socaldiver
Contributor
Back in January we made plans to go to Hawaii with my kids and their families this past June. As we were discussing what we wanted to do we were looking at the pics from 2001. Came across a pic of me sitting on the beach and was really disgusted by how overweight I had become.
I am 5'8" and was up to 205 lbs, been smoking for 40 years and at 59 realized I had possibly a quick ticket to journeys end. Only good part about the whole deal was I have maintained a good sac rate.
Anyway, in March I decided to do something about it and since then have worked out on the average 5 days a week. On days that I work I generally do 1 hour workouts, on my days off 1 1/2 to 2 hours depending on what else I have going on. My original workout would be x amount of minutes on a stationary bike and x amount of minutes on the treadmill walking at a 3 mile an hour pace. As time went by I became more aggressive and pushing myself harder. My goal was to drop 25 lbs and 4 inches off my midsection by the end of June. By the end of June I managed to drop about 15 lbs and a coule of inches. Somewhat satisfied but not totally happy after I came back from Hawaii I turned my workouts up another notch.
By the first of September I was noticing vast improvements and told my wife I wanted to run a 5k race. She and I registered to run the Long Beach Marathon's 5k run yesterday. Now I'm 59 and she is a few years younger and she has done little to no training but she is a tiny thing and physically fit (at least a lot more than me). Yesterday we took off and ran the race, completing it in just over 40 minutes ( I know, a snails pace to a lot of people). We were ecstatic about our accomplishment so much so that we are going to run another next month and then go into training to run the half marathon in LA this next March.
Oh, and to this date, 6 months after starting I have lost a total of 35 lbs and 5 inches. I also "quit" smoking about a week ago (too soon to say it is for good at this time). In case you are wandering my workout for the past month has been a 3 mile run (more of a jog - 13 minute miles) then jump right over on the stationary bike for a 15 mile bike ride at the 2nd highest level and then back on the treadmill for another 3 mile walk/run. That is when I get up in the morning before I go to work. After work I will do anywhere from 75 to 100 situps a night.
Moral of this story, you are never too old to get in shape and do things that you never thought were possible.
I am 5'8" and was up to 205 lbs, been smoking for 40 years and at 59 realized I had possibly a quick ticket to journeys end. Only good part about the whole deal was I have maintained a good sac rate.
Anyway, in March I decided to do something about it and since then have worked out on the average 5 days a week. On days that I work I generally do 1 hour workouts, on my days off 1 1/2 to 2 hours depending on what else I have going on. My original workout would be x amount of minutes on a stationary bike and x amount of minutes on the treadmill walking at a 3 mile an hour pace. As time went by I became more aggressive and pushing myself harder. My goal was to drop 25 lbs and 4 inches off my midsection by the end of June. By the end of June I managed to drop about 15 lbs and a coule of inches. Somewhat satisfied but not totally happy after I came back from Hawaii I turned my workouts up another notch.
By the first of September I was noticing vast improvements and told my wife I wanted to run a 5k race. She and I registered to run the Long Beach Marathon's 5k run yesterday. Now I'm 59 and she is a few years younger and she has done little to no training but she is a tiny thing and physically fit (at least a lot more than me). Yesterday we took off and ran the race, completing it in just over 40 minutes ( I know, a snails pace to a lot of people). We were ecstatic about our accomplishment so much so that we are going to run another next month and then go into training to run the half marathon in LA this next March.
Oh, and to this date, 6 months after starting I have lost a total of 35 lbs and 5 inches. I also "quit" smoking about a week ago (too soon to say it is for good at this time). In case you are wandering my workout for the past month has been a 3 mile run (more of a jog - 13 minute miles) then jump right over on the stationary bike for a 15 mile bike ride at the 2nd highest level and then back on the treadmill for another 3 mile walk/run. That is when I get up in the morning before I go to work. After work I will do anywhere from 75 to 100 situps a night.
Moral of this story, you are never too old to get in shape and do things that you never thought were possible.
