Marriage Mondays: Being Healthy for Your Mate

He said:  Shawndra has been bringing this topic up a lot lately, but to be honest I really have not thought too much about it.  I guess that I am in denial about needing (or maybe it's wanting) to get into better shape. I'm in my 30's now, and things just do not recover/react quite the same as they did when I was in my 20's.  It's hard for me to face the facts that I need to go to the doctor regularly, that taking an aspirin is sometimes needed, etc. It's even harder for me to admit that I'm out of shape.  I've always been athletic, but recently I've noticed that sports are much harder than they used to be.  That's obviously because I never exercise, but it became glaringly obvious when I hurt my knee after simply diving to catch a football.  For some reason, while I was on the sideline after that play, this topic popped into my head.  I thought a lot about it over the past few weeks, and it seems to me that I have been very selfish with my body.  By not working out and being in the best shape that I can, I am quite possibly taking away time that otherwise could be spent upholding my commitments/goals/dreams to my wife.  There's nothing I enjoy more than spending time with Shawndra, so if I truly want to maximize that experience I owe it to her to be healthier.  After all, we have a lot of adventures in store, so why not be selfish about accomplishing as many of those as possible? 

She said: I am hard on Gary about getting healthier. I have moments of all-out panic and paranoia when I think about Gary and I getting older (I have a serious problem with getting older anyway, but that's for another post!). Anyway, I just want us to live long, happy lives together and the only way for that to happen in my opinion is if we are both healthy and take care of ourselves NOW. We aren't getting any younger! Gary is blessed with a ridiculous metabolism so he never looks heavy. He also has great skin and is athletic (I'm allowed to brag about him, right?!), all which help him think that he is Superman and doesn't need to go to the doctor regularly or workout. The other day I completely blew up for a minute because he got on the scale and said, "Wow! I've lost ten pounds!" Infuriating, especially because I work out every single day just to not gain weight (losing weight for me means cutting out all carbs and running for miles which I am just not willing to put myself through on a daily basis, although I will do bouts a few times a year to drop those pesky 5 pounds!). Besides wanting him to be healthy so I don't have to be his full-time nurse in our old age (which I would do of course but would much rather be traveling all over the world with him and doing fun stuff together!), I would also like to work out together. I wish Gary would go on a run with me because selfishly it would help motivate me, but I also think it would be a good bonding experience. Just like on a team, struggling together makes you stronger, and I think that would be true for us too. We used to play tennis, basketball, go on bike rides, but for whatever reasons we rarely do anymore, and this makes me sad. I hope we can get back into a more active lifestyle together that we can keep up indefinitely. The good news is that we do eat really healthy thanks to Gary's wonderful cooking (I am completely spoiled and lucky to have a man that is an excellent cook and finds it relaxing to do after work). We make our own pizzas, Thai, Mexican, which he makes so much healthier than restaurant fare! Just a little olive oil for most dishes, loads of veggies, and lean meats. Now about that run...

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