Same with mine. She lived to 96. Was healthy as a horse until she slipped and broke her hip.
1 Like
It’s really astounding just how little work is needed to build strength and muscle, so in that sense just even like 5 minutes getting a KB or some sort of object that you can progressively load overhead would lead to huge physical improvements in the long run. Anyone can do that while watching T.V. and it don’t even need to be hard!
1 Like
Yup! It’s a comically low amount of exercise needed to get MASSIVE returns on investment, and we STILL can’t get people to do it. Or they’ll do it and feel like they “earned a reward” and completely undo the benefit.
I love the Layne Norton quote “Don’t treat with food: you aren’t a dog”
2 Likes
I think the problem is that people also over complicate things to the point that it all appears to be a nonstarter scenario for the uninitiated.
Can literally do 2-3 full body days per week with compound lifts and manage calorie intake to be in better shape than 80% of the population. Thats it. But even beginners are sold elaborate progression plans, unnecessary intensity, complex programming and “specialized” diets as a method of value add market separation for the seller.
Throw it all in the closet and come back to it selectively if and when it makes sense to revisit as goals progress.
1 Like
Do as I say, not as I do. 
1 Like
…but then what do you SAY?
Pretty much most of what has been said. It also really depends on who I am talking too.
If it is someone who isn’t doing the easy things like, walking 8 to 10k steps a day, resistance train 3 days a week, and try to eat single ingredient whole foods. Edited to add, prioritize protein. My wife has got to the point that the word protein makes her roll her eyes every time I say it.
Then that is a great place to start. As others have said. Don’t make this difficult. Stop stepping over dollars to pick up pennies.
3 Likes
Change the subject
I’d love to hear how you’ve artfully accomplished that through the years. I’m sure you’ve run into this a lot.
Having a small family makes holiday dinners a piece of cake, no pun intended. They knew I never ate the “home cooked” deserts.
To the general public I just came off as unapproachable. Most common comments were something in the order of “I know someone bigger than you” or “If I lifted weights, I’d be as big as you.” Now I don’t look like I ever competed, so no one asks.
At work I just refused to talk about what I did concerning my physique. Because I ate a can of tuna at the morning break and another can at the afternoon break, I got assigned the name, Tunaman.
When I became supervisor I spent more time in the main office. There was a secretary who wanted to lose fat. I spent many conversations with her over about 10 years. She just didn’t have the self discipline over her love of foods not conducive to dropping body fat. She had some successes that followed with failures.
I was eating an apple when I read this and laughed hard enough that I spit apple on my phone. 
Caught me completely off guard.
1 Like
My favorite is when someone asks for workout advice and then proclaims “I don’t want to get too big though”. Happened twice recently with one of them being female. I was like don’t you worry… smh.
3 Likes
This fear of accidentally oversucceeding is funny. I always equate it to saying “I wanna go school but I DON’T want a PhD”
2 Likes
The most extreme analogy: “I’d play the lotto, but I don’t want to win much money.”
Also, this is an example of when I change the subject.
1 Like
I tell people what worked for me ( formerly morbidly obese here). You can’t expect to change everything at once. Fix one thing. I don’t care what it is. Maybe you cut out soda. Once you’ve done that for two weeks fix something else. Start walking every day. Go further than you did the day before. Increase your protein and get away from prepackaged food. Once you’ve got a handle on that, look into weight training.
I do have a girl at work who is trying to lose weight. She told me what she is doing and for some reason she was under the impression that protein would make her gain weight. I told her to up her protein and stop eating so much cheese. She thanked me two weeks later because she was finally losing weight.
1 Like
There was a woman at work who found out I was lifting and told me not to become “one of those muscle bound women”. I laughed. People honestly have no idea how hard it is to put on muscle mass like that.
2 Likes
She told me what she is doing and for some reason she was under the impression that protein would make her gain weight.
The myths around protein are so wild! I’ve also heard people say it will cause diabetes. The Keto crowd believes it will all turn to sugar (steak turns into cake). And then there are the folks that want you to believe you can only absorb 30g in one sitting. Meanwhile, those in the world of research have all talked about just how incredible protein is as a macronutrient, and how it’s almost impossible to overeat.
I like your graduated approach. Dan John has spoken about this. You accomplish small victories and you chain them together, with the goal that you soon establish a habit of simply succeeding in general, and then you can apply that to bigger and bigger goals.
2 Likes
Assuming you’re resigned to eating more than normal, at least make it count. If you absolutely love pumpkin pie (gross, but everyone’s different) then have some. But don’t load up on sides that you don’t really like just because they’re there.
But my main advice: Avoid mindless snacking all day just hanging out. Save your calories and splurges for the actual dinner, and not on pretzels and crackers and breads throughout the day.
3 Likes
Oh yes, I have definitely heard this argument. “You don’t want to look like a man!”
Too late! I already do. What’s it gonna hurt? At least I will look like jacked man. 
2 Likes
This was huge for me. It took me months to get all of meals in line. But it made it so much easier for me to break the sugar addiction. I had tried overhauling everything all at once so many times. Recipe for failure. So, figured out my food slowly. Then added exercise. Eventually I started to dabble in weight training. I’ve falled off the wagon a time or two, but I know how to get back on now.
This was also huge for me. I finally got my ass back in gear in August and have dropped about 18 pounds now. 100% due to high protein and weight training. Never feel hungry or like I’m missing something. Unfortunately, all the people I know who are unhealthy won’t listen to what I tell them when they ask for my help. Because, you know, “it’s easy for you. I can’t do that kind of stuff.” Legit quote from someone who asked me for advice.
3 Likes