You are what you eat! TV (a dated term) shows you a commercial showing a juicy burger, cheesy pizza…and, well, you know better, that food is not for you.

Gone are the good old days of our youth but my gosh, look at everything we have learned on our journey so far! It is our second half of the game and there is a shit-ton of life to be lived.

I speak of freedom of choice, so some of you have thrown caution to the wind, and you are reading this over a plate of waffles and chicken but at least you are washing it down with some Diet soda because you are conscious about your calorie consumption.

For me, I created a new baseline (and waistline) as I entered my 50’s. I strapped a fitness tracker on my wrist and realized that I had to monitor what I was putting into my body or risk replacing my wardrobe every 6-12 months. And I will not tell you what my doctor had to say about my blood panel beyond that, you need to make better choices and get some exercise Ironically this is coming from a doctor who is overweight and loves barbeque but nonetheless, I love this guy as he does not let me get distracted by calling out his condition vs. mine, it is all about the customer and I too have voiced concerns about the trajectory of my blood panel over the years in comparison to my weight.

Health and humility definitely go hand in hand for mid-lifers or again, back to freedom to choose, maybe you are choosing happiness over health. Happiness you find from delicious fried foods, pasta, sweets and adult beverages. Damn the torpedoes, I am keeping myself “healthy” by taking a pill for my blood pressure and cholesterol-nothing to see here!

Dammit, dammit, dammit. You run but you can not hide from the inevitable, you feel better when you move and eat for your midlife age.

It is not complicated, let me be your guide, your beacon for common sense. As I mentioned, a fitness tracker has been on my wrist since I was 50. Here is the result, the more I move, hit my exercise goals, combined with moderation on eating all those things I love but know are not good for my gas tank, the less my body expands. More importantly I feel better, I sleep better, friends say I look better and I happen to agree, damn I even walked on the beach the other day with my shirt off. Oh, and my weight has not varied by more than 5 pounds in the last 6 years. Arguably I need to shave 15 pounds and I know I would feel even better but I have had to be real about determining my midlife baseline for health. For now, I know I am maintaining but make no mistake, I do have to go down in weight or better yet my body mass index (BMI).

I know in order to do that, I will need to move more, eat and drink less and focus on the quality and quantity of food I shovel in my mouthhole. Cue the Metallica song…Sad But True