As if I wasn't already feeling like I'm not doing enough...

Check out this article posted yesterday on MSNBC about the findings of a recent study. Apparently middle-aged and older women who are at a healthy weight- and want to maintain it without dieting- need to moderately exercise for an hour every day to stay at that weight. Every single day. Seven days. Every week.

Now I KNOW there are women out there that do that, and heck, I'm even friends with some of them (and you KNOW who you are)! But that's pretty daunting. I know, you same women will tell me that I just have to make time, and make it a priority, work up to the seven days a week. Or at least do five or six days, and take one off a week. And don't beat myself up when I fall off the wagon. Like this week - although I think an ear infection and strep throat is probably an acceptable reason to miss the cycling workouts this week.

Getting an hour of moderate exercise in every day is a great goal, and I'll work towards it. I've been cycling 2 days a week, and doing cardio and some strength another day a week, and even sometimes another one, for a total of four days. And I feel GREAT when I do get that much in. I've seen improvements in my cardio, and also in my muscle tone, even if I haven't seen much of a weight loss yet. But it is rather disconcerting to realize that I will need to continue increasing my exercise as I get older, to even get the same results as I am seeing right now! Damn metabolism!

I had to chuckle when I clicked on MSNBC tonight to find and link to this article, because today's page had a follow-up article titled "Hour of exercise? Yeah, right, many women say"... hear hear, sister!