Other people see it differently though, so it's for that reason I decided to write a post giving advice to people that want to begin to be more healthy and/or athletic. Keep in mind that this is all coming from a layman, and my advice is only for the able-bodied. Giving advice to people that aren't perfectly capable of doing anything resembling a normal exercise routine is way out of my pay grade, so if you're disabled or have a condition that prevents you from doing most forms of exercise, talk to your doctor about what you can do.
1. Weight loss:
This is called My Gastric Surgery Blog for a reason. I wouldn't be as athletic or fit today if I didn't have a surgeon rip out 3/4 of my stomach nearly three years ago. If you're obese, getting bariatric surgery is, scientifically speaking, likely the only way you're going to lose weight and keep it off. That's the harsh reality. If you're obese, you probably know this already, as you've likely attempted dozens of times to lose the weight and failed. It's to be expected, because as I said a few blog posts ago, our bodies are designed to fight starvation, not obesity. Our bodies want to keep the fat on us because they're still prepping for the day when we end up in a Mad Max dystopia, having to travel hundreds of miles on foot to get our dinner. Your body isn't giving up that fat without a fight, and it's about damn near impossible to win that fight without surgical intervention.
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| Or, having to live in a post-nuclear war dystopia. |
The good news is that most insurance plans cover bariatric surgery nowadays if you have either a) a BMI of >40, or b) A BMI of >35 and a health disorder as a result of obesity. Even public health plans like Medicaid cover it. If your plan doesn't currently cover bariatric surgery and you really want to quit being obese, enroll in one of the health exchanges at the end of the year and get a plan with as low a deductible as you can afford. Last I checked (which means, check again for yourself), all of the plans on the federal health exchange from bronze level on up cover the surgery.
If you're not obese, but you want to lose a few pounds, that can be done easily by exercising more and reducing your caloric intake. After I was able to eat nearly an entire plate of food in one sitting after the surgery, I used the Paleo Diet to lose weight. I'm doing carb cycling now to increase my athletic ability. I did a severe calorie restriction diet last year when I was in danger of being over 300 pounds again. If you're not trying to lose more than 10% of your body fat, you're likely to find a diet that works for you.
2. Exercise:
I'm not going to give anyone advice on what workout plan to use, or even to have a workout plan to start. People have different fitness goals, and you're going to have to decide what yours are. Nerd Fitness has a good article where they break down fitness goals based on RPG character archetypes, but you might not even know where you would be on that list yet. It's not important to know what to do when you're just starting out. What's important is that you do something.
Make it a point to exercise for one hour a day, five days a week. Pick your time in advance and make sure that you stick to it. Don't worry about what you're going to do at first. Don't even have a goal in mind when you start, other than to use that one hour to do some sort of physical activity. You'll decide what your goal is later.
After having bariatric surgery and being cleared for physical activity, I didn't decide right away to run a half-marathon. I just started running and did a basic bodybuilding routine, and I decided that I liked running so much that I decided to train myself to run 13.1 miles. The goal of running a half-marathon only came after I started running and found out that I enjoy it.
So it will go with you. You don't even have to lift weights or do a cardio routine (unless you want to). Just make sure that you're active. Maybe there's a sport that you did in high school that you enjoyed. Start doing that again. Play Pokemon GO. Take a MMA class. Do something! Your other goals will come later.
Make sure you avoid biting off more than you can chew, too. My ego has caused me to receive a lot of injuries over the past few years that could have been avoided if I had accepted that fact that my body is no longer 19 years old. Your workout should be challenging, but not so much that it leaves you injured. If you think you might hurt yourself, check your fucking ego and just accept that you're not strong enough to finish-yet. Your time will come.
You're going to have to remember a hard truth as you do this, too: Sport is selfish. When you make time to exercise, you're going to have to abandon your other responsibilities for a short time. This is one of my biggest difficulties in fitness, as I have two small children at home. Hopefully your family will be as understanding about your desire to be more healthy as mine is (seriously fam, thanks for putting up with all my exercise, meal prep, high carb/low carb/no carb days, and all the other stuff that I do; this would be so much harder without your support). If they're not, explain that you're doing all this because you a) Want to live to see your kids graduate high school, and b) Want your kids to be healthy as well. Your kids learn your habits, so make sure that they're healthy ones.
If the people in your life won't support you after explaining the benefits of being healthier, you may want to rethink whether or not they should be in your life.
3. Food!
This is a different section than weight loss because healthy eating is about more than just weight loss. You need to eat well to have the energy to be active.
I started meal prepping a few months ago, which is when you make several days worth of healthy meals in advance so you can eat while at work or on the go. It makes it easier to keep track of the macronutrients you consume, and also keeps you from ordering food from some crappy ass fast food joint or restaurant. If you google "healthy meal prep", you'll find a whole bunch of healthy food recipes. My favorite site for meal prep recipes is Fit Men Cook, but there's a bunch of others as well. YouTube has no shortage of videos, too.
A positive side effect of doing all this meal prep is that I've been forced to learn how to cook. I think one of the reasons why I was obese was that I just never learned to cook my own food. For most of my adult life if I wanted to eat, I had three options:
A) My very limited knowledge of dinner recipes, which mainly consisted of burgers, hot dogs, and grilled cheese.
B) Frozen and/or prepackaged food.
C) Ordering out.
None of these are healthy options, and not knowing how to make a nutritious meal was a major reason why I got fat in the first place.
Learning how to cook has also given me an appreciation for food that I never had before. Even my cheat days have been more enjoyable than they have been in the past, simply because I'm learning to make some really great tasting (yet unhealthy) food. There's a certain pride that comes with being able to make a tasty meal that you don't feel when you order out or get a pack of frozen food from a store.
For example, yesterday was my cheat day, so I made baby back ribs on the grill for the first time in my life. Did you know that barbecuing ribs is practically its own science? Neither did I, until I had to learn how to make them. Tear off the membrane. Place them in marinade for several hours. Make sure the coals on your grill are only on one side so your ribs cook on indirect heat. Figure out how to keep the coals from burning out (thanks for the help on that, mom!) Brush the ribs with sauce every hour, and cook for two and a half hours. Give it one last brush of sauce after you take them off the grill. Let them cool for fifteen minutes before serving. It's practically a part-time job.
A part-time job with one hell of a payout!
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| Tell me you don't get hungry looking at this. I dare you. |
I don't care how good the ribs are at your favorite spot, nothing compares to putting in the work of making your own and fucking nailing it! Now I know how Michelangelo felt when he painted the Sistine Chapel.
Did I just compare my ribs to some of the best known renaissance art? You're goddamn right I did! You don't think it's a fair comparison? Well, I dare you to come to my house the next time I barbecue up a rack of baby backs! Cooking is an art, and I AM A MOTHERFUCKING ARTIST!
But enough about my awesome cooking. This is about giving you advice.
Maybe you're already an experienced cook and you already take great pride in your work, but you just want to be healthier or learn new recipes. All the more reason to learn how to meal prep and research recipes on the internet. Over the past few months I've learned how to make lasagna using super-lean ground turkey and zucchini for noodles that tastes every bit as good as your standard lasagna recipe. I've learned how to make a delicious low calorie chicken and rice recipe using a slow cooker. I can make a healthy version of shepherd's pie that is heavy on vegetables and lacks none of the flavor. You can make food that's both healthy and delicious at the same time.
Believe me, you'll need to know these things when you're on your fitness journey. You can get away with eating junk when you start, but when your workouts get tougher, junk food isn't going to cut it.
4. Water:
Nothing much to say here. Just drink a lot of it. At least a half gallon a day. Avoid sugary shit (that includes sports drinks) unless you're on a high-carb day and you need it to get your macros.
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