Embrace the Opportunity

I got word the other day that my brother-in-law, my younger sister's husband, was rushed to the hospital with what he thought was a heart attack.  When my older sister called, she told me that he was watching football and felt pressure in his chest and numbness in his left arm.  They called emergency services, and he was whisked away to the hospital.

He's 39 years of age.

I'm not writing this to slam my brother in law.  Sure I'd like to see him give up the cigarettes, alcohol, and junk food, but I'm not putting him down.  After all, I'm not always the model of healthy living myself.

I'm writing this because it's important to remember - you don't always know.

You don't know when the last cigarette you smoked will be the last one you ever smoke.  You don't know when the last drink you had will indeed be your last drink ever.  You don't know if the last meal you ate will be the last meal of your life.

You just don't know.

You are in the perfect position now to do what needs to be done to take control of your life.  Nothing has to change.  Nothing has to happen beforehand.  You don't have to wait until Monday.  The time is now.

You must embrace the opportunity to become healthy before it's too late.  While I hope it never happens to anyone reading this message, someone is going to have a stroke today.  Someone is going to have a heart attack today.  Someone is going to go into a diabetic coma and never recover.

Don't let it be you.

Don't wait until something dire happens before you take control.  Why must it be a heart attack or a stroke, or the loss of a loved one to some weight-related condition that jerks you awake and compels you to act?  Embrace the opportunity to be healthy.  Embrace the opportunity to show self love and respect.

Embrace the opportunity.  Then act on it.

You can do it.

Go!

A Gift from Dad

If our Facebook page is any indication, a good number of our readers are women.  If you are a mother reading this, I invite you to print it and hand it to your husband.

This weekend is Father’s Day Weekend.  Kids and moms everywhere will be endowing their fathers/husbands with gifts and words of gratitude.  I personally plan on driving a couple hours to spend the day with my father.  I’m grateful to have the opportunity to spend my 41^st Fathers Day with my dad.  I hope to be able to spend a good many more with him before all is said and done.  Conversely, this is my 14^th year as a dad.  In another 27 years, I expect my son will be able to say to me what I will be saying to my dad tomorrow – Happy Father’s Day.

In the meantime, I have to give my children a gift.  Fathers everywhere need to step up and give this gift to their children.  Failure to do so is, in my opinion, an abdication of responsibility as a father.

We owe it to our children to be an example of healthful living.

Consider the following statistics from 2005-06: 11% of children aged 2-5, 15% of children 6-11 and 18% of adolescents 12-19 are overweight (Source).  Children don’t become overweight by themselves.  Medical issues notwithstanding, overweight children are most often the products of parents whose lifestyles don’t reflect healthy habits.  The fact that 2/3 of adults in the United States are classified as overweight with half of those being labeled as obese.

What is your lifestyle teaching your child about his or her health?  Are you sending the message that health isn’t really important – that the human body can be abused with food and beverage that ages it prematurely?  Are you active or inert?

Children observe EVERYTHING you do – or don’t do.  And they WILL duplicate your behaviors.

The gift you can give to your children this Father’s Day is you for a long time to come.  Your child should be able to enjoy you for 50, 60, or 70 years of their lives.  Unless you are doing your part – eating a nutritious diet and getting regular exercise – you are stealing yourself away from your children.  Further, you are aiding and abetting the loss of your grandchildren’s Mom or Dad.  Your lifestyle today has a generational impact that will endure well beyond your years on this Earth.

Be well, not just for yourself but for the ones who call you ‘Dad’.

It's Not about Losing Weight

Anyone can lose weight.  Anyone.  Here's the secret:

Stop eating.

There.  Problem solved, right?

This website/blog is not about losing weight.  The message I broadcast has little or nothing to do with losing weight, because that "goal" is such a meaningless one.  Besides, who wants to "lose" anything?  Name one thing that you lost that you didn't want to find again.  If you "lose" 50 pounds, how long will it be before you go looking for them again in the bottom of a pint of Ben & Jerry's?

Losing weight is not the message here.

What we promote, and what I hope our readers understand, is that this blog is about fitness.  Fitness is a lifestyle, a state of being, and a message that you send to others.

Fitness as a Lifestyle

One's lifestyle is reflected in his or her actions and decisions.  A fit lifestyle simply means that a majority of the time decisions and actions reflect an attitude of health and wellness.  These decisions can be as small as taking the stairs instead of the elevator and parking further away from the door at the mall.  Do you eat the double quarter pounder with cheese or the grilled chicken salad with low-fat vinaigrette?  Water or soda?

A fitness lifestyle is transparent and recognizable to the casual observer due to the bigger decisions that are made on an ongoing basis.  Daily decisions may not be witnessed by many, but the results of those fitness decisions are obvious.  After all, isn’t it apparent who has adopted a lifestyle of sloth and gluttony?  Big bellies and grease stains on the shirt are dead giveaways.  People who live a fitness lifestyle have similar tell-tale characteristics – their lean muscular physiques, bright eyes, and generally pleasant attitudes give them away.

Our fitness lifestyle is apparent in the types of activities Alice and I enjoy.  We frequently walk in our neighborhood and down by the river.  We take the children to the falls of that river and climb the rocks there.  We attend karate classes multiple times a week, sometimes for 3-4 hours per night.  We go to the beach and swim.  What we do from day to day is a reflection of our fitness lifestyle.

And so should it be for anyone who wants to be fit.

Fitness as a State of Being

Fitness, like any other state of existence, is a moment-by-moment event.  The key with fitness (and with any other attitude) is to not let circumstances dictate that state of being.  In 2009, I broke the second metatarsal on my left foot - cracked the ball of the bone behind the toe.  It hurt to walk or stand.  My doctor told me to take 6 weeks off of any physical activity.

I told him he was nuts.

Fitness is my state of being.  Telling a “fit” person to just sit and do nothing is like telling a flea-infested cur to stop scratching.  It’s not happening.

The day after my orthopedist told me to take time, I was in the gym.  I had to use crutches to get from one place to another, but there was no way in hell I was going to stop training for 6 weeks.  I modified all of my exercises to accommodate the broken bone.  Squats and presses became extension and flexion moves.  Cardio changed from running to cycling.

Fit was a state of being to me.  I couldn’t change who I was just because of my circumstances.  Had I followed doctor’s orders, I might never have restarted my training regimen after the 6 weeks were over.  By the end of 6 weeks of inactivity, I would have adopted a new state of being – that of being an inert injured man.

Changing your state of being is a must in order to become fit.  Simply “losing weight” doesn’t cut it.  If an exercise program or nutrition plan is tossed out the window at the slightest hint of difficulty, then fitness isn’t a state of being, it’s a matter of convenience.  This is a path to failure.

Fitness is a Message

I am a walking talking billboard for Weightingon40.com.  I broadcast a message about this site with every step I take, every bite I eat, and every breath I breathe.  Hopefully, the message is a good one.  Occasionally I will slip and present a bad message, but that’s what makes me human.

Nevertheless, my message to you today is simple: forget about “losing weight.”  It’s not that important.

What IS important is that you find within yourself the strength to become the lean, healthy, fit individual that already exists inside of you.  It’s important that you struggle to free yourself from the bondage of fat and, once it is shed, to stand upon the shell of your former self and declare victory over the most formidable enemy you’ll ever face – complacency.

Honestly, I haven’t dropped that much weight.  Since starting this blog – including 63 days of Insanity and hours in the gym – I’ve only shed about 17 pounds of body weight.  The true victory for me has been overcoming the hollow shell of a man who used to crawl away to his room every day to hide from the world behind the television and internet.  My victory over laziness, anger, fear, and complacency are far more noteworthy than any weight I might have “lost.”

This blog has nothing to do with losing weight.  It has everything to do with helping YOU become the happy, healthy, fit human being you were designed to be.

Be well!