Written by: Tony Junkin (originally written 04/14/23)

I went to college for Nutrition and Exercise Science. All through my 20’s, I was an avid runner, a fitness instructor, and a personal trainer. I was in great shape, I made smart food choices, had good self care and sleep hygiene, and an overall healthy lifestyle. 

When I hit my 30’s, I realized I just didn’t have the energy to do all of the things I had been doing and I transitioned into healthcare administration. I worked long hours that involved sitting at a desk or standing in front of a hospital computer cart, but there wasn’t a lot of movement involved. I also got married and life just went in a direction that didn’t involve me maintaining the same level of health. I would start to get healthy again and then stop for whatever reason, but it always seemed like I was too busy, too tired, too stressed, too sick, etc. to maintain any attempt I made.

Now, I’m in my 40’s and sometime last summer, I hit a breaking point. I went to visit family in Texas for a week and did a lot of thinking while I was there. I realized I was tired of not feeling well all the time. I was tired of being “TOO”. I could put so many words after that like I did in the sentence above and they were all bad and I needed to find my younger self again before it was too late to do so. I had worked in an assisted living center at one point and I saw what happens to people who don’t take care of themselves. A surprising number of the residents there wouldn’t have to be there if they had taken better care of themselves, but a sedentary lifestyle caught up with them and they were paying a price I did not want to pay. 

So I changed! I changed my entire lifestyle to get back to the person I wanted to be and the one that I am supposed to be. Over the last 7 months, I have lost 45 pounds through lifestyle changes and I feel better than I have in 15 years. And I brag about it! And I buy clothes I never thought I would wear again and actually wear them! I absolutely earned the right to do that, but just like my health, I do it in moderation. 

I realize that, given my previously active lifestyle and education, I had an advantage most people don’t have. I totally get that. But I also know that it took a lot of work and putting my 20’s and my 40’s together, I realize that it can be done at any point in our lives, but there are certain basic things that have to happen and that’s what I want to share with you. There is so much social media and marketing out there telling you what to do to be healthy and about 95% of it is totally wrong. 

If you want to improve your health, there is no better person to get advice from than someone who has the education and has actually done a transformation themselves. That last part is the reason so much advice given is bad…it comes from learning but not from experience. As someone who is living proof that it can be done, here are the things I have learned that are essential to a healthy lifestyle. I will go into all of these things separately in future newsletters, but for now, these are the basic necessities for optimal health. Do these and I promise you that it will kickstart the goals you want to achieve.

THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS A QUICK FIX

You already know this, but you have to truly accept it or you will never be healthy. There is no magic pill or crazy diet or trendy exercise that will make you healthy on its own. You have to put in the time and work your body needs to function at its best. It doesn’t have to be hard work, but it does require work and you’re either ok with that or you aren’t, you make the choice. Even the newest trend, the injectable medication for weight loss, is not going to help. I mean, it will make you lose weight absolutely! But you will gain the weight back as soon as you stop using it and you will never be healthy because you haven’t made any changes to your lifestyle. Besides, if you can afford to take it long term then I need to know what you do for a living because I may need a career change!

CLEAR OUT YOUR PANTRY

Go through every cabinet in your house and get rid of all the junk food and snack food. Throw out the cookies, crackers, chips, sweet treats, ALL OF IT. I know there are starving children in Africa, but the junk food in your house isn’t going to make a difference to them. GET RID OF IT. If you have it in the house, you are going to eat it. If it’s not readily available, you will be much less likely to leave the house and go get it. That leads directly into my next piece of advice.

LISTEN TO YOUR BODY

We live in a world of excess and instant gratification. We also hate the word “no”. When we want some chips, we have them because they are right there in our cabinets. But that “want” is just a craving and cravings usually last about 30-45 seconds. Most of us just react to a craving as though it were actual hunger, but it’s not. Most of us were also taught from a young age that you need to eat everything on your plate and that is a filthy, horrible lie. The point blank, honest, unpleasant bottom line is this: if you are overweight, you are eating more than your body needs and it is screaming inside for you to stop, but you have to listen to it and get to know it very intimately. 

TRACK YOUR FOOD INTAKE

Smartphones are a wonderful invention because we have everything we need to know right in our hands. You may think you don’t eat enough to be overweight, but, outside of a medical condition, if you are overweight it is absolutely because you are eating more than you need. Period. Download an app and start tracking every single bite you put in your mouth and you will be surprised. Chances are, you are either snacking throughout the day and not counting it when you consider your overall eating or you actually aren’t eating a lot, but the things you eating are really bad for you. My favorite app is MyFitnessPal because it has a huge database of food and you can even scan the barcode on the package you are eating from and it enters the food for you. It also gives you a reasonable calorie goal based on your current weight and goal weight and it breaks down your macronutrients so you can see exactly what you are eating.

MOVE YOUR BODY AND MAKE IT A HABIT

Exercise alone will not make you physically healthy. Ultimately, your diet is where you get health, but being active will improve your physical and mental health as well. Most of us spend our day sitting at a desk and then come home and sit some more before laying in a bed for the night. Humans were meant to move, so do what you are made to do! I know it isn’t easy, but the number one reason most people fail at exercise is that they start off pushing too hard. It takes 3 solid weeks (21 days) for something to become a habit. If you can do something consistently for 21 days, studies have shown you will most likely continue to do it so here’s what I suggest: walk around the block every day. If you live in an apartment, walk around your building. It may only take you 5 minutes to do, but it’s 5 more than you were doing before and if you do it for 21 days, you can add another block to the first one. You may want to sooner, but you don’t have to. There’s no time limit to exercising and I have found that people who start slower do much better than people who do too much too fast. I can also promise you that nobody has ever developed a realistic and healthy exercise habit and then said “gosh I really wish I wouldn’t have done that!”.