Eight months ago, if someone told me that bird seed would help me lose 33 pounds, I’d have them taken away to a safe place.  Not only would I have trouble believing that I could lose that much weight but bird seed?  WTF?  But that’s exactly what has happened.   In the time since I started my health and fitness odyssey I’ve made some terrific strides and, quite frankly, surprised myself.  Not only have I blown my weight loss goal out of the water, but I’ve also managed to get into pretty decent shape.   I’ve completely changed my appearance and recharged my vitality.  What’s most surprising is that hasn’t been that hard to do.  In fact, I believe anyone can do what I’ve done if they want to.   The problem is, it’s easier not to do it.  

If you’ve been following along at home (the Project 60+ home game is just like the real thing!) you’ll know that last year I set out on a year-long quest to get in the best shape of my life by the time I turn 60 this September.   If by chance you haven’t been following these page turning posts, and I can’t for the life of me understand why not, let me give you the Coles (Cliff) notes version.  Last August, I found myself in terrible shape.  I’d gone to pot from too much food & drink and not enough exercise.  I was overweight and feeling miserable.   For someone turning 59 this was trouble looking for a place to land.   Perhaps it was a divine intervention or maybe it was the searing August heat on my fat-soaked brain, but I decided to make a change.  Flash forward to today and I am well into my plan.   I’ve lost 33 pounds; I exercise daily and have a whole new eating routine (it’s not a “diet”).  I feel terrific and have ditched the bloated Marlon Brando, circa Apocalypse Now, look.   The only downside is that none of my clothes fit anymore but that doesn’t matter because I never go anywhere in this never-ending lockdown wonderland.  With exercise and diet working hand in hand, this process has been relatively easy – with easy being a subjective term.  Put it this way, I think it was easier than recovering from a heart attack or a stroke and that was what I was headed toward.   So, in those terms this journey has been easy.   Here’s a brief recap of what I’ve done so maybe you can incorporate some of the strategy into your life.  

I exercise a lot.  I’m active every single day.   I either walk or run my dog twice a day.  Our runs range between 4 km (2.5 miles) on the civil side and 16 km (10 miles) on the crazier end.  It’s taken a while to get to this level, but it’s been worth it.  However, the biggest change isn’t that I exercise a ton.  The real change is how I view it.  I now see exercise as my job.  It’s no longer optional.   I don’t wake up in the morning and ask myself, do I feel like working today?  No, I show up to work.  Like work, exercise is now a must do.  

I must admit this change in attitude has a lot to do with the pandemic .  This “new normal” we’re all experiencing has allowed me to more or less plan my work around my work outs.  So, I’m usually up around 6 am and work until about 11am.   Then it’s out the door with Lola (the wonder dog).  Through the winter, on the days I don’t run, I usually do 30 minutes of strength training.   When the weather is good and by that, I mean warm and dry, I take about 15 minutes before we run to do a little strength session using the playground equipment in the park. Let me tell you I’ve gotten the hairy eye from more than one four-year-old wondering what Grampa is doing on their playground.  In the evening, after dinner, the dog and I are out for another 30-minute walk.   Is it a load of exercise?  Yes, but I believe this level of exercise should be our “normal” not the just some crazy stunt by an old fart trying to stay young. 

So, you’re probably thinking, “of course he’s lost all that weight, he’s run it off”.  Well, not so fast.  I can tell you from experience that diet is the real key to weight loss.   It wouldn’t matter how far I run or how miles I walk, if my diet had stayed the same so would my weight.  You simply can’t outrun a bad diet.   So, I’ve changed that too.  

Let me say first that I’m not on a “diet”.  This isn’t the South Beach, Paleo, Atkin’s or Grass Clippings and Tree Bark diet.  It’s a fundamental change in how and what I eat.  I consume two meals a day – lunch and dinner.   I don’t eat anything in between.  The cool kids call this intermittent fasting.  I call it eating way less food.  I have good days and bad days with it.  There are days when I’m so hungry I could chew the wallpaper off the walls and others where I don’t even think of eating.   In all, I don’t eat until noon daily.   Then I have some hot cereal which is more or less a bowl of bird seed.  It is full of seeds, nuts, fruit and grains.  It is nutrient dense and powers me through to dinner.   I am fortunate that my lovely spouse has bought into this grand plan and prepares nutritious and thoughtful meals for us both.  That’s it.   I don’t really eat anything more and I feel good.   Yes, it took a while to adjust to this new way of eating, but I’ve now adapted, and it feels totally natural.   

All these changes have fundamentally altered the way I live.   I have a brand-new lifestyle and the benefits have rippled through every aspect of my life.   I look and feel better than I have in years.  I have buckets of energy and my mood is almost always bright.  I couldn’t have imagined how transformative this would be when I started and, as I said, it wasn’t all that tough.  Sure, it’s taken some discipline and effort, but the gains have outweighed the effort ten-fold.   Should you find yourself in a similar place as I was last summer, or you’d simply like to have more energy I encourage you to make the change.   Remember you don’t have to take it all on at once.  I started by walking.   I didn’t add diet to the equation until the fall (running came even later).  I did it and I’m convinced anyone can do this.  All it takes is a decision and maybe some bird seed for good measure.