Getting Fit for 50

Tips, tricks and benefits of being healthy and in shape in your fifties

I recently attended a get together of former classmates. We’ve been getting together prior to the holidays for the last few years. A former classmate of mine and I were talking and wondering, “who are these old people?” Quite honestly I think we were both looking round at the crowd noticing just how many of our former classmates looked so much older they are. Most all of us graduated between 1980 and 1983, so we are all in our early 50s. What’s really disturbing is the frightening number of classmates (class of 1981) who have died since our graduation, many due to health related issues.

Why is this? 

Why are so many of us letting ourselves go the older we get? Although I use my classmates as an example, this trend is not just here, it’s becoming a national dilemma. Is it because when we turn 50 we all get our AARP card and just start thinking, “it’s all downhill from here!” Or maybe when we turn 50 we think, “what else is there to do?” Well here’s what I have to say to that kind of thinking—it's BULLSHIT! Honestly, we now have life experience, why not take full advantage of the knowledge we have gained and start living our lives to their full potential! One way to live life to its fullest is to be able to keep up, keep pace and keep going. And by being healthy and fit you can now get up and get back in the game of life. 

TIPS

So here are a few tips to help get you going down the path of wellness.

1. Take control of your own life! Stop letting everyone else run it for you and telling you what to do. You’ve been around the block for these last 40-50 years, it’s your turn, it’s your time, to take control. You don’t need to run to the doctor every time you have a sniffle. You don’t need a shake, a pill or surgery to lose weight. You need to change your eating habits and get active…every day! 
2. Eat better! My best friend since junior high has had similar weight issues like myself over the last 30+ years, with up and down diets and such. Recently, he had been asking me how to lose weight and what to do. I told him, “No more diets. Start eating leaner, cleaner foods. And start using your gym membership.” I ran into him the other day at the gym and he looked so much better than the last time I saw him, which was just a few months ago. He has lost over 60 lbs. I asked him what has he been doing? He said, “I’m eating so much better. I eat between 5-6 meals a day and I’ve been making it to the gym every day.” No dieting. No quick weight loss plan. He just changed his lifestyle. He now has more energy, has stopped snoring and feels 10 years younger.
3. Exercise! Get up, get active and get moving. Join a gym. Take a daily walk. Get a hobby that makes you move. Lift some weights. Just do something that gets you off your ass and makes you move everyday for at least 30 minutes!

TRICKS

Here are a few tricks to help reinforce the tips I just mentioned.

1. Write down a goal that you have and then tell it to friends and family. By sharing your goals and dreams with others it will help keep you accountable and motivate you to follow through all the way to the end. It’s a lot easier to let go of a goal when it’s not shared with anyone else.
2. Get a journal…and use it! It’s much easier to keep an accurate record of what you have been doing when you write it down. Your daily log will come in handy when you plateau and weight is not coming off anymore. You have a record of what you HAVE been doing. So now you can make changes accordingly.
3. Get a fitness tracker. Go out and buy yourself a fitness tracker like a FitBit, Jawbone, Vivo, FitGear or even a simple pedometer. Why do you need to get one of these? Accountability and motivation! You should have a goal everyday for how many steps you take, miles you walk and calories you want to burn. By having any one of these devices, you will be able to see your progress toward your goals at all times. Let’s say its 5:00 and you’ve only walked 5,000 steps so far but your goal is 10,000. What are you going to do about it? Well, if you want to stay on track and hit your goal it means you’re going to get up and take a walk, start moving or hit the treadmill one more time that day. You should have a goal of at least 10,000 steps a day,  that’s walking about 5 miles a day. Do that for 4 months and you should hit 1,000,000 steps.
4. Package your meals and snacks. Plan out what you’re going to eat on a daily basis. My friend Lisa Rambo (Season 14 contestant on NBC's "The Biggest Loser") tells everyone that everyday, she would pack into her cooler what she would eat that day at work. If it wasn't in the cooler, she didn't eat it. Make your meals and snacks at home and put them in the cooler every morning before you head out the door. This way you know exactly what you’re eating, when you’re going to eat it and how many calories you’re consuming on the day. You may also find that you save money by making your meals and snacks at home. Once again, take control of YOUR LIFE!

BENEFITS

1. Being able to be active! I can’t tell you just how amazing it feels to be able to do or try anything and everything I want to. A few weeks ago, I was in Las Vegas attending a convention and was fortunate enough to receive a bib for the Las Vegas Rock 'n' Roll Marathon. I had not trained whatsoever to run a half marathon. Well, on Friday I got the bib and on that Sunday night I ran! It was not my best time ever but it was a huge personal milestone to complete my second half marathon in less than 12 months. I know that doesn't sound like much, but only a few short years ago, walking a few hundred feet was not an easy task at over 325 lbs.
2. Energy! When you’re healthy and fit you have so much more energy. No more barely making it threw the day without taking a nap. No more drinking 8 20 oz Diet Cokes to load up on caffeine in order to stay awake. I’m now able to get up at 5:00 am, go to the gym and do 40+ minutes of cardio, go home and get ready for a 9 hour work day. And right now I’m in training again, so that means I go back to the gym after work and then home.  Think about how good it would feel to be able to have the energy to keep up with your kids or even grandchildren as we get older.
3. Better sleep and more rest. Think about this, most people who are overweight snore and most will develop sleep apnea. These two things effect your sleep patterns, which results in not getting a good night's sleep. Good nutrition, exercise and a good night's sleep are the keys to living a healthy lifestyle. If you’re snoring all night long not only are you not sleeping well but neither is your spouse/partner. After I lost the first 50 pounds, the first thing my spouse told me was that I wasn't snoring anymore and that it was so much better to be able to sleep through the night. If you are suffering with sleep apnea, you’re not only snoring but at times during the night you actually stop breathing! This would cause a great concern for my family when I would fall asleep on the couch or if we were in a hotel room, not only would my snoring shake the room but me stopping breathing would cause the kids to freak out and wonder if I was dying. When you have more energy during the day, you’ll be more active and naturally tire your body out which will cause you to get a better night's sleep. You’ll be surprised that you won’t need to take something to help you sleep when you have an active day and eat healthier foods.
4. SEX! Yes, I’m going there. First thing, when you feel better, you feel better about your body, which makes you feel more attractive (this goes for men as well as women). When you are fit and eating better, you have energy, your hormones kick in and you want to have sex again. Here’s another lovely benefit about losing weight and fat off your body, especially for men. When we lose that fat pad around our groin area, there’s less fat around our penis, which in turn means it will appear larger. :) Also, fit, active, healthy men normally will not have to use an ED medication in order to help them get and keep an erection. I know when I was at my heaviest, weight sex was a chore. Not only was it difficult to get it up but when I did, it didn’t last very long. For women, many of these same things can happen to you as well. Don’t you feel better about yourself when you are at a weight where you feel good about how you look? If you had more energy to get all those things you need to get accomplished throughout your day and still have some energy when you want to have sex, wouldn't that be nice? Can I tell you how amazing sex is when you have a partner who exercises, is healthy and in shape? It becomes extremely gratifying to know you have the stamina to satisfy your partner in bed.

I guess what I would like you to take away from this post is, that it’s never too late to change your life! It’s never too late to start over and create the life you wanted to always live.

Never give up! Don’t quit on you…ever! 

Fifty years old has really become middle age for our generation, which means you have a long way to go. So why not make them healthy, active years? Think of how much it would suck to be 50 and spending the next 10+ years sitting on the sofa watching the world pass you by. GET UP AND LIVE!