Betty Jones is one of those seniors who just seems to defy aging. She’s Guntersville’s ever-active city clerk and you probably couldn’t guess her age correctly if you met her. She is 76.
She’s not planning on retiring until someone tells her it’s time.
“I love my job,” she said. There are challenges as in any job. But Betty likes being able to help and she feels she has that opportunity in her position.
She doesn’t think retirement would be good for her as she might just sit on the couch, watch TV and eat. She likes having somewhere to go every day and she thinks it keeps her mentally sharp.
She said she can’t believe we’d ask to interview her concerning health and fitness because she thinks she is the worst when it comes to exercise. She doesn’t have an exercise plan, per se, but the is up and down and walking around city facilities all day every day.
She routinely clocks in 8,000 steps a day. In the spring, when she enjoys working in her yard, she has had as many as 26,000 steps in a day.
She meticulously watches her weight, keeping it between 133 and 135 pounds.
“I weigh every single day,” she said. If she catches herself edging above 135 pounds, she watches what she eats until she gets back down to her target weight.
“Low carb works for me,” she said of those tune-ups. But she admits she loves carbs.
Her daily eating plan is pretty unique. She eats almost no breakfast or lunch, very small portions if anything.
“I normally don’t eat breakfast,” Betty said, although she does indulge in coffee.
She knows she and her sisters Mary Brewer and Judy Norstrom are going to cook every night and some of those meals can be pretty large and decadent, so that’s where Betty gets most of her calories.
For years and years, Betty’s motto has been “I feel like I’m 30.” But she admits she doesn’t quite feel that way now. She took a fall on ice a year ago and broke her left shoulder badly. Metal plates and pins hold it together now.
“I don’t think it will ever be right,” she said. She just feels a general weakness in that arm.
But other than that setback, she is still going strong. She did have high cholesterol once upon a time, but a statin drug took care of that.
“I’m just afraid retirement wouldn’t be a good fit for me, so I keep working,” Betty said.
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