I have battled back-forth for years with maintaining a healthy weight. I was skinny as a kid but gained weight as a teenager and then slimmed down in college after the initial Freshman 15. I am 6′ 2″ tall and I settled into a healthy weight in the mid-190 range through my 20s. Pretty good, right?
When I got into my 30s and started a family and had kids, I sacrificed my health (wrongly) for spending time with them or relaxing when they were having down time. My weight ballooned to 220 pounds to go along with a 38″ waist which was quickly moving to 40″. Red flags. My son refers to pictures of me in this stage as “Dad’s fat years”. Ouch!
I decided that I needed to change and fast. I adjusted portions, started running and within 6 months I was back to my wedding weight of 200 pounds. For 20 years, all was good and I hovered within a couple of pounds of the 200 mark.
Then, I hit 50. Man, I just kept gaining weight. I packed my lunch with healthy food, avoided too many snacks, and I was getting a good amount of exercise (walk every day for 30-40 minutes, went to the gym 3 times per week, and hiked on the weekends). No matter. By the end of year 50, I was back pushing 220. Here came those red flags again.
I went back to the things I had done 20 years earlier, running and portion control. Running really hurt (: I walked part of the way and ran some and it got better but I was not going to be able to run like I was when I was 30. So, I decided to double-down on the dietary changes. At the same time, my wife was dealing with similar challenges so we decided to make it our New Year’s resolution for 2018 to change the way we eat in order to to feel better and maybe lose some weight.
I have learned a lot and lost some weight and I feel better than I have in the last couple of years. And you can, too. I will be posting blogs about some of the things I tried, whether they failed or succeeded. You can often learn more through failure than you may with success.
STAY POSTED! New diet and exercise posts about things I have learned and experienced on my 2018 journey!