Gotta watch that diet and keep up with cardio as you get older!
When I was in my teens and 20's, I could do no wrong and was in fantastic shape. I didn't necessarily do anything in particular to maintain my physique and it wasn't until I was in my mid 30's that things started to fall apart. I forget what they call it but basically your metabolism starts to slow down and this is a normal thing to have happen to almost anyone.
I was looking at some photos the other day and ran into this image of one of the most famous people in the world, Russel Crowe
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The reason why you should take this seriously is because unlike you and I, Crowe has access to the world's best trainers and dieticians, yet he still looks like someone that would fit right in at Wal-Mart. He has gone well beyond "dad bod" and straight into diabetes-land. Of course the paparazzi do the best they can to make him look as bad as possible but i've seen many images of this man and how he has gone seriously downhill in the past 20-30 years.
I'm in my 40's and after getting up to nearly 250 lbs after spending most of my life at my "fighting weight" of 175, I decided it was time to do something about it. This mostly consists of weights, a little bit of dieting, and keeping my heart rate up for at least an hour several times a week.
Some people think that this means we have to hit the bricks and do some serious running but that isn't the case at all. I've said many times that unless you are training for some sort of endurance running something or other, there really isn't much need to run AT ALL unless you want to. Since I focus on weights and actually enjoy the muscle mass that I have, I instead will go on really long walks where all I do is try to ensure that my heart rate stays elevated above what it normally would be if I was just at home on the sofa. Take this one for example.
This is just me going for a long walk. I wasn't doing that silly power-walking, but I was making sure that my heart rate stayed elevated. This was a very long walk even by my standards but if Strava's output is to be trusted, burning over 1400 calories just for strolling around for the amount of time it takes to watch just one of the Lord of the Rings films, then I call that a win.
now for someone who was serious about losing weight this would be a very fantastic way to establish a caloric deficit for the day. I've said it before and I'll say it again, a caloric deficit is the ONLY method of losing weight outside of invasive surgery.
You don't have to be super fit to go for a walk and for me the walks have the added benefit of serving as some sort of mindfulness time for me as well. I have stress in my life just like everyone else, but depending on where it is that I decide to walk and I normally will choose an area with as few people as possible, this gives me a wonderful opportunity to reflect on the things that are in my life that are causing me anxiety.
By the time I get back to my house where I may very well be watching a Lord of the Rings film, I have sufficiently cleared my head, and probably created a plan for the coming days as well.
This is s a win win win. I do something for my mental health, I work towards establishing a caloric deficit, I likely haven't done much to damage any ligaments or knees or anything like that, and now I can order an entire pizza and not feel guilty about it. Of course having something healthy to eat instead would probably be a better idea, but there is a reason why I call myself normie-fitness after all.
after doing many things wrong in my life, I finally feel as though I am doing them right even though it took me a decade or so to figure this out. Learn from my mistakes or better yet, don't make them at all in the first place!