After a long time, my husband and I have made the decision to change our life physically. You see we have been building a life together and we have at times had to sacrifice taking care of ourselves. I always battled my own demons and so has he. My husband has convinced me it’s time we do this for real and to stop the start/stop cycle we have been on for many years.
Since this is his lead initiative, I will let him tell you what we are doing in his own words and our reasons for doing this.
Hi All ,
How should I start this? Well, I am what most would call a middle-aged man with a family consisting of my wife Vesna and my two young boys. All my life I have struggled with health issues from cardiovascular issues from birth which led to several surgeries before the age of 11 and a lifetime of medical screening which in my early thirties led to the discovery of Hep C disease contracted from a tainted blood transfusion during one of my surgeries at age 10.
In my teens and twenties, I was a fairly lean and skinny frame but years of stress a love for good food and the not-so-occasional midnight cake snacks I have put on a few pounds and have been struggling with a dad bod that does not seem to want to go away.
As a result, this year I have decided to take on a challenge – lose the dad bod, get truly healthy, cut sugar out, cut junk food, and stop eating fries, rice and bread. My alcohol intake is minimal so that is one area that does not need work.
My biggest challenge here is that I live with my tow young sons who love their candy, desert and other sweet treats, as well as my wife who sometimes is a bit of an enabler for that bad food ….hmmmm…that is why she will be joining me in my challenge. After many years of marriage, I need my ally and we both need to do better. If not for ourselves, we need to do it for our kids …. you see they are young and they need us for a long time.
When we got married we were both coming off a 3+year cycle of being fit and selfish, you know like when you were young and had time to workout and stress was not much of a factor. We looked so good in our wedding photos. Now, more than 13 plus years later, 2 kids a house and working on entrepreneurial pursuits we both need a change.
I can’t tell you how much better my day is when I wake up at 5 am and put in a 80+minute workout, then start my day. The feeling of accomplishing something first thing in the morning. My wife feels the same way, though it is harder to get her out of bed in the morning.
After putting in about 40 days of exercise since the beginning of the year I have worked up my muscles and joints (something I suggest you all do past the age of 35- trust me you will thank me and yourself and you will avoid major injury). Last injury I had I could not workout for 4 months (elbow pain and plantar in the foot).
For the next 90 days I will be doing a 12-week cardio/weights program followed by 8 weeks of cardio and some band work to replace the weights. My wife will be doing a similar program. Hers will be based on the Apple Fitness Strength, Cycling, Hit and Treadmill workouts of different lengths between 10-20 minutes with a total workout time of 60-70 minutes per day. We will repeat the process again to alternate body activity and avoid stagnation of results.
My weights and band workouts are self-directed, and you can download the plan here for free. I will also do 10 minutes of elliptical each day, 20 minutes of treadmill walking at level 5.0 and a 20-minute Apple Fitness cycle challenge. The weights and bands will take me about 20-30 minutes as I will be taking very few rest breaks between sets and exercises (HIIT workout style)
We will be both updating our progress on here on a weekly basis, with weight , measurements and feedback on how we are feeling from a health and progress standpoint.
Additionally, we will share snacks, we use in our daily life, supplements we use to recover after a workout and equipment ideas you may need for your home gym. Oh, by the way we have our own home gym, it has been quite the investment, but you don’t have to start with the most expensive equipment. We have a portable Treadmill, an Elliptical Machine, Indoor Cycle , several bands(10-70lbs), weights (5-30lb), a big Swiss ball , a bench, some matts, etc.
We made the investment because we live in an environment where we don’t like to wake up early and drive to the gym between November and April, which usually would put a damper on results each year. Now we have no excuse. But do whatever works for you. Just be prepared to make it a habit. If you are a morning person like us , we are up at 5 am, great, if not work out each day after work. Either way make sure you make it a habit and you don’t cheat yourself by skipping and making excuses.
Remember no matter what you decide to work out and improve your health, or skip it, it is your decision, and you must be ok with the decision you make. We all have sick days, bad days or days when life takes over and we need to adjust a portion of our schedule, but we must stay on track if we want to change our life and make radical changes to our attitude and self-perception. God knows I’ve been fighting the fight with myself each and every day.
Now lets start I am currently -211 Lbs and looking to get to 180-185 by the end of the year. I have joint issues an believe a workout should not destroy you.
My wife is 220LBS, she has joint issues too. Her weight goal is more significant. She wants to get to 140 LBS and very fit.
All right here we go – today April 8, 2024 we star on our journey and hope to help you and us achieve our goals, change our outlook in life and remake the image we have of ourselves.
Enjoy- the ride is the fun part!!!! Please see the HEALTHh & FITNESS for some of the workout programs we like, snacks we enjoy, equipment we love and recovery drinks that help you post workout.
