 Even
though we all dread the thought, we all must think about our
bodies at some point in our lifetime. I know for many years
I either pushed it aside or felt uncomfortable thinking about
it. It isn't always an easy thing. I have never been uncomfortable
with my appearance per se. I guess you could say the problem
was that to identify my body, meant I had some responsibilities.
Not only that, but sometimes things go wrong. When we live
in a fast paced world the last thing we can afford is to have
something go wrong with our bodies. The car is one thing,
but our bodies are another. I don't know at what age that
I began to realize that my body was important.
I would say that it was probably latter on in life than what
most people do. I have never really been the active type of
person. Sure, I loved to go hiking and stuff like that, but
I would never hit the gym. Well, some things never change.
Maybe it is because of age or maybe it is because of all the people around me are fat. Maybe it was a combination of those two things that made me start to think of my diet and my health. When you are young, you can eat fast food three meals a day and not feel it. When you start to get older, you begin to feel it more. I would like to think that my progression towards a healthy lifestyle was to make myself more healthy. On the other hand, I think it was because I was tired of feeling like shit. I am sure that you know exactly what I am talking about.
When your diet goes down hill, the rest of you goes along with it. Your sleeping patterns go to hell, your hair doesn't look as good, and your skin looks like leather. I had always wondered why some people's skin looked like a pair of old combat boots. Now I know why. So, what do you do? You are starting to feel over the hill but yet you don't know how to change things. Change is the hardest thing to do in life. You should know, its not impossible. If you are a married man or have been in a long term relationship this will be easy for you. Chances are the old lady would like to shed a few pounds and firm up that once tight heart shaped ass that she once had.
You will be more successful if both of you do it. I'm not saying that you should expect perfection in this venture. Though if both of you are doing it, there won't be those tubs of ice cream laying around to tempt you.
Where do you start? First I would suggest that you go to
your doctor for a physical. Have some blood work
taken and see how you are. If you haven't done anything like
this before, it is a good thing to do. He will check your
cholesterol and all that stuff. Also if you have a health
condition, you will want to talk about your diet and exercise
plans with him before you do anything. You want to do this
so that you don't screw yourself up. If you have diabetes
and you start a new diet, if not done right you can cause
a lot of problems.
So, after you have things squared
away with the doctor. I would suggest that you figure
out what kind of diet you want to go on. I would suggest that
you focus on a diet that is high in veggies and fruit. Cut
back on the meat and the carbs and stick with as many fresh
items as you can. This will help you loose weight. I would
also suggest that you look into some type of exercise program.
I would start out with walking or jogging and work your way
from there. You and your old lady can do this together. Get
a dog, they love to go on walks. This will give you motivation
when it comes to taking your walks.
After you get used to walking, I
would hit the gym. If you can afford a personal trainer,
I would go that route. If you can't, then I would start off
by doing some swimming and doing the exercise bikes. You can
also start out with the treadmill as well. I would continue
to do your walks. Not only is this good exercise, but this
is quality time with your old lady. You will come to enjoy
the talks that you have during your walks. If you are over
40, I'm not sure how much I would push doing weight lifting.
It might be something that you might want to look into. On
the other hand, it will take your body some time to get used
to lifting weights. For the first few weeks, you will feel
like someone beat you to a pulp.
Personally, I hate lifting weights.
I think it is a bit, well, boring. I think it is boring to
stand or sit and just lift things for hours on end. If there
is some hot chicks doing squats or something in front of me,
that is another story all together. The main thing
to understand is, change your diet, get more exercise, and
listen to your doctor. If he gives you the green
light to go ahead, then go ahead. If he gives any warnings,
make sure that you listen to them.
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