When I was 20 I lived fast and expected to die young.

When I lived past 30 and wasn’t close to dead, except for my social status; I had to rethink priorities. I decided being a married step dad is my life’s calling and brings me most joy.

It was mid 30’s that I would start joking that I was in my 40’s when people asked my age. This was also the time that I was inconsistent with my mid-week cardio plans but was very consistent with my weekend drinking binges.

Late 30’s I don’t bounce back like I used to and metabolism dropped off. My belly decided that it could spill over the top of my pants. I did pick up consistently walking my dog or playing disk golf at the nearby park.

I am now late 40’s and at the beginning of this blog I mentioned that I am going to do better this year than last with my health. So for the past decade I’ve been hovering around the 220-230lbs mark. Couple years ago I trained well enough to complete a half marathon as well as some epic hiking adventures. Last year I trained consistent enough to jog average 12min mile half marathon. So what am I doing different this year?

I am paying for a couple more Apps to track consistency for training and also calories. First up and most importantly I am using MacroFactor to count Calories! I’ve known this to be my problem for the longest time. I just didn’t want to feel hungry at night and snacking has been the challenge I’ve been avoiding. I feel the newness of MacroFactor has worn off, but I have been consistently using it. This past week I had a night out the some college buddies and I put in a big estimate of empty calories for that night out. I am not below 220 again but I am close. I am hoping to be around 200 by end of year…

Secondly, I’ve been using Peloton for years and have had their app but only would jump on the bike once or twice a week. I’d also go for a weekly 3-4 mile jog. Today I am still only jumping on the bike once or twice a week but I have added their 10-20 minute stretching and mobility instructor led classes. I was doing their upper and lower body strength workouts but now Tuesdays are my chest/back days and Saturdays are my leg days at the gym.

Lastly, adding to the consistency for cardio is Mapmyrun app. Since, I’ve added a lot more activities than just cardio, I’ve actually scaled back my jogs to mapmyrun 5k plan. It has me doing mostly 18 minute jogs that have been warm up or cool down on strength and mobility days. There is Sunday long run day but it is only 5k. Right now, I don’t plan for a half marathon again this year. I have dreams of being able to push my own weight around in the gym again. I’d like to get back up to 2 plates on the bar and use that for bench, squat, and deadlift. I don’t want to hurt myself and my ego is nowhere what it was decades ago, so it might take me longer than this year to get back to that level.

Oh well, I am not 50 just yet. It is right around the corner though and time keeps gaining momentum as the years move by. Just going to do a little bit better this year, so that I have another best year of my life.