Health
Do you ever feel lethargic or like you’re getting a cold (even when you aren’t)?
Perhaps you look in the mirror and see a midsection that measures wider than your hips or perhaps your chest is getting rounder instead of defined.
Is your jean waist measurement more than 2 sizes larger than when you were a skinny teenage boy?
If you answered yes to many of these then perhaps you are in the same situation I was in in April 2010 at the age of 33 just a couple months before my 34th birthday wondering what happened to the super skinny boy I used to be. I wondered if it was normal to feel like that and even if I should.
I’m not saying that I felt sick every day or even most days, but I found there were some mornings I didn’t want to get up.
I asked myself if it were normal for someone in their early to mid thirties and then I asked myself if that was how I should live.
Being overweight is dangerous
Most of us know that there are health risks for being overweight even if we are only a “normal” level of overweight. They say that most cases of diabetes happen in people who are fat or overweight. In fact many with mild diabetes no longer need treatment once they eat healthily and get thin, losing those extra kilos (or pounds!). Being overweight can also affect your love life. It might be a turn off to you or your partner and since it is a form of exercise too, you might get worn out faster if you are in a poor condition.
What happened to that skinny boy who used to be me years ago!
When I was growing up and even in my early and mid twenties, I was thin. I was too skinny as a teenager and I got picked on quite a lot. At that time I could eat whatever I wanted and I rarely gained weight. Only once do I remember being chubby as an adolescent and that was from eating about a gallon of ice cream and a large bag of potato chips every week one summer. Unfortunately, as we get older we move less, have less time to go out and play, and our metabolisms slow down. We start to gain weight. It happened to me too. I went from size 29 finishing high school (too skinny at 1.80/5’11″) to size thirty a year or two later. In my mid to late 20s I was alternating between a 32 and 34 waist.
From 30 years old to 33 years old I just inflated. I can’t say how much I weighed when I finally started my diet but I was wearing a 38 waist jeans. They weren’t snug nor were they very loose. I couldn’t squeeze unto a size 36 if my life depended on it. Perhaps in American standards I wasn’t considered obese, but I technically was and clearly overweight.
Your friends probably wear rose colored glasses
You can’t really trust most of your friends. Most won’t be honest with you or they won’t want to see you lose weight if they are also chubby.
The funny thing is so many people told me, “on a diet? you look fine as you are!” . I’m not quite sure why they said that since I felt lethargic and felt heavy, but I guess they were trying to be nice. In any case, if you aren’t sure if you are overweight or not, go visit your doctor. If you look in the mirror in you underwear and you have a big belly or love handles, you at least need more exercise!
In the linked pages, I’ll explain what I did and how it has helped me. If you are a man in your 30s, 40s, or beyond you may have experienced this frustration, but have been too afraid to do anything about it and even less to talk about it. I hope my experience will help you.
Want to see what I’ve done and my results in only a few months? Keep reading!
The danger of your typical trendy or severe diet and why I decided not to go that route
Goal setting and starting a healthy diet
Making small changes in diet and exercise make a big difference
Seeing fitness results and adding weight lifting for health and diet goals
Second month of diet and exercise results
Third month of diet and exercise changes and results
Middle of fourth month diet and exercise update
Consider how you cook and portion size
Reward yourself for meeting health, diet, and strength training goals
