It's never too late to change your life

by Fitz K. (Subscribe to Fitz K.'s posts)
Mar 8th 2007 10:30AM

Categories: Healthy Aging, Healthy Habits, Stress Reduction, Womens Health, Diet & Weight Loss, Fitness, Motivation, Nutrition & Supplements, Men's Health

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My 59 year old, male client Jody showed up to train on Friday, March 3rd with paperwork to validate all of his hard work. Jody's been training with me since December 22, 2006. He showed up at 320 pounds and on March 5th, 2007 he's down to 286 pounds. A spectacular loss of 34 pounds. He's been working out with me or on his own almost every day of the week since, and has adopted eating habits of the fittest. No diets ... just common sense.

Besides wanting to lose lots of weight, Jody and I discussed the goals he had for his life. He wanted to golf without low back pain, sleep free of apnea, fly without seat-belt extenders, sit in bleachers comfortably at the NCAA final four, and most importantly live long and well with his amazing family. Since Jody was a diabetic, I felt it important to point out that he was on his way to earning blindness and limb loss. Jody grimly nodded.

Friday was such a proud day. He had visited his internal medicine doctor and came back with fabulous results. His blood sugar levels had dropped by 60% and his doctor proclaimed we'd worked a miracle. He's almost in the normal range. Jody showed up with his "report card" and we cheered about his results. The doctor seemed to lose any concern about Jody's diabetes. I mentioned how nice it was that he wasn't going to have to worry about shots or blindness. At that point he confessed that before he began training he was waking up with blurry vision! I was shocked. Jody's only comment was that he guessed it was "never too late!"

You can say that again!

At 59, Jody has adopted brilliant new habits and is creating a new life for himself. He started in a pretty rough place. 320 pounds can not be fun. If you are 800 pounds or 100 pounds, weak, tight or lacking endurance...it's never too late to improve. Don't throw in the towel. Pick it up and use it to wipe away sweat.

Comments (1)

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

tomakins 3-08-2007 @ 2:26PM

Posting this from my blog a few weeks ago.

But first, some background. Since September of 2005 I have lost 70 lbs. Initially I did low-carb for 5 months. Lost about 20 lbs but for the last 2-3 months of it I didn't lose anymore.

I then switched to the Weight Watchers Winning Points system to try to get to 164 (just withing my BMI). The "weight loss" part fo my fitness has ended. Now my fitness involves maintaining my loss and staying active and energetic.

From my blog:

Star Patient
Dr. Death
Went to see the doctor today to follow up on the bloodwork that was done last week. Items to be checked were mainly my Good Cholesterol and TSH (Thyroid Stuff). Previously, although my Bad Cholesteral was low, my Good Cholesterol was kind of low too. Something only exercise and medication can change. Also, my levels of TSH were high, meaning that my Thyroid was "borderline under-active".

Results from the last blood test (6 months ago) compared to today:

Triglycerides
140 --> 64 (should be 93 (should be 42 (should be > OR = 40)

LDL Cholesterol (The "bad" cholesterol)
39 --> 38 (should be 6.41 (should be 0.40 - 5.50)

So cholesterol is much better. He was astounded that through just diet and exercise I was able to make that large of an improvement on my Good Cholesterol and my triglycerides.

Thyroid is a bit lower. Nothing to worry about unless it gets over 10. At that point I should see symptoms (energy levels changing, weight gain, cold hands and feet, etc).

What amazes me the most is my triglycerides. A year and 10 months ago I had them checked. I was about 200lbs at the time, not exercising much, and not dieting at all. They were 310! Now they are 64.

My father hard cholesterol issues. Mild strokes and all. Died at 50 from smoking and drinking too much. I try to keep things like that in mind. By his lifespan I am past middle aged and really need to stay on a healthy track. Dieting and exercise can do that. No magic pills or surgery. Good old fashion diet and exercise.

Be driven to get healthy, determined to be better than you are, and devoted to your health.

It will save your life.