My fit life today at 53 - after glance back, fully focused on the future

Mine is a complicated relationship with food, a relationship that leads me down a path toward self-destruction during particularly challenging eras of my life. Fortunately, at 53 I’ve been up, and I’ve been down many times before, so I’m no longer carrying the extra stress of not understanding my body or fearing that I’m incapable of making the kind of lifestyle changes necessary to get my nutrition, and ultimately my fat to muscle ratio, back in check.

I know nothing is permanent if I decide to stop accepting a status quo that is not to my liking. Earlier this year, as I detailed in a previous post, I decided to address my health to be able to attack the cancer of morbid obesity that has once again taken hold of me.

Enjoying a free 8-shot shaken espresso at Starbucks on my 53d b-day

My weight maxed out at 455 this time around, five pounds less than I weighed at my all-time high weight in my late 30s, the result of 9/11-related PTSD

I don’t know how I let this happen to me again after losing nearly 200 pounds by my 40^th birthday, back in August 2011. Reflecting on that now is not helpful. Setting goals and planning is. So that is what I am in the process of now. In fact, I’ve already lost 45 pounds, which is about 10 percent of my body weight since May of this year.

Now my goal is to achieve a much healthier weight, remaining mindful of my choices, day by day. I commit from this day forward to making choices filtered through my original decision to control my caloric intake and spur myself to exercise at least 10 minutes daily.

The goal this time is to get down to a weight somewhere between 245 and 285 by my 55^th birthday two years from now. It’s God’s whether I get there at all, but I am certainly going to strive toward my goal, so long as I have the functions working in my body to allow me to do so.

You may be thinking, “Hey, Brian, why would you want to stop at 245 if you are still considered obese, according to your height of 6 feet 1 inch, above 225. Well, I can only reply that I know myself, and because I’ve been down this road before, I know what happens along the way to my ultimate fitness goal.

I know that 285 is achievable, and it is a comfortable size for me. Any less than 245 pounds and I feel scrawny. So, I will focus on building muscle through resistance training, just as I did the last time I struggled with this monkey on my back, or should I say piggy in my gut? lol