Let's talk about realizing that you are going down the wrong path

I talk a lot about how I turned my life around after I was getting to a "point of no return" as far as overall health is concerned. I may talk about it too much because I am starting to sound like some sort of crossfit cult member or the "vegan" of the nutrition world. I do think that what I am saying is important though, just like anyone who is getting older and kind of letting themselves go.

You see, when I was younger fitness was strongly encouraged in my household. Looking back it almost seemed mandatory because my parents weren't going to allow me and my siblings to just sit around the house. I think a lot of this had to do with the fact that my stay-at-home mother would get seriously annoyed with us if she had to be around us all day but there was also some sort of pursuit of excellence in their children. Well, whatever it was, it worked. 2 of the 4 kids went on to get athletic scholarships and 1 of them (not me) went on to play professional sports.

It was just part of our lives. All of us excelled at almost all sports we attempted and this is a point of price in my family even though there is only one of us that is below 40 years old at this point. As I started getting older my dedication to fitness seriously diminished in my late 20's and early 30's and by the time I was closing in on 40, I was in the sort of shape that I promised myself I would never let happen.

This picture was taken towards the end of my metabolism's ability to keep up with my very irresponsible lifestyle of drinking full-flavored beers in excess and eating just whatever was available. It would be several years before the shutdown and inevitable weight gain started to happen but as anyone who has ever gotten to this ill-fated accomplishment can attest, it isn't something that happens overnight. In fact, it happens so slowly that unless you are monitoring it, you don't even notice it is happening.

Facebook actually came in handy for once because it was only because of that notifications of "here's a photo of you from 5 years ago" that I actually noticed how much weight I had gained. It was pretty alarming to me and I was not pleased. I suddenly found that I really didn't like the guy in the mirror and this hatred for myself couldn't be blamed on anyone else. At the time I didn't own a scale and when I began this trip to fat-town I was already wearing baggy clothes so I didn't notice it in that way either. It seems ridiculous when I look back because in those 5 years the change is so dramatic it makes me feel like I wasn't paying attention at all. How could I not notice that I was becoming a blob?

This lead to a depression of sorts, one that I didn't think I would be susceptible to ever in my life but I did something that really worked for me once this sadness kicked in: I used it to my advantage. My anger with myself for allowing myself to get to this point was my fuel and the reason why I would not give up. I was already disgusted with the man in the mirror and I was determined to make sure that he didn't get worse. This is something that is quite difficult to pull off in your 40's but I am a stubborn bastard that revels in being told that he can't do something.

It took 2 years and rather massive changes to my diet, but there was one thing that helped me along the way: I took weekly photos of myself and compared them over and over again. Mostly it was diet but eventually exercise made its way into my life and the intensity of these exercises increased over time.

Did I relapse along the way? Absolutely. Did I make mistakes in my diet and training regimen? For sure. Did I actually gain weight once I started exercising? Yes, and so will nearly everyone else. Did I ever give up? No.

I think the last sentence above is the reason why I achieved success in the long run but we need to look back at where it began and how it should have started long before it did. It has become a bit of a cliche but the first step in turning your life around in regards to how much of a fat ass you are is recognizing that it is a problem. We need to be honest with ourselves. Are you gaining weight? Are you getting a "dad bod?" If the answer to this is "yes" and I think it is for most people in their late 30's / early 40's it really isn't that difficult to turn it around unless you let it go too far. It is much easier to get back in shape if you are 20 lbs overweight than if you are 60 lbs overweight. Unfortunately I let it slip to the point of being MORE than 60 lbs overweight. If I had identified this problem earlier, the journey would have been a lot easier.

These days I still drink too much beer and eat bad food on a regular basis but I have something in my life that I never had before: Moderation. In my late 20's and early 30's I wouldn't pay any attention to whether or not I had partied yesterday and ordered a late night pan pizza... I would still do it again that day as well. These days I make certain that I get daily exercise, even if it is just a little bit and try to eat at least one of my meals in a controlled way. The rest of the day I just try to stay off the full calorie beers and make sure to go to bed at a reasonable hour.

I now maintain my weight at around 190lbs, which is still probably about 10 more than I should weigh but it is a far cry from the 240 that I was when I started to make my transition.

I will likely never be "ripped" because I lack the dedication to have a strict diet. I also wont take PED's to accomplish this. However, I do believe that my detection of the problem and subsequent changes that I made later, were absolutely paramount in my turning things around. So take a look in the mirror if you are in your late 20's or beyond and compare yourself to a few years ago: Do you look dramatically fatter? If you do I can assure you that this problem is only going to get much worse and far more difficult to overcome if you wait until later.

Make the change today and you wont regret it. I know that I wish I had started caring about 5 years before I did.

_{it never gets easier... you just get stronger}