Are you eating better? Sleeping better? Getting in shape?
Doing thorough research on quality support items like wobbly stools, rope, and a really nice bathing toaster. Going to set myself up for success in my future endeavors.
Took the leap and actually started paying a nutritional biologist (translating an Italian term) and lost 10 kgs without noticing.
All while keeping training at least 3 days a week and maintaining strength gains and sometimes even getting better.
I also started a book club focused on sci-fi and non-fiction about technology and digital rights, to force myself to start reading again, since I noticed a sharp degradation of my ability to express myself and to analyze discourse.
Finally, I am learning French as my fifth language.
I would love to say I am doing great for being 40+, but mental health and zero social life affect me more than I would like to admit.
Just bought a new mattress so hopefully sleeping better soon
Yas!!! I was having back problems, told myself “Well old chap, you’re back is ageing now innit?” Turns out I had a mattress problem. Make sure you get a good frame too.
Quit reddit and twitter.
No alcohol, mostly plant based diet, no fast food, no processed food, no intoxicants, no prescription drugs. Hiking and gravel riding.
Ride gravel every day 🤘
I’m not 30 yet but I’m pretty dang close and most of my friends are either right there with me or pushing 40 at this point. I hear pretty often about how lucky I am that I can eat however I want and don’t have to work out and I’m still in great shape. I have a pretty obvious secret though. I mostly only eat healthy stuff that I cook at home, so when I go out I can eat the greasiest cheesesteak you can find it and not feel bad about it, and I do all my own home repairs and renovations. I don’t go to the gym, but this morning I hauled 20 6x6x12 beams and about 40 bags of 80 cement to the back field by myself in the blistering sun to build a play structure for my kid. If I don’t have anything to build I have a pallet of cinder blocks that don’t current have a purpose that I just move around a big field back and forth to keep my hands calloused.
I’m pretty salty about it because I just started with a new doctor, and when asked if I work out I told him such, and he said that doesn’t count and I should start going to the gym a few times a week to help my heart health. I think he was sponsored by planet fitness because he kept talking about it.
What’s the frequency of physical exertion towards the level you described? The primary benefit of going to the gym is regular exertion above a certain level.
Usually 4-5 days a week for a couple hours on weekdays, 6+ hours on weekends. A little less in the winter months when we focus on indoor stuff, there’s only so much. My kids out there with me almost everyday and loves it. I don’t think he’d let me skip to many days even if I wanted to.
We’ll spend the rest of the afternoon getting all the posts up, letting them dry all day tomorrow, then work on framing it out next week, probably wrapping it up next Sunday. After that we’re building a greenhouse/photos studio for my wife. I like using hand tools which slows things down a lot.
I’m nearly 60.
Resistance training twice a week. Walks, swimming laps, short jogs, and cycling for the rest. I eat a mixed diet that leans plants, but I do eat some meat, eggs, and fish.
I am not smug about it but I’ve been taking better care of myself for around 10 years and it’s grrrreat.
The healthy people were right.
I saw some photos of myself dancing at a friends wedding and did NOT LIKE what I saw. Pure vanity.
I got a personal trainer and set some very silly stunt goals - I knew I didn’t want to focus on how I look, but focus on being the kind of person who could do interesting things and that would have a side effect that looked good. It worked! Plus I learned how to do cool things with my body.
Sometimes being hungover or eating huge meals interfered with my quest to do a pistol squat or a one arm push up or run a race. So I moderated that and hit my goals.
Now my baseline is fairly healthy. So when I go out until 4 with people my body is able to handle it better. I still pay, but I understand the trade off and it isn’t something that happens to me it’s something I chose.
Therapy came in when I was extremely stressed. I avoided it for so long and it was dumb. It’s good to talk to people about your life and challenges. Coaches help players.
My sleep used to be very bad. But I want to do a one arm pull up this year. My body needs rest to get strong enough. So I gotta plan to sleep! I have to give up some other choices to get what I want.
Learned a lot about health and fitness in my early 30s, made it my hobby essentially. But things change so also learned that it’s not about what I did today or even this month, it’s about what I mostly do and getting back to it. Kids come along, house moves, job moves, disruption after disruption… Gotta lose the self blame and get back up every time. That is for sure an equally important thing to learn.
I started exercising more about 1,5 years ago. Mostly strength exercises, but since 2 months also running. I’m eating more fruit and we barely eat meat or fast-food anymore. I try to keep a regular sleep schedule, but I don’t sleep very well. Overall I’d say I’m taking better care of myself than in my 20s.
im totally ripped and i jerk off 5 times a day
Name checks out.
It comes and goes in waves kinda like New Year’s resolutions but in general the amount of kindness and care you invest in yourself and those around you increases.
Your body will punish you harder and harder for staying up late and drinking=> ok let’s do less of that. (I’m at a place now where that happens once every 3-4 months…and even then it’s just 2-3 beers and I’m done)
You notice your social circles becoming less dynamic. So you value those around you more and more.
You learn more empathy, so you take more care of people.
You learn the value of time and choose to spend it with your loved ones instead of insert meaningless time sink.
It’s not perfect, but it does increase.
At least that has been my experience so far.
Trying to stay as healthy as possible. It’s hard, because convenience calls to you at this age when you have very little time and not a whole lot more energy to do anything after your soul-crushing job takes it all away from you.
I’ve committed to a Muay Thai class three nights per week, I’ve started a Yoga and joint strengthening and flexibility class that meets once a week on weekends to work on my abysmal range of motion that will only continue to get worse if I don’t focus on improving it. I find that I go to classes more than I would go to a traditional gym because there’s a bit more accountability when there are other people there who know you and recognize you and encourage you to keep showing up and working hard each session, versus the battle I have to have with my own psyche to force myself to go to the gym and do a productive workout.
In addition to those activities, I’m back to counting calories again, the only method that has ever yielded real weight loss results for me in the past because… duh. It’s the only system that makes sense when you think critically about it. Eating healthier meals is also not so bad when you get to convince yourself that you get more bang for your buck, calorie-wise. I neglected my diet for so long, and I blame a lot of my poor discipline on me having an absolutely phenomenal metabolism in my teenage years and early twenties. I could binge eat all day and barely see any weight gain. As you get older, that goes away and it leaves you feeling like the joy of eating tasty food is simply gone.
Luckily, if you can stick with it and find some healthy and filling meals that you can keep in your back pocket, it gets easier over time. Sure, every now and then you have a bad day where you go over your limit, or go get totally wasted drunk with your friends, etc. but as long as you have more good days than bad ones you’ll stay in fairly good shape and stave off chronic illness.
One thing that has never changed about me is I keep a consistent sleep schedule. I get my 7.5 hours of sleep and that’s non-negotiable. So many of my peers report getting less, and honestly it shows in the ones who are barely sleeping or addicted to their phones at night. If you make one positive change in your life, get a full night of sleep, and if you snore, get tested for sleep apnea. I was actually getting really crappy sleep for a long time, and then I got tested for sleep apnea and I was in the moderate range, so CPAP for me. Once I got used to it (~2 weeks to a month) I started getting the best sleep of my entire life and I woke up each morning with energy and vigor, not feeling groggy or somehow more tired than when I went to bed.
Other than that, you just have to learn how to deal with the stress of life and balance working and having fun in ways that doesn’t involve destroying your body prematurely.
I hit rock bottom, gave up drinking, went to therapy, found a new job that I don’t hate, gave up weed, found a partner, got asked if I wanted to go on a hiking holiday with her, said yes, panicked because I was totally out of shape, bought a bike, got in shape and enjoyed it, got married, have a kid on the way. Life’s good.
I quit cigs, drinking, and hard drugs. I’m stoned all the time but I vape it instead of smoking. I also don’t really consume much sugar or meat anymore. Still lazy as fuck though but I don’t feel like I have cancer all the time now. Oh and sweet, sweet lexapro.
