When I turned 51 I started a journey to improve my health. I started excercising in ernest thinking that would straighten things out. I got involved with a local group of cyclists that helped me gradually build up to riding around 125 miles a week. I felt much better, took off about 20 lbs. and really enjoyed what I was doing. Well, that was part of the picture, but not really enough to make a big difference. I was out of shape and overweight and ended up in decent shape but still overweight. I used to jokingly tell my friends that I was "riding to eat". Duh!
Finally a friend of mine asked me one day why I'd never really changed the way I ate. I think they recognized that I wanted to do better, but just hadn't committed to changing my bad eating habits. My wife had been on me for a long time, but I never listen to her, after all she's just the person that cares about me the most and is probably the smartest person I know.
Anyway I started going to Weightwatchers and believe it or not I decided to pay attention to what they were teaching me. I quickly got past their branded food marketing and just listened and learned what they were teaching me about food. Eventually I found that by simplifying my diet I was able to reduce the number of calories I was intaking and loose weight consistently from week to week. Going to a meeting and recording your progress, or lack there, of can be a powerful tool when you are trying to loose weight. In the meantime I stepped up my exercise regimine to include swimming and running to a point where I now do several sprint triathlons each summer.
This year I have been concentrating on what it means to cut processed food out of my diet. It may seem obvious to a lot of you, but I think this is a natural progression to a healthier life for me and my wife. As we have gotten more used to a simple diet it just makes sense to eat more whole foods.
I still have a lot to learn and would enjoy hearing from others on this subject. Thanks in advance for any helpful advice and comments that you might have.
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