Personal Health?

I follow a similar path as @DanielOcean. I enjoy biking (road, gravel and some mountain) for the physical abuse, golf (feeble occasional attempts) for the mental abuse, and flyfishing for a mix of both. Obviously, I am into self-abuse and have my bases pretty well covered.

Since I can't get away with the levels of abuse I used to enjoy in my younger days, I've been changing some poor lifestyle habits to improve my overall health so I can enjoy more abuse. Basically, I've started eating better, walking a lot, and lost about 25 lbs. I feel much better and am trying not to let the lurking old man in (as much).

Whatever you do, get outside, move more, and find your own path to "self-abuse" (TM).
 
Good diet, no alcohol for 11 years now, never smoked (well, except for that other stuff when I was young, but nothing for the last 20 years or so).

When we lived in Bend, hiking with the pups was a daily ritual, on weekends, often 5 to 10 miles a day, North Carolina, hiked once in the 2 years we were there. Now here in the Poconos, walking/hiking is almost returning to that daily ritual, if just down to our local lake and the trail around it (maybe total 1 mile walk) most days, and in the summer, a daily swim in said lake, across and back, working my way up to the length and back. Then there is the landscaping work around the property, moving rocks/boulders, clearing brush and cutting/bucking up diseased trees, etc, etc.

Bottom line, nothing too special, but keeps my overall baseline fitness in the acceptable range.
 
In Jan of 24 I was diagnosed as type 2 diabetic. The Dr. said to limit meals to 45 carbs and sent me to a nutritionist. I dropped 30 lbs in about 4 months and got my A1c from 6.6 to 5.5. I've always had a sweet tooth and it's still a daily temptation.

The nutritionist pointed out certain foods and portion sizes. Fish being one of those things I can gorge on. My salmon fishing, sockeye and coho, has taken on a new focus. Like i tell the wife, it's now a matter of life and death! :)
 
I'm at the gym 4-5 days a week, plus my 20 or so miles a week running for my exercise. I need to do better with my diet - this is where weight is lost, not in the gym. I like where I'm at overall. I'm 41, 200lb at 5'9", and still go and win all the 10k races I sign up for. Running with and beating people half my age and almost half my weight.

I also work part time as a strength and conditioning/weightlifting coach, which has been very fulfilling. Just seeing people of all ages and stages of fitness put in the work to better themselves and helping them along the way.
 
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I struggle with weight and fitness. Work from home mandate cut my daily bike commute to office. It was 12km total, back home kind of uphill. In addition my food intake was smaller while at work. Now, try to compensate with daily 3km walk in the park. That is how I spend lunch.

I am eating more at home and that makes me mad. I am pleasantly surprised my blood tests are very good but they are not going to be if I don’t start biking more often. Looking forward to start of dry fly fishing season. I found your replies very inspiring.

I found myself working longer hours voluntarily. I like a lot my work, my employer and I am satisfied how I am treated. Struggle is that I am mostly alone at home during work day, sleeping in one room and working in another. Connected by chat to colleagues but no visual contact. I think it affects me sometimes.

During lunch time in office we used to talk about hockey, have walk around building, learn something out of work related, meet someone out of our team.

My wife hands me list of things to do thinking I don’t do much in life, since she goes to work every day. I hate doing this small chores every day I used to do on weekends (if I am not out fishing and she must do it 😏)
 
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Zoran said:
I struggle with weight and fitness. Work from home mandate cut my daily bike commute to office. It was 12km total, back home kind of uphill. In addition my food intake was smaller while at work. Now, try to compensate with daily 3km walk in the park. That is how I spend lunch.

I am eating more at home and that makes me mad.

I found myself working longer hours voluntarily. I like a lot my work, my employer and I am satisfied how I am treated. Struggle is that I am mostly alone at home during work day, sleeping in one room and working in another. Connected by chat to colleagues but no visual contact. I think it affects me sometimes.

During lunch time in office we used to talk about hockey, have walk around building, learn something out of work related, meet someone out of our team.

My wife hands me list of things to do thinking I don’t do much in life, since she goes to work every day. I hate doing this small chores every day I used to do on weekends (if I am not out fishing and she must do it 😏)
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I also work from home and know that if it weren't for my gym routine, I'd go crazy. I do get out to walk the dogs, and go on my runs, but that doesn't satisfy the social aspect, which greatly helps mental health. A HUGE reason my wife and I are so good with going to the gym is the social aspect. Many gym types have scheduled classes with pre-programmed workouts (strength and conditioning/crossfit style gyms), and you'll have groups of people you see every day there. We've made some of our best friendships in our adult lives through this, and can't imagine not having it.
 
Sometimes between periods of watching game, I log in back to work to finish something quickly. No one is asking me to do it. It is just a stress I brought to myself.

On my daily walks to park I started bringing my camera again to photograph bugs. It is helping me a lot.
 
At least 60 minutes a day of cardio (walking, stationery bike, "steps", combined with cal/stretch) is the only reason I am alive!!! Add to this, three days of old man WT routine! I do know this, "Stress" can thwart your best efforts to stay fit. That said, you absolutely need some sort of stress relief in order to get as much sleep as possible!

Oh, and it doesn't help to see your old friends passing away at an unbelievable rate with many of them younger than me!!!
 
Well, I really don’t know how but I seem to have dropped about 10 pounds. I weighed myself last week. I’m at 154. I have noticed that my pants are fitting a lot looser and I have to cinch my belt up more. The odd thing is I really haven’t changed much of anything. I walk anywhere from a mile and a half to 2 1/2 or three each day with Maya. Today that may not happen because it’s drizzling outside. Over the last few years I really have changed my eating habits. Hardly any processed food at all. Although some of my favorite recipes include pasta. I don’t shy away from red meat, but I do eat a lot of chicken and fish. I have a love-hate relationship with the gym in my area. The youngsters at the counter play this annoying pop music over the speakers, often louder than my earbuds. I don’t understand why they do it as it seems like everybody has earbuds in. But I really could use a little bit more weight training. I know it would help with kicking and casting. Working in my woodshop is not exactly exercise but it does keep me on my feet and off the couch. I’m willing to wager my only big downfall is whiskey and beer. But I have cut back quite a bit even my wife has noticed. Time spent up at the ranch is always a workout with chores and hiking. So Scott and I are headed there next Wednesday…
 
Smalma said:
An important part of anyone's personal health ought to include regular wellness checkup (physicals). Being able to detect potential serious health issue early can be critical. In my case it was detecting colon tumor and dealing with it early has been huge.
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Just about the time Covid arrived, our family doctor retired. Our clinic is in Moses Lake, apparently CH had a hard time finding a GP, or family doctor, to fill our doctors slot so for almost five years my wife and I saw a contract traveling nurse (she was good, we liked her but the "annual wellness" exam simply wasn't available. Fast forward to a couple months ago, working with a wellness nurse at CH, she helped us find a GP - yesterday we had our first wellness exam with a bright, young doctor, new to the area, who took lots of time to exam and talk to us. (We both are doing well and should still be up and kickin' for sometime).

Nine years, eight months and 20 days ago I quit drinking (I wish I had never sipped that first damn Oly). From my high at 210 pounds, given walking and no booze, I'm at my high school senior weight of 155 pounds. I walk almost daily at least 1.5 miles. What I don't do is enough strengthening exercises. @Evan B - I could us a good butt kicking into the gym.
 
I can start a separate thread for strength training or conditioning help if there's a demand for it. My experience with friends/acquaintances is I'm not taken seriously and they'd rather watch a YouTube video or find something on the internet that tells them what they want to hear as far as what they should be doing.

I see between 50-150 different people per week in the classes I instruct. I have a fair amount of experience in getting people of all levels and ages moving. I'm actually at the gym right now prepping for such a class.
 
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@Evan B It sounds like we would be friends!

I'm >60 and workout with my 4 kids all the time. We do the Murph together every year, my wife and I do a weeklong 100 mile+ backpack trip every summer, and I have been competing in Masters swimming and track. I try to workout 6-7 days per week; trail running, mountain biking, lifting, swimming, and daily walks. Also try and eat very clean (lots of protein, no seed oils or processed food.)

I'm slower than I was, but still fit enough to row a driftboat all day or spend a day bowhunting. Fitness/health is fleeting. My thought is work had to keep it - and be grateful for every day that you get to enjoy it.

My dad was going on flyfishing trips into his early 90's - I hope I can too!

The Good Book says that "...

"In the morning they are like grass that sprouts anew. In the morning it flourishes and sprouts anew;
Toward evening it wilts and withers away.

So teach us to number our days,
That we may present to You a heart of wisdom." Psalms 90.
 
There is no whitey in the cowlitz river that is safe when I am there.
 
"Just about the time Covid arrived, our family doctor retired. Our clinic is in Moses Lake, apparently CH had a hard time finding a GP, or family doctor, to fill our doctors slot so for almost five years my wife and I saw a contract traveling nurse (she was good, we liked her but the "annual wellness" exam simply wasn't available.

The shortage of family medicine doc's is real, even urban areas have a year long wait for new patients to be seen.
And not having those annual physicals with accompanying blood/metabolic panels can miss recognizing serious problems in time. During my recent annual had some blood work flagged, was put through a battery of tests and scans, have now been treated for an issue that would have been much more serious if neglected.
 
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