My good friend and I recently realized that we have both come to the same conclusion, at about the same time, with respect to how we want to live our lives as we age. I am 51 and she is 61 and we both want to live healthy lives into our 90's. We're both moms who had our children later than most women do and, in doing the math, we figured out that if we are fortunate enough to live to be 90 then, we will have had the incredible experience of watching our children grow into adulthood, find love, make their own families, choose careers, and create the life they want. If we are really, really, lucky, there may even be grandchildren to get to know even if just for a little while.

At about the same time, we made mental changes, then physical ones. The mental change had to come first. Living longer had to become a priority. Deciding how to do that came next. I took up running and experimenting with changes in diet. It took about a year to like running and to want to run. Seeing my mother suffer from COPD made me work harder at running. I would tell myself, "This breath is for you, Mom."

My friend took up weight training and by working with a personal trainer, Dan Foley of Foley Performance, she is seeing the results she hoped for. We both agree that starting the workout is only half of the change required to meet our goal. Changing what we eat also had to be tackled. We met for salad with grilled chicken last week to catch up with each other and that's when we discovered our common goal. After our talk, I decided to go with her approach to diet: cut out the carbs and sugar; eat protein and vegetables (I'll share more details in another post). I'm on day three of this change and I like it so far. I keep thinking about how good my friend looks and how good she says she feels and I think, "Yea, I can do this." Aging gracefully is not an option. I want energy and power and strength. I want to age with a vengeance.