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Posted by Bill S on July 3, 2007 at 2:43:16 pm EDT
In reply to Getting back in shape - posted by SteveTheFolkie on July 3, 2007 at 11:15:53 am EDT

Staying Fit as Time marches on -

1. Retire so you have lots of free time to do all that exercise.

2. Just say no to the multitude of worthy volunteer organizations who will now believe you have lots of time that you would love to devote to them.

3. Stop growing older (no, wait, growing older is the pits, but the alternative is worse).

4. Before you retire, get rich enough so you don't need to go back to work (no, wait, that requires managing your investments, which takes more time and effort than when you are working - like several friends who believed they could "get rich with real estate", but now spend full time repairing their rental units that their tenants insist on trashing, but claim it wasn't anything they did to clog the plumbing).

I know! Ya gotta give up those nights jamming with your buds and drinking beer!

Sorry, Steve, that goes with the territory. Average weight gain is something like a pound a year after age 30, according to the articles in the AARP magazine. I've managed to keep it down somewhat, but mainly by doing lots of exercise (3-4 training hikes of 5-20 miles and 1000-4000 ft of climb each week or the equivalent) and keeping the food intake down (hard to do when your spouse bakes these chocolate chip cookies that just melt in your mouth).

One thing that helps, and you may already have, is to faithfully use a top-quality heart rate monitor that includes calories burned during your exercise (as a recent cat 2 racer, you probably already have one - USCF was pushing their use while Barb and I were still racing). Both of us currently use Polar 625x, which has the foot pod accelerometer, plus the bike speed module for bike rides. I try to make the activity burn at least 1500 kcal. In theory, 3300 kcal equals a pound (take in an excess 3300 adds a pound, burn 3300 more than you take in loses a pound).

The major temptation is those holiday dinners, late night snacks (the comment about the jam sessions wasn't completely a joke), and receptions (the fashion these days for memorial services - celebrations of life for the departed - seems to include a large spread of food). It is viewed as "impolite" to turn down the offered extra servings, but they do add up.

Oh, wait, I just realized - 48, eh? You are going into your Mid-Life Crisis! Next thing, you will be setting out to do the 7 Summits, drive a Formula 1 car (or NASCAR racer), or (we better warn your wife) find a cute young bimbo. Late 40s to early 50s seems to bring out this realization in most men (and lots of women, too) that ya ain't gettin' any younger. Yur MIDDLE-AGED, and on the Downhill Side Of Life!

Sorry, Steve. There is no easy answer. But look at it this way - Life picks up when you are on the downhill side.

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