Heading into 40 I knew I'd fucked up. I'd gained 220 pounds since high school (180 of that since college), and my health was a ticking time bomb set to explode into diabetes, congestive heart failure, or god forbid, something worse. I decided to make a change, and by my 40th in August of this year I'd lost more than 150 pounds and had been holding steady for nearly a year.
In a holding pattern at 270 pounds, that's where I am now. I eat right, with an occasional ice cream or chocolaty protein bar to soothe my sweet tooth and a burger a month to make me feel like I'm still a man (albeit a man who substitutes real fries for sweet potato fries). And I exercise fairly strenuously at least 20 minutes to an hour a day.
Okay, so I realize I'm not hard core, though I think I was when I started this whole thing fitness regime two years ago. I mean, who wouldn't be? I was 420 pounds for fuck sake! If I weren't hard core I'd never have made a dent in my triple obesity let alone get myself to the point where I am now - still in Obese Town, but closer Overweightville really.
So, I guess what I'm saying is that I'm in the same place the majority of the men in this country are in - acting like we care about physical fitness but probably in need of a little direction when it comes to figuring out the right diet and exercise plan for our goals in mid-life and beyond.
I think I want to start a "Dad's" Fit Club. I'd call it "Dad's" in quotes, because it's not really for dads per se, but for guys who are "dad's" age as we remember him in the time of our youth, when fitness came easy to us and we were still impressed by the strength our dads possessed, even while they were acutely aware that easy gains were no longer a given for them and that muscle didn't just grow while sitting on the couch playing video games.
I want to get together a bunch of middle aged guys like myself to challenge themselves in the woods. Hike, jump, sprint, climb, swim, track animals (well, I'm not sure about that, just an exercise in freewriting, folks), and whatever else it is we'd have to be doing if we were the first homo-sapiens "winning" the Neanderthals into extinction! I don't want to do CrossFit or anything, and I'm not going to do the paleo diet (at least not yet I'm not). I just want to have friends to get fit with!
Are you with me!!! If you're interested, or have a man in your life you think would benefit from joining the "Dad's" Fit Club - or have an idea for manly strength-building activities - shoot me an email at briwrite@yahoo.com.
