I remember the day. I was sitting at my desk at the hospital where I work and was checking off my tasks as a RN Care Coordinator while chatting a bit to my co-worker along side me. I happen to glance down and there it was. Even though I had had lost a significant amount of weight by then, I spied a roll of belly fat. I swear it appeared overnight. I mumbled to my office mate “What the heck is going on with my body fat! It’s migrating around on my body!” We laughed and were soon having one of our usual in depth conversations about aging, fat, health and wellness, and what we ate yesterday.

My plan? Ditch this belly fat, one way or another. I’m not much in to fads or gimmicks. I’ve read up a little on the subject though. It seems belly fat is kind of like that expanding foam packing material. It gets in between your organs and in them and in the expandable curtain covering your belly–the omentum. It is not the pinchable subcutaneous fat, but the deeper visceral fat. Not the brown healthier fat, but the problematic yellow fat. It acts like an endocrine organ and spits out all kinds of bad secretions. It can account for your ever expanding waistline as you age.

I remember my mother always aspiring to the idyllic 24″ waist of the 50’s and 60’s. Now, it’s my understanding the goal is less than 40″ for men and less than 35″ for women. I am somewhere between the 24″ and 35″ but not ready to actually put my waist measurement up on a public post. Not yet. I’m also not quite at the BMI I would like, although close.

So, my plan: Cut back on my calories/points a tad to get me to my personal goal weight and doing some targeted exercises to see what happens to this waist measurement of mine. Specifically, checking my heart rate during exercise to make sure I am in my target zone and, doing my planks…..again. And here goes, yes, working out with my weighted hula hoop to keep it real, and fun!

I will update you when I either see results or have to rethink my plan. Give me 4-6 weeks and I’ll fill you in.

I hope you had a safe, enjoyable Memorial Day Weekend and thank you to those of you who worked through it to keep our world turning. Thank you too for taking a moment to read the “Platinum Muse.” Leave me a comment! I would love to hear your thoughts!

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