Okay, so Part 1 of my fitness story ended well – great results from P90X, life improved in many ways, etc. Yippee-ki-yay!! Well, I’ll keep Part 2 shorter than Part 1. In the ten years since I completed P90X, my fitness life has been very up and down. The “UPs” included a couple more Half-Marathons, a Tough Mudder, completion of another few Beachbody fitness programs, getting certified as a Personal Trainer, and numerous small triathlons (I call them “Tin Man”, as compared to Iron Man!).
The “DOWNs” have included an Achilles surgery (put me out of action for about six months), a back surgery (put me down for about eight months, and a knee surgery (cartilage shredded, put me down for just a few months), and most recently, about seven weeks ago I broke my ankle, which stopped me down for most of that time (no jogging, no jumping, difficulty with leg work, etc.). All of these down periods, unfortunately, also included a terrible diet, as if I went into “give up” mode and stopped caring. Then I’d gradually come out of it and start again, usually almost from scratch.
Last October I turned 60 and I started wondering if maybe I should just take it easy and not worry so much about it and accept getting older. But that thought did not sit well with me. As I write this, we are in the midst of the world-wide pandemic of the Corona virus, which has given me a little extra time to ponder “where I am” and “where I wanna go” in various areas of my life – spirit, mind, and body. And for the “body” part of the equation, I decided I wanted to make a push to be in the best possible shape as I can, before my next birthday. I started on April 28, which gives me exactly six months to transform my body and my health to where I want it to be.
Most of what we have grown to accept about aging in our country is a load of crap – nearly ALL of the “age related disease” that we experience is actually lifestyle related. Nearly all of it comes down to TERRIBLE nutrition and a near total lack of physical activity. I look around me and I see a terrible obesity epidemic and people my age (and way younger) getting fat and sick and overwhelmed by all these metabolic disorders, and it’s all preventable!
So, bottom line, I decided to not sit on my ass and give in to Father Time or the culturally accepted “decline model” of aging. Nope, I’m going to kick age in the teeth and flatten the age-related decline curve (more about that later). I’m embarking on a six month program of changing my eating habits once and for all – not a diet, but a lifestyle shift – and a self-devised exercise routine to go with it. This blog/journal will document that process – be it good, bad, or ugly (and by ugly, I mean my “before” pictures, which look dang near as bad as my pre-X before pictures!!).
See ya next time. Peace and blessings to you all, dear readers! Jim Blue