I’m off track. Not completely off track, but I am:
- Not exercising the way I want to
- Gaining fat beyond my acceptable limit
I’m still maintaining a vegan-plus-eggs diet, but I injured my shoulder about a year ago, and after many months of trying to work through it, I finally figured out it was time to take time off from my workouts to let the thing heal, before I mess it up forever (if I haven’t already).
That decision to rest, though, came after I’d already put on quite a few pounds around my gut, so it’s not as if I became fat while sedentary. I was still working out. Unfortunately, my weight is now back to where it was before I started P90X in February, 2010, and I have to say I am dumbfounded by this set of circumstances.
I had believed that diet was everything, but my diet was still good and I had gained the weight. Obviously there are other factors in play inside my body.
What is it, then? My increasing age? That surely has something to do with it. It seems natural to get fatter as we get older. Whether it’s because we become more sedentary or our testosterone levels diminish or it’s just in our genes, there must be something natural about older people being fatter, because that is pretty much the case in the world I observe every day — in general, old people are fatter than young people.
That doesn’t mean that my increased fat is not weighing on me psychologically. In fact, I am extremely disappointed by it. Almost despondent, in fact. I’m not kidding — this is outright depressing.
However, I have decided, after a few months of analyzing the situation, to stop feeling sorry for myself and get back to basics.
Exercise? Walking. Lots of walking, back to circling the kitchen island while watching tv during breaks from work. I have an app on my phone that measures how many steps I’ve taken, so I keep my phone with me most of the time now.
Diet? No big change there, because I think I’m on the right track, but I want to get more back to whole foods, so I’ll focus on that.
I am also doing something that I think would be against doctor’s orders, and that is adding more caffeine, mostly coffee. I feel as if I need it, so I’m going up to a max of three cups a day.
I’m not sure what is going on with my 50+ year old body right now, but I know I’m not going down without a fight.
One thing I’ll say here is that my back feels great, better than it has in years! So there’s that….