When did you start to actively take care of your health?

I think most people have been through that stage of life in which you feel invulnerable. You can party all night, get drunk and feel great the following day. You can eat 2 pizzas, 2 packages of oreos and drink a 2 liter coke every other day and still have a six pack. You never get sick no matter how stupidly you dress for the weather and so on.

I think that stage of invulnerability comes to an end by the time you turn thirty, but you are still quite ok. You just need to pay a little bit more attention and everything stays good.

In my personal case, it was after 36 that I got a really bad string of diseases and health problems that changed my approach to life. I got a shoulder joint tear, prostate inflammation, gout, psoriasis, and a couple of anxiety attacks due to work pressure that at the time I thought meant I had heart problems.

None of those things were terrible by themselves, but together they shocked me in to action.

I really had to change my view of health at the time. I wasn’t extremely reckless to begin with, but I did eat an extremely shitty diet of McDonald’s, chocolates and cakes and even though I exercised, it was completely non health focused, just “bro science” splits for more muscles, without giving a shit about my joints or flexibility. I was always more on the athletic/slender side, so I thought, if I am not getting fat, it must mean I am healthy.

Now, I eat a bit more healthy, balancing occasional bad food, with more lean meat and much more vegetables. I also meditate and stretch; and my work outs now are not a game of “how intense and heavy I can make this stuff before I get injured again”. In fact, I am so happy I can work out again, after surgery and months of recovery that I go easy on biceps and shoulders, to prevent further injury.

How about you guys, when did you start to take care of yourselves? and what was the trigger?

Starter to regularly exercise over 10 years ago, when I noticed that cardio helps with the headaches (high temperature stabbing pain behind the right eye) and continue that to this day as weight control, as I tend to gain fat real fast otherwise and I don't even drink anything other than water and don't consume lots of junk food, and have been doing intermittent fasting for years.

Unfortunately, the headaches returned this year for a few months straight even with exercise.

Started to happen in the mornings as mild irritation, then moved on to being a crippling pain for ~30 minutes every other day, then daily, then constant mild pain with the crippling kind a few times a day, to one night when it was so intense when I was struggling with just breathing. Over a week after that it just went away.

Must have been a pinched nerve or something as the headache always started with stiffness in upper back and neck, parched mouth (no matter how much water you drink) and stomach pain and I was not able to lie on my back, because the back on my head used to heat up like I'm lying on burning coals.

That's some shit that lifestyle does not really help with, though.

Other than that, after burying my dog this June, I stopped going out for walks, so figured that it would be a good idea to spend my reading time waking around the house instead of sitting on my ass. So now I'm getting 1.5-2h of additional exercise that way, plus, it turned out to be more comfortable way to read books as your don't get stiff/uncomfortable while constantly walking around, unlike when sitting on your ass or legs. Win-win.

I'm 37, btw.

Only in small parts so far. Use my bike to work, trying to get some strength exercising done weekly. Need to work on flexibility and mobility but getting it as a habit is difficult.

I’ve been severely chronically ill since 20. There’s really no pointto trying to maintain my health, I don’t have it anyway, and apparently that’s not a choice that’s been left up to me to make.

Ever since I was 18. I realized back then, that I had to start making good choices early on, otherwise I was never going to live till old age.

When I got health insurance. Which, sadly, wasn't until my late 20's.

I remember everything up to that point had been "urgent care-only" visits because, being a US citizen, we have excellent health care (i.e. hospitals, doctors, research) but really poor health logistics or whatever you want to call it(i.e. insurance, support, etc), I could afford a regular doctor visit.

But when I got a new job around 2012 I got insurance and finally made an appointment. Got dental insurance, too, so finally got my teeth cleaned and some cavities filled.

It was good. Overall good. I was morbidly obese so I got a full blood and urine panel done and, thankfully, cholesterol was surprisingly good and no risk for diabetes. But I had hypertension so I got medication for that which helped. Also got diagnosed with sleep apnea and, wow, once I started using a machine for that I felt so much better.

Folks, if you snore or are overweight, get a sleep study done. Trust me on this.

Still though, I didn't really look after myself. I was essentially a drunk, drinking a lot of beer, ordering what I wanted at the pub without really caring about what it was doing to my body. I'm a foodie, and later I would get diagnosed with binge-eating disorder. This went on for most of my 20's and 30's. COVID really dialed up my eating disorder to 11 and I put on about 150 pounds in a year or two.

Anyway, I didn't really take care of myself until about a year ago when I started losing weight. Since the day I started counting I've lost about 270 pounds! Yes I'm bragging but I deserve to haha.

Damn that's rough, sorry to hear that.

If i may ask: is it just the fact that it wouldn't make a difference? Or is the difference relative to the required cost (work and money or whatever) just not worth it?

Came to Canada and in HS rowed heavily and played lacrosse. Trained an average of 4 hours a day, and was in insane shape. Was later diagnosed with a chronic illness that needs organ transplants, but have gone 20+ yrs so far... Although I feel fine most days, I was in the ICU twice this year for a week apiece. The latter I lost so much blood I needed 2 blood transfusions and 3 iron infusions (along with the other meds through 4 IVs in one arm and another in my other arm).

That is amazing!

It's interesting to hear everyone experiences. Also serves as a reminder that life style changes only go so far. Somethings either can only be solved by heavy medical interventions or can't be solved at all.

Makes me feel lucky, but also a bit more apprehensive about the future.

@mrbojangles25: well earned bragging as far as I am concerned!! ;-)

Have never really taken care of my body. Nothing I've thought about doing anyway. Haven't really trashed it either. I'm healthy, so I guess I'm not doing wrong.

I basically never exercise though. The only exercise I get is when I walk to places, which I do quite often, to be fair. I should probably exercise more (cause that's what I keep hearing from eveyone and everything). But it's really boring, so... nah.

I know I have said it before. But congrats again on the hardwork of losing 270lbs.

Yeah, it’s more of the relative gain vs the effort required that makes it hard to do, much less sustain.

Being chronically ill is always a degree of miserable and discomfort. Some days are better than others. I can work to be “healthy”, but that healthiness is within a new context and within the boundaries of illness. These are uncertain. It’s a new understanding of your physiology and its limitations imposed by the disease.

Some of it I suppose stems from the knowledge that I’m in a sick vessel, and I’d rather not disturb the waters. There is a sense that I’m walking a tightrope, and I don’t want to chance something that may trigger an unknown. Having a chronic illness has made me acutely aware as to the fragility of my own mortality, and it is deep down unsettling.

Congratulations on your achievement in weight loss, I have seen your posts throughout the years speaking of it. Keep up the fight, we all have our own in our own ways.

@Litchie: Walking can be very effective if you do it a lot. I did a quarter abroad in London during college. Did not eat well, my usual breakfast was chocolate chip muffins from Sainsbury's, and did not exercise at all, other than walking everywhere. Got down to the lowest weight of my life, ten stone (140lbs), from 165lbs. Walkable cities America, it would solve most of our health problems.

Been a gradual process for me that started in late high school. There was no general PE class for Juniors and Seniors (3rd and 4th year), and I got my driver's license so I was riding my bike less often. Started gaining weight. Didn't get huge or anything, but enough to be a wake up call. Realized that I would have to work in exercise somewhere because it was no longer being forced upon me :).

Would go jogging, and do some sit-ups and push-ups in my room. Also stopped drinking soda. One I went to college I made sure to take a PE class of some sort every quarter. Tried kickboxing, Tai Chi, Aikido and Yoga which became my main thing for many years.

Just kinda gradually picked up healthier habits over the years since. Regular exercise, and I eat pretty well, lots of fruits and veggies, though I do enjoy chocolate and donuts more often than I probably should. As I said, gradual process.

@mrbojangles25: 270lbs is quite an accomplishment. Brag it up!

My health and athletic ability has been very cyclical since I turned 21. I usually maintain healthy eating habits and a good workout regiment for roughly 2 years and then something happens and I let myself go for the next 3 years. I'm 6ft tall and I've been as light as 168lbs, running 21 miles a week and lifting weights 5 days a week. I've been as heavy as 245lbs (earlier this year) and I couldn't walk a mile without getting wiped out.

I turn 37 early next year. I know that if I kept this trajectory up, life was going to get very difficult very fast. About 2 months ago I started to cut back on my beer drinking, eat smaller portions and exercise at least 5 days a week. We'll see how it goes.

Was in very good shape as a young military officer. Then I spent close to 3 decades in the private sector with poor habits. Realized I was continuing to work for no reason, so I retired 2yrs ago. Back in great physical and mental health now, given my age.

have been a gym rat since my early 20s so been going roughly 5 days per week since.

keto and intermittent fasting was the dietary unlock i needed though. completely rewrites your eating habits. feeling full, no more grazing, completely disinterested in sweet stuff, gives you back full control.

breakfast the most important meal of the day? gtfo with that shit

At this point, exercise wise, I am heading downhill rather than up. Used to exercise when younger, now no.

However, I did quit smoking pot recently. So that will help my health because I was smoking it every day. Started to have some serious paranoia issues.

Over the last 10 years tend to get health kicks in waves. Get into working out for a year then stop then start again. Never been obese but definitely been out of shape, been consistently working out the last 8 months right now and feel pretty good, mainly weights and light cardio. I'm 220 and 6'2" after 8 months of weights which is kinda funny because I was about the same 8 months ago.. but I definitely put on a good amount of muscle and look and feel better than then. Going to keep lifting and then start a cut phase soon.

@DEVILinIRON: I quit smoking pot too, was starting to get in the way, anytime I smoked I'd start thinking about more important things I should be doing, it's been a net benefit.

@sargentd: Body composition is everything. I've been 200lbs and I looked like tub of lard. I've also been 195lbs and I had that v-cut shape, six-pack abs and thick musculature.

Good work. Keep it up.

It's been on and off ,didn't get serious about it until my mid twenties when noticing fatigue,burn out and Issues with my mind. Currently trying dry fasting

was always super fit and active as a kid, kept it going pretty well through college and into adulthood. kept active more because i enjoyed it vs feeling like i had to for health reasons. since having kids though it's gotten way harder to keep up with and i can tell i'm slipping and need to do more not for fun, but to maintain health as i get older.

JFC, dude. Nice going! I put on 50 lbs since covid that I haven't even bothered to address yet. I thought I was in a tough position.

Yeah I just started smoking pot again after a ~3 month break, and while I enjoy it in the moment it definitely sort of sets me up for failure. I just get really lazy and anxious and don't want to go out and do anything.

I don't think I'm going to resume when this vape cartridge runs out, might call it quits.

I'm turning 40 soon and I am becoming a very boring person: health-obsessed, no drinking, no smoking lol. I'm no fun at all!😋 Reckon I'll be having casual conversations about the weather soon with people.