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December, 1997
There are several ways to measure body fat. The "gold standard" is hydrostatic or underwater weighing but that's usually difficult to find.
If you have a question for Dr. Ruth, send it to us in an e-mail message, and we'll forward it to her.
Motivation!
Greetings! I just saw your interview on BCTV (Vancouver, British
Columbia, Canada) Newshour. Not only was I amazed but also very impressed with your
accomplishments! I wanted to find out more information about your book, and also your
diet, and exercise routine. How do you stay so motivated?
I'm pleased that you caught the interview and that you are interested enough
to follow up. My diet, simply put, is vegan, low-fat (10% Calories from fat) of primarily
whole, unprocessed foods. My weekly exercise routine consists of about 40-60 miles of
running, 3-4 miles of swimming, and at present, not enough cycling, although I do many of
my errands on the bike and have a stationary bike where I do 20 minutes or whatever time I
can spare. My goal for weight training is one hour three times a week, but that, too, is
suffering.
One factor most people don't realize is that there is a difference between attaining and
maintaining fitness. At one time I was running 70 miles, 6-7 miles swimming, and 450 miles
cycling per week. That was when I was going for the world titles in fitness and
triathlons. After achieving those goals, I settled down to the maintenance levels of
today. I will never quit because it's too hard attaining those levels of fitness. And that
is a major factor in maintaining my motivation. Another is racing. I will sign up for a
race, and now, instantly, I have a goal. Because I've been racing since 1974, I have done
many of the same races before, so my goal is to get a first place and beat my last year's
time. It makes "exercise" challenging and fun, a game. Lastly, there is nothing
like really vigorous exercise to make one feel really lean, healthy, and full of vitality.
For more detail I do recommend my books because there is much more information most people need. The first book, "A Race For Life" is a general health and fitness manual along with my story of how the breast cancer changed my life. It includes chapters on goal-setting, time management, all of the many diseases you will not get by following these guidelines, even what it's like to do the Ironman Triathlon.
My second book is "The Race For Life Cookbook" which includes over 100 recipes that I have created and recommend to meet the criteria of CHEF, Cheap, Healthy, Easy, and Fat-free and how to set up your kitchen and how to grocery shop for supporting this new program.
Let me know how it goes and I'll be happy to provide small doses of motivation if you need it. Oh, I've been eating this way and doing triathlons for 15 years now, so I don't anticipate ever losing what I've got. If anything, I'm getting more motivated as I see the postive results in others. I also just did my 60th race of 1997, the most I've ever done!
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