We need to face the fact that the United States of America is fat. This is an epidemic, possibly as bad as the opioid epidemic if not worse. The leading cause of death in the United States is heart disease.
I am currently on a body fat reduction journey and have been since 2020. In today’s day and age we have a lot of people supporting the body positivity movement and some of those folks are morbidly obese. I get it! I understand that some people refuse to see their lifestyle or body type as unhealthy. However I am someone who has lost a couple of cousins who were in their late forties and they were morbidly obese. It sucks to see family members that you love perish at an early age because they were overweight.
My friend Jason recently asked me if I workout, to which I responded “of course!”. I lift weights and perform other workouts not because I plan on being a male model or because I plan on getting below ten percent body fat but because I wish to show my gratitude to God for giving me the ability to move and because I have a young daughter that I plan on seeing turn at least 34, she is now 7 for those wondering. I like to go into a gym and kick my own ass and then have soreness in my muscles. This leads me to believe I’m doing quality workouts.
You don’t need to lift weights if you don’t want to but I encourage you to do so. As you age your body is atrophying and muscle mass is important to your overall health. However changing your body composition by reducing body fat levels is not overly complicated and can most likely be achieved in 3 simple steps.
1.) Move more
As much as we may have an overeating problem in the United States we also have a sedentary problem. You can increase your activity by simply walking around your neighborhood or walking on a treadmill. Everyone’s goal should be to get ten thousand steps per day but you don’t have to go from one thousand steps per day up to ten thousand steps in a week period. Take your time and steadily increase your steps.
Perhaps you don’t currently know how many steps per day you’re taking. You can find out by purchasing an inexpensive smart watch that counts your steps, monitors your heart rate and keeps track of your sleep. I have this one and it works by feeding the data to an app on my android smartphone. As you can see from the screen grab below I was over ten thousand steps on January 25, 2023.
2.) Drink more water
If our bodies really are seventy five percent water then it stands to reason that we should all be drinking more water. Hydration is one of the pillars of health. It helps prevent you from getting muscle cramps, helps aid in the removal of waste and contributes to your overall well being.
3.) Eat more protein
Protein is more satiating and should help provide steady blood sugar levels and energy. Based on my experience, protein keeps me satisfied longer and certainly helps me sustain intense workouts.
The bottom line is this - no one will care about your health if you do not. Do not look for an outside source to be your medical savior if you've spent years abusing your body and health. Take control of your life, make good decisions and understand that long term gains are achieved like a pile of sand. Enough grains of sand eventually make a pile of sand. You'll be surprised how much better you'll feel and how much better you will sleep just by following the 3 items listed above.