My driving motivation these days is the desire to travel with grandkids over the next five years. That means that, at age 78, I need to get and stay in shape. I’ve been investing a lot of time, attention, and money into improving my physical condition. All of my body-focused practices and efforts are coming together into something like an intensive course, spanning the last half of 2023. Here are the goals of my Body Intensive:

• Diminish pain—hip, knee, foot, wrist
• Lose 20 pounds
• Straighten posture
• Increase energy and endurance

Here’s what I’ve done and am doing:

• Began monthly visits to my daughter, a specialist in intensive energy and deep tissue healing and body alignment.
• Consulted my physician, a podiatrist, and a physical therapist. Got therapy for the wrist.
• Signed onto Noom, a psychology-based approach to healthful eating and weight loss that involves meal logging, daily weigh-ins and lessons.
• Bought new shoes, insoles, posture support.
• Maintained a 16-8 schedule of intermittent fasting (confine eating to 8 hours daily).
• Subscribed to a supplement claiming to enhance weight loss and relieve joint pain.
• Increased walking regularity and distance as my condition allowed.
• Enrolled in two Daily Om classes: Chair Yoga and Gentle Exercises to Eliminate Your Neck Hump. (Hah! Two Old Lady classes for sure.)

It was when I did that last thing, just today, that I realized I was really throwing the book at my body issues. Spending money, going all out.

Is it working? Well, yes.

The pain in my knees, hips, and foot is gone. Hurray! Many things helped, but the most surprising effect was the Dr. Gundry MCT Wellness supplement, which hasn’t done much to amp up the weight loss but immediately relieved my achy joints. If we’re doing commercials here, I can also recommend Xstance inserts—and Birkenstocks–to alleviate plantar fasciitis.

This means I can walk more. I’m up to about 6k steps a day, aiming for 10k. Being able to walk two miles pain free was a real milestone. The gardens of the neighborhood provide a beauty boost to my day.

I hope my weight loss on Intermittent Fasting and Noom is more sustainable than my previous yoyos. Just as important is that I feel good when I follow both regimes. I enjoy using the Noom app to log my food. I am down 5 pounds in 5 weeks, 15 to go.

My biggest help is my personal body/mind tuner-upper, Samo Joanna Myers at SunShen, Ann Arbor. She kept me in shape when I was making all those strenuous trips to Africa. I missed her workups during the pandemic and I’ve really let myself slide in the past few years. We decided that it was time for me to become a regular client again. It’s also a wonderful excuse to get together, even if it means a lot of driving. I go for two sessions and stay overnight.

All of this together is increasing my energy, aiding sleep, and lifting my mood. That’s real progress.

At my age you can’t afford to neglect your body. My Body Intensive suggests it might not have to be all downhill from here.

What would you add to my Body Intensive?