Are you the princess who is adored and cared for by your prince charming? Are you an equal partner where you both demonstrate mutual respect and decision-making authority? Are you submissive to an all-powerful partner … or are you the power player? Is your significant other somewhat like a father figure? Or more of a best friend? Were you high school sweethearts? Or did you meet on Tinder when you were sixty?

Whatever the role, our romance began somewhere, and that beginning continues to direct the relationship. For instance, I have a friend who married his high school sweetheart. She’s a couple of years younger than him and was crowned homecoming queen her senior year of high school. To this day, more than thirty years later, he still refers to her as his homecoming queen. In his eyes, she is forever his high school love. I’m actually fairly certain she hasn’t aged a single year in his eyes.

I have another friend who complains to her husband all the time. “Why don’t you do this?” Why did you do that?” “You make me so mad!” She badgers the man constantly, but her husband always responds with (insert a grown man using a baby voice here): “I’m sorry, honey, will you forgive me?” … then he gives her a bear hug, a kiss on the cheek, and tells her he loves her. She rolls her eyes, giggles, and tells him she loves him too. This goes on every day and has for more than two decades. I think she complains just so he’ll hug her, kiss her, and tell her he loves her. It seems insane to me, but this has worked for them for more than twenty-five years. They’re one of the happiest couples you’ll ever meet.

There’s another woman who was a widow. She met her (current) husband on Christian Mingle. He was a widower, too. Their entire relationship has been built on how fate magically and mysteriously brought them together through internet dating. They’re both in their late sixties / early seventies and talk about how they met all the time.

Each of my examples demonstrate a role and a costume. It’s the normal, predictable, and expected that make up the foundation of what makes those relationships work. The dirt, so to speak.

God forbid if the high school sweetheart in my first scenario ever ceases to see his bride as his homecoming queen.

In the second scenario, what would happen if the man’s wife did her normal complaining, but instead of receiving the typical hugs, kisses, and I’m sorry, the husband started accusing her of complaining too much? What if he called her a pain in the — you know what?

And in the third example, I hope there never comes a day when the former widower tires of gloating about meeting his bride on an internet dating site. I hope they both continue to acknowledge their magical, mysterious, fateful meeting … until death parts them.

The small roles that are played out in relationships hold tremendous power to make or break a marriage and/or relationship.

So what does this have to do with being fit and healthy?

Two things.

First, to feel alive, you MUST have relationships. And if you’re going to have relationships, you’re going to be much more mentally and emotionally healthy if you succeed in them. Grab hold of your role, embody it, don’t change your costume, and respect the boundaries each unique relationship in your life has established. Some of those boundaries have been put in place by God, some by society, and some by our own volition. Whatever the case, treasure them, protect them, utilize them, and keep peace.

Second, if you really want to become fit, you need to wear the costume and play the role. Buy the yoga pants, ladies. Wear the sneakers. Pull your hair back in a pony and sock a cute strapback cap on your head. If you dress the part, and if you embrace the role, you’ll succeed in every area of your life, including in fitness. Your body soaks in what you’re wearing, and you turn into someone else. Do you want to become a runner? Dress the part. Do you want to become a yogi? Dress the part. Then join a gym, hire a trainer, buy a treadmillor an elliptical machine, or take part in a regular exercise class. It’s not only important to dress the part, you have to actively play the role.

Every time I run a race, I look forward to being given my bib and number. It makes me official. It makes me a runner. The 5k race is a role. My bib and number is a costume. My body follows what my mind believes … and it works. Every. Single. Time.

The method is so simple, perhaps it’s too simple, yet we sometimes miss the obvious. Why do we make life more difficult than it has to be? If a fifty year old woman can still be her hubby’s homecoming queen more than thirty years later, you can certainly be fit and healthy.

Just my thoughts.

Mel

Fitness, get fit, get healthy, Health blog, self care

Four Easy Ways To Make Time For Fitness

July 21, 2018July 21, 2018 Melanie Hollis

The Cheese-Puff is nude more often than he’s clothed. Shirts, shorts, and shoes are such an unnecessary bother when sensory processing is a daily struggle. “Clothes on,” I say, at least twenty to thirty times a day. Pulling a shirt back over his skinny-winny little bare naked body, I take time to kiss his tomato red hair. Who could resist?

Hopey dumps waaaaaaay more water from her cup than she drinks from a straw. She sometimes pours it over her own head … sometimes over mine. Why? I wish I knew. But she thinks it’s hilarious. After the water is spilled, she runs off on her tippy toes and giggles with abandon. “No, Hopey,” I yell, as she ditches me for the hidden shadows. At every moment, though, I choose my battles. And water just isn’t that big of a deal.

Bringing up two kiddos who sport an extra chromosome and who are non-verbal is challenging. Neither speak one word, but they still fuss and fight like typical siblings. And both vie for my attention constantly. One goes to bed with the chickens and rises early. The other is a night owl and is like waking the dead. One can tag you in the head with a ball from twelve feet away. The other can climb your body like you’re a tree and have his arms around your neck before you know what’s happened. They try to get away with jumping on beds, climbing on tables, and rolling the house in toilet paper … every single day. They’d rather dance to a Luke Bryan song than eat. They’re master escape artists. And if I leave the house without them, you’d think the whole world has come to an abrupt end. You’ve never seen the drama these two can cook up.

I travel, kayak, explore, and dance like a fool with Hope and Charlie. My life is so much fun, but it can also be chaotic. And hard. If I didn’t take time to be on top of my game, I’d be overthrown in a minute. My secret to being the consistent queen of my brood is fitness. Exercise boosts my mood, gives me energy, and is empowering. Do I have time to be fit? Ummmmm, the answer to that question is a hard no. Do I always feel like working out? I’m fifty years old and am outnumbered by two kiddos who have more energy than a zoo monkey, so the answer to that question would be a hell no. But I make fitness a priority so I can remain the queen. haha. At least in my own mind.

This begs the question of HOW to make time for fitness.

If you’ve read this far, you’ve checked off the biggest and most important box by realizing you need to make fitness a part of your routine. If I can do it, you can too:

First, make a schedule and stick with it. Carve out thirty-five minutes of time, five days a week, and make that time a priority. Even if you don’t feel like working out, push through it. Eventually, it will become a habit.

Second, plan your workout ahead of time. If you try to workout on the fly, you won’t make near as much progress. Every other day, use weights to focus on arms, shoulders, and back. The other days, work legs and glutes. Take five minutes each day for abs and set aside fifteen minutes each day for cardio. It’s can actually be that simple.

Third, find someone who will hold you accountable. Without an advocate who will push and encourage you, the beginning of this journey will be nearly impossible. Your head will give you every reason under the sun why it’s not normal for a woman to sweat. You won’t be able to sit down on the toilet seat, climb out of your car, or bend down to pick up the quarter you dropped when checking out at Publix, because your muscles will be aching. You’ll wonder what you’ve gotten yourself into. You’ll think you’re too old, too fat, too tired, too busy, or too depressed. Trust me, you need someone lined up who will remind you that if you want to be a queen, you must continue to tackle those push-ups, squats, and burpees.

Fourth, change your point of view. Your workout isn’t optional. It’s sacred. You wouldn’t skip eating or sleeping. You wouldn’t miss an episode of The Bachelor or that Starbucks visit with your college roomie. With statistics overwhelmingly proving how a regular fitness routine boosts your health and increases longevity, why wouldn’t it be sacred? It’s a no-brainer, and can be achieved with only 35 minutes per day. Yassssss, Queens (and Kings)!!!!

Here’s a quick 35 minute routine to get you started:

Download Tabata Stopwatch Pro

Settings:

Initial Countdown = 5 seconds
Exercise Interval – 25 seconds
Rest Interval = 10 seconds
Number of sets: 30

Week 1:

(Use your Tabata stopwatch with the settings above. It will prompt on when to begin each exercise and when to rest … Just do as many reps as you can within the exercise interval, making sure to implement correct form. Don’t rush.)

Arm Day:

Leg Day:

Fifteen minutes of cardio:

Walk three minutes, jog three minutes, walk three minutes, jog three minutes … alternating until you’ve completed fifteen minutes. Go as hard as you can.

Five Minute Abs:

PLEASE send me a private message if you have any questions … or feel free to comment. I’ll be your advocate, your cheerleader, and your go-to!!!

Just my thoughts!

Melanie

Tag: fit over fifty

ULTA Must Haves & Five Exercises You Should Be Doing At Home Everyday

Attention Online Dating Scene, Homecoming Queen, and Future Running Machine: Your Costume Is Everything

Four Easy Ways To Make Time For Fitness