Tag Archives: healthy living

Fitness delusion

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Recently I’ve seen a few social media posts from a guy who has been working out for 11 years. I don’t follow him and can’t remember his name right now but basically he is in decent shape but not super muscular. He also shared the image in poor lighting that didn’t highlight his muscles like you see most fitness influencers do.

He got ridiculed. Most comments were all about how he should look a lot bigger after all that time. But the good news is that a lot of healthy, fit, natural body builders came to his defence.

People have a false sense of what it means to be fit because the people they see on social media are jacked up and have rather unrealistic physiques that are too hard to maintain. Some use steroids to enhance their growth. Others have chiseled abs, and that involves not just physical training but a very strict diet. And of course they only take photos in the best light after doing a ‘pump’ to maximize their size.

Here’s the reality: adding just 10 pounds of muscle is hard work! Adding 10 more after gaining your first 10 is significantly harder.

Six years ago I was overweight and started a fitness journey that I’m still on. It took me a year to lose just over 25 pounds. I did this with regular cardio, weights, and reducing my snacking using intermittent fasting, (basically, no snacking food from dinner to a late breakfast 5 days a week). I accomplished this in one year, then it took me 5 years to build my weight back up with 13-14 pounds of good weight. That’s right, my gains average are less than 3 pounds a year… and I’m thrilled with my progress.

Gaining muscle is hard. Unless you take the route of unhealthy supplements like steroids, you aren’t going to bulk up any time soon. Will you see results from your hard work? Yes. Will that mean that you get a lot stronger? Yes. Will you see a massive difference in the size of your muscles? Probably not without considerable effort over a long period of time.

Being fit doesn’t mean that your body looks like a body builder. It doesn’t mean that you walk around with six -pack abs. It does likely mean that you are feeling better and stronger than you were a year ago. It does mean that you are making small gains that you might notice even if others don’t.

Don’t buy into the delusions of ideal fitness that influencers share on social media. They aren’t sharing the sacrifices they make to look like they do. They are sharing month old images of when they were jacked up for a competition because they can’t maintain that look day to day… or they are making unrealistic dietary or lifestyle sacrifices to keep looking that way, so that they can sell you their program, or suppliments.

Find a way to make fitness part of your life, so that your quality of life can be better in the years to come. That’s it, that’s all. And once you’ve figured that out, appreciate all the small gains, because realistically that’s all you’ll see, small gains over time… and that’s a good thing no matter what the bulked up and juiced up influencers say.

4 years of crunches

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Today my buddy Dave and I did our 160th Coquitlam Crunch together. It started during covid, January 2021. We had just come off of Christmas break where we had to isolate with our family/inner circle, and so we had spent 2 weeks not connecting much, if at all, with anyone outside of our household. Dave and I were both feeling really disconnected and so on the first or second Friday back at school (neither of us remember exactly), we decided to do the Crunch. This was an acceptable thing to do because it was an outside activity.

Ignoring the fact that it got dark early and that it was cold and wet, we set off to climb this steep, 250m high, powerline trail. It was so wonderful to connect face-to-face with a friend that we decided to do it again the following week.

And here we are, 4 years later, averaging exactly 40 crunches a year… and we have plans not only to keep going, but to do something pretty challenging on this trail in the future. More on that later.

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Posts about Dave and I on the crunch here.

Amazing results

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I’ve been on a bit of a health journey since 2019. I consistently exercising, I eat very little sugary foods, and for the most part eat quite healthily. Yet from 2019 to 2024 my cholesterol has gone from not great to bad, and I’ve watched my blood pressure move from optimum to the top end of normal, which is a big jump in just a few years.

When my cholesterol got worse between my 2022 and early 2024 test results, my doctor, not knowing the extent of my healthy routines, suggested I watch my diet for a few months and test again. I booked another appointment with her. I explained that I could definitely increase my fibre intake, but that cholesterol was a genetic issue on both sides of my family.

I shared that my mom’s dad died too early due to cholesterol issues. My mom has been on statins for 17 years, and my dad’s brother is 20 years older than me and was put on statins 20 years ago. Basically requested to be put on statins. Her immediate response was why I value her as a doctor. She said that she would rather that I consulted a cardiovascular specialist first, and set up an appointment.

That was great until, still waiting for my appointment 2 months later, I learned that I was declined an appointment. It seems that being on the cusp of unhealthy, (based on norms of people far less healthy than I am), I am not critical enough to get a specialist appointment. As a bit of a rant, do I really need to have a heart episode or stroke before I fix my cholesterol issue? I think that’s the sign of a broken medical system. So, with this news, my doctor said she would put me on statins and we could retest my bloodwork after 6 months.

It has been just over 7 months on medication and I just got my bloodwork results. The results are shockingly good. I assumed they would be better than they were on my last test because during the past few months I’ve seen my blood pressure drop into the low range of normal, almost back to optimal. But to see such a large drop in my cholesterol in only 7 months definitely shows the medication is working.

I can control a lot of my heatlh with exercise and healthy eating, but the reality is that cholesterol is mostly genetic, and when it comes to cholesterol, I’ve got bad genes on both sides of the family. I chose to take statins under doctor supervision, and I did my own research too.

In all honesty, I was not expecting such positive results. A previous blood tests showed that I have high lipoprotein (a) which is a bad combination to have with high cholesterol because this protein likes to hold onto the bad LDL cholesterol. And new research shows that statins are less likely to show success in people with high lipoprotein (a). But my test results speak for themselves.

So now I’m probably going to be on statins for the rest of my life. And frankly I’m quite happy about that. It’s working for my mom, and my uncle, and it’s fixing something that I don’t have the power to fix with my lifestyle. I won’t pretend that I’ve noticed any physical or health changes in the last few months. In reality I feel the same as I did before I started medication. But internally my body is dealing with a lot less stress. My heart doesn’t need to pump as hard, and I’m probably having a lot less plaque build up in my veins.

It’s wonderful to see such positive results. And on that note, it’s time to get on the treadmill… I’m not staying healthy by medication alone, I’m also sticking to a healthy routine. I like to joke that I plan to die healthy. And while I hope that won’t happen for many years to come, I plan on being active, mobile, and fit when my time comes. To paraphrase Dr. Peter Attia, I want a good healthspan, not just lifespan. For me that means taking statins as well as exercising and maintaining a healthy diet.

The push

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It’s fascinating how much of weight training is mental. I’m simultaneously an athlete who can push my body to a level that surprises me, and the loafer who can’t eke out one more rep despite still having gas left in my gas tank. One minute I’m forcing myself to get one more weighted pull-up done, straining with everything I’ve got to get my head above the bar. A few minutes later I’m quitting on weighted step-ups, because mentally, rather than physically, I’m done.

What I’ve mastered is showing up. What I’m working on now is maximizing my gains. That doesn’t mean being stupid, lifting too heavy, and hurting myself. What it does mean is making my sets count. Making my reps count. Making my workouts efficient and effective.

How does this look when I’ve mentally quit on a set too soon? Maybe it means a 4th set. Maybe it means a lighter weight and more reps. Maybe it means giving myself permission to let that one set go and come back stronger the next set… or if need be the next workout. Awareness is the first step. The next step is being intentional about what I do next.

If I’m going to see the gains I plan to have in the next year, I’ve got to push a little harder than I have been. Pushing in a smart way is going to get me to my goals… injury free.

Healthy Living Goals Reflection for 2024

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It started January 1st, 2019. I was almost 30 pounds overweight and I decided that I’d had enough of working out, getting busy and lazy and not working out, and yo-yo-ing between these two states… while progressively getting further out of shape.

In my 1 year video reflection, back in late December 2019, I was able to share that I’d basically lost the 30 pounds and was back on track for staying healthy. Now, years later, I’ve put back on about 12 pounds, but a completely healthy 12 pounds. I’ve added almost an inch to my biceps, I have great definition on my (still skinny) legs, and my shoulders/traps are probably where I see my biggest gains.

Here are my key stats this year:

Workouts – defined as a minimum of 20 minutes cardio and some weights (unless it’s a Coquitlam Crunch day when I don’t usually go weights).

Meditation – At least 10 minutes, usually 15 or 20 minutes guided meditation on the Balance App.

Daily-Ink – Daily writing on this blog.

Writing/Creating – Intended to be for writing beyond my blog regularly but mostly just tracking conversations with my uncle.

Workouts: 326 days or 89%

Meditation: 313 days or 85%

Daily-Ink: 366 days or 100%

Writing/Creating: 53 days or 14.5%

Reflections:

Workouts: I’m actually setting a goal to work out less in 2025. I’ve made some good gains and think they can be better if I gave myself more rest. This is especially true for my legs. I think working out cardio 10-12+ days in a row is limiting my leg recovery time needed to see them grow a bit more. Lack of rest might be why my legs are a lot stronger but still skinny. For upper body, many of my workouts are just a single muscle focus, and so I usually get enough rest between hard sets for specific muscle groups.

Meditation: These could have been qualitatively better this year. It’s not an issue of volume but definitely one fit quality. In 2024 I found that writing was taking me a bit longer in the morning, and so a lot of times I ended up doing a walking meditation on the treadmill to make up the time. That said I’m not convinced that those meditations were necessarily moving me towards my meditation goals as much as dedicated time would.

Daily-Ink: I’ll keep my blog going another year. And while I’ve basically maintained daily writing for 5 and a half years, I still want to track it.

Writing/Creativity: The largest area for growth is in being creative. I’m going to do a couple things to improve this. First, I won’t be counting conversations with my uncle, even when we are recording them. What I will count is video editing of the videos he and I record, as well as writing not related to by blog. A goal related to this is less social media time… Reducing distractions and focusing on creativity. My writing/creativity goal will be a minimum of two days per week, 104 days a year, or basically doubling last year’s total while not counting the vast majority of days I would have tracked last year. I won’t meet my uncle less often, I just won’t be counting these Zoom visits as part of my creativity goal.

Ultimately I want to see two outcomes this year that will result from my tracking above:

  1. Gain 7-8 pounds of muscle. This is a big jump for me. In my 30’s and 40’s I had a hard time maintaining a weight of about 153 pounds. If I worked out consistently for several months I’d get my weight to 155 but struggled to put good weight on beyond that. When I stopped working out I’d drop a few pounds and sit closer to 150. By December 2018, at age 51, I’d (unintentionally and without awareness) let myself go and weighed just under 185 pounds, with all of that extra weight being unhealthy. After year one of my healthy living goals (reflection shared again here) I was back down to around 155. Now I fluctuate around 167-169 pounds and would like to bring that to 175 pounds. Basically, it took me about 5 years to gain 12 pounds of muscle and I want to add 8 more this year. Increased protein and more dedicated weight training will get me there if I maintain my positive habits and get a bit more rest between (harder/smarter) workouts.
  2. More creativity. I think 2 days a week of doing something creative is realistic and attainable. Reducing social media distractions will be key. I’m going to automate my blog going into social media, and add time limits to all socials for Monday to Friday as a starting point. I’ll see how that works and re-evaluate my success after a month.

Finally, one more goal unrelated to my tracking will be a reading goal. Watching that December 2018 reflection video again I was shocked that I listened to 26 books that year. I think this year’s count was 6, with 3 partial reads to finish, although I did listen to a lot more podcasts. I want to improve my book count. I think this will also help with my creativity.

One final reflection: Overall I’m pretty damn proud of my 2024 stats above. Yes I have some ambitious goals ahead of me, and I’m always pushing to improve… but that doesn’t take away from the fact that I’ve been on a 6 year journey from an overweight and unhealthy 51 year old to a 57 year old who hasn’t been this healthy and strong since I was an athlete in my 20’s.

My ultimate goal is a great healthspan to go with my lifespan. I want to be able to do things in 20 years that most 77 year olds can’t imagine doing. I want to be hiking, traveling, and living a vibrant, healthy life well into my senior years. I think I’m on the right path.

Motivation versus Routines

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It’s definitely the holidays for me. The time is 10:19pm and I’m just starting my writing. I haven’t meditated yet, (and missed the last couple days), and haven’t worked out yet either. Why? I’m off of my routines and my morning habits are not getting done to start my day.

Although it was not a busy day, I did get some important errands done, and don’t feel like I wasted the day… but here I am feeling very little motivation to get a workout in. I will, but it feels like effort.

That’s the difference between good habits and routines versus motivation. When I have my routines set, writing just gets done. Workouts get done. Meditation gets done. Zero motivation needed.

But let my routines slip and suddenly everything gets harder to get started. And getting started is the hardest part. Some days I feel like crap and just go through the motions simply because that’s part of my routine. Some of those days continue to feel hard, but sometime the act of getting started is all I need to turn the day, or at least my mood, around.

Routines help me get started. No motivation required. And now it’s time to finish this and get started on my workout. I think I’ll do a walking meditation on my treadmill and that’s one less thing to have to motivate myself to do. The best thing I’ve ever done for my health and wellbeing has been the strict routines I’ve created to get my healthy living goals done. I just need to rethink how I maintain these routines over my holidays.

Recovery mode

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The semester is over and the holidays have begun. Got my walk in with my buddy this morning and then came home and slept for almost 3 hours. I don’t usually take 3 hour naps, but I guess my body needed it. I’m just glad I didn’t have a full crash and get sick, which often happens this time of year.

But I’m older and a bit wiser. I didn’t let my almost 60 hour work week stop me from my healthy living routines. I didn’t skip meals because I was too busy. I didn’t miss taking my vitamins. And I still talked regularly to friends. So many times in the past I would get busy and just drop my positive routines.

That said, rest is also an important routine and while long naps are not part of my routine, letting myself crash for a bit and recover today has me feeling great as I begin the holidays.

The long road

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Last night I got home after 8 pm. Today will be my early day home around 5:30. Wednesday I’ll get home after 8pm, and Thursday will be 10pm if I’m lucky.

While many people are counting the days until Christmas, I’m just looking forward to the end of the week. Some of the events keeping me late are fun for me, one (a dance) is great for the students. I am happy to participate in these events, but I can honestly say that I’m tired already, and it’s only Tuesday morning.

It’s weeks like this that I feel my age. I realize that younger me would have skipped through this week like it was a minor blip. Yesterday I got home and did absolutely nothing until falling asleep on the couch around 9:30. I went to bed soon after and my alarm woke me up just like it has for the past two weeks… whereas for the two weeks before that, I probably only heard it 2 or maybe 3 times, with me waking up before my alarm most days.

It’s Tuesday morning and I see a very long road ahead of me to get me to the holidays. I need to psych myself up to stay strong, and get my sleep in too. Because so often in my career I reach the first weekend of a break and I get sick. My body stays strong to make it through this final week of school and then when I can finally relax my physical health crashes. I’m determined for this to not happen (ever again). It really sucks when I finally get a break and my body ‘lets go’.

I’ll take my vitamins, maintain my healthy habits, get a lot of sleep, and slowly travel this long road to the holidays.

Routines vs rut-tines

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Ok, let me start by acknowledging that rut-tine is not a word. It’s a play on the word ‘rut’.

Rut: An uninspired routine or pattern of behavior that one continues unthinkingly or because change is difficult.

Routines are so important. When you routinize a habit the habit becomes easy. There is no need for motivation when your habit has become routine. Case-in-point: I will meditate and exercise as soon as I finish writing this. No effort required, this is my routine and that’s what I do next. Minimal effort required to start the process.

But just like it takes no effort to maintain my healthy habits, routines can serve bad habits just as easily. For example, I generally don’t snack after dinner Sunday to Thursday night. No treats, no beverages, just dinner and then bed without any other food. I developed the habit of not eating after dinner precisely because when I do, it’s almost never a healthy snack. However, I have a weakness for chocolate covered almonds and almost every night for the past couple weeks I’ve taken a handful of these delicious treats after dinner. And this has led me to other more unhealthy snacks as well.

Essentially I fell into a rut-tine, an unintentional routine that is less than ideal. I don’t even realize I’m doing it until I’m sitting on the couch with a handful of chocolate almonds or a bowl of chips. But this is a minor thing, I’ll run out of chocolate almonds and I’ll soon return to my disciplined routine of not snacking 5 days a week.

However this got me thinking… What routines and habits of mind do I have that are more rut-tine than routine? How many little mental scripts do I have that I would be better off not having? How have I routinized bad habits that are either mentally or physically unhealthy or unhelpful?

Because it’s easy to stay in a rut once that rut is part of what we do daily. And we need to recognize that we are in a rut or the rut-tine just takes over and we say rutted. We need to identify the difference between a good routine and a rut-tine, and then change the latter into the former.

New adjustable weights

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I’ve had adjustable weights for over 15 years and I have been using them extremely consistently for the past 6. Those weights can adjust from 5 to 50 lbs, in 5 lb increments, with the twist of the handle. Yesterday I got my new updated weights. These require twisting a dial on each side of the dumbbell, but they can adjust from 10 to 90 lbs, in 5 lb increments.

The reality is that I’m not going to be using the full 90lbs much, but I’m excited to be able to extend my home workouts beyond a 50 lb limit. To be able to have access to such a variety of weights in my tiny home gym is amazing. I know that I’m going to see some positive gains.

The one challenge is not getting too excited about the new weight possibilities, and pushing myself too hard. I don’t have anything to prove to anyone, and I think I’ve matured in my thinking enough not to try something stupid and hurt myself. Now I just need to prove this rather than just saying it.