Fitness and Dieting for The Middle-Aged Man

Normally, that would be a dietary disaster.  Good French food and wine (not fine" but good) for 27 nts.  I started off at 170 lbs but a weigh-in at the gym had my weight way over 182 lbs at one point.  The trip was followed by 4 nts in Japan, and over 3 weeks in Malaysia and Thailand (daily imbibing of sugary drinks usually totally absent from my diet).  Through all that with my normal workout routine, the damage was limited and I am back down to 3-4 lbs of my pre-trip weight after being home for 3 weeks.

I've been doing this for over a year, or more.  Here's a few salient points 1. Build big muscles.  Build big muscles, such as the core.  The big muscles bur a lot of calories, and once you build them planking is great), you don;t have to do much to maintain strength, . 2. Stay away from sugar as much as you can. I can't say I have anywhere near a sugar-free diet but I am very careful with what I consume, reading nutritional labels very carefully.  It's there in my diet but it s not excessive. 3. Exercise.  Move around. Do a fee sets. I've given up on pure planking, but do push ups and hold to a count of 5.  2 sets of 12. Squats combined with overhead lift.  Just a little bit to keep the big muscles in tone. 4.  Keep cool.  Keep cool (the house), dress as minimally as you can.  You can tolerate cool and it builds metabolically-active brown fat (burns only 1/2 as much as muscle but 4x as much as white fat). My weight has gone into the 163-170 lb range. Not t

Still alive and relatively healthy. I developed an ailment due to overuse of a limb so was out of the loop for a few weeks, and saw my weight slowly increase from 163 lbs to 170.  Starting to work it down again. I haven't figured out where to use my strap device in the new house so I am improvising. My routine is 2 sets of 12 pushups, holding for 5 seconds to work in a plank. 2 sets of 12 squats with overhead lift with a 20 lb dumbbell (only have one) 2 sets of single-armed rowing with the 20 lb weight 30 seconds of side planking when I get around to it Various core exercises. Overall pleased with the shape  am in for 56

It has been a lazy winter for me. The only exercise I've done daily or almost daily was pushups.  20-26 at a time.  Planking fell off.  Did some squats but pretty much nothing else.  I haven't found a place to use my strap gym.  My weight stayed constant over the winter though I am perhaps 1-2 Kg more than my low.  Some of my exercise has been pulling weeds, broom plants, using a 7 Kg or so tool which heavy when i have to haul it down, and back up, some 30-40 vertical metres. One thing I did read was that doing long periods of planks don't help, and more short reps are better.  As a result, I have modified my pushup routine.  Hold a plank at the top of the push up to a slow count of 5, 15 times and 2 sets.  Hopefully daily.  I have to work on the side plank too.

It's been 3 months since I got off the cruise ship followed by some 4 weeks in SE Asia and Honolulu (might as well be in Asia diet-wise). Through somewhat regular exercise (mainly doing over 20 proper continuous pushups and trying to plank at least a minute daily) and moderate eating (I eat less per meal but have snacks), I've managed to maintain my physique and reduce weight to my precruise level, and not incur much damage over the holidays. Perseverance and moderation....

One of the impetus for writing this blog was to answer on how to control weight gain while on a cruise.  I recently went on a 15-day cruise to get from one continent to the next, and with many days of not being able to go anywhere other than onboard, the ever-present food was all too tempting. Though the food wasn't all that good, lunches with 2 or 3 courses, dinners with 3 or more courses, sometimes with 2 main plates, didn't help.  I broke my main rule by not using a belt, and eating desserts (though not every day) and the very delicious bread. Damage was over 2 Kg (4.5 lb + gain) though the palestra , conveniently located very close by for damage control. I dud use the equipment to alternate upper and lower body workouts daily, as well as always doing my pushups, plank and squats, adding lunges and side plank.  Aerobic workout through swimming (often in the cold Gulf of Alaska/Bering Sea waters outdoor pool with warm ups between laps in the luke warm outside hot tub), ro