The End Of Dadbod

Well, it's been a year since I decided to take that step to shed some weight and try to be healthy in terms of taking care of my diet and implementing an exercise routine. So, let's talk about it.

It was at the end of August of 2023 when I went to the doctor's office because of asthma issues. Mind you, asthma had not been a problem for YEARS until I had gotten Covid in July that same year, which actually brought it back. Before addressing the asthma problem, the good doctor checked my weight and blood pressure and without skipping a beat, laid it out to me - my blood pressure was high, my resting heart rate was jacked and at 94kg, I was going to be ridden with serious cardiovascular issues in a few years if I choose to not do anything about it. He suggested that I come in again a couple months later to see if I needed high blood pressure medication. He asked me if I had any family history dealing with hypertension or cardiovascular disease. Yup, that would have to be my father's side of the family. My dad had a bypass surgery in 2004 after a heart attack.

That was a low point for me. To be honest, I was really dismayed with the state of my health and fitness for a few years already. All throughout my adult life, I had always taken care of my health and fitness by way of running or jogging and eating sensibly. If I noticed that I had slacken and gained weight, I would start to put on the running shoes again and the fat would melt away, so I never let myself go for too long. That's the great thing about being in your twenties and even early thirties - it was fairly easy to lose weight. In 2014 I was at my fittest after a short spell of being overweight in 2013. I was racing bikes and mountain-biking regularly. However, ever since I got into an accident (side-swiped by a bus whilst riding my bicycle to work) in 2017, it was a slow decline. And the fact that a couple of months after that I had gotten married and had kids a few years later, meant that life was different now. I didn't have the luxury of time to indulge in my active lifestyle pursuits. It seemed selfish to be even going out for a ride. And proper diet and nutrition? Man, that was out of the window a long time ago. My diet was a mess. I just simply could not jump back into the 'get fit mode'. There was even a time during the pandemic where I was almost hitting the weighing scale at a hundred kg and walking short distances was actually a labour and made my ankles hurt. Granted I was not morbidly obese but that was pretty bad.

But I was of mind that hey, I'm a dad now, so embrace the fatherhood and the dadbod. That's how things roll right? My kids are super young, I don't have the time to do anything else. Isn't that the norm? You got married and let yourself go and have a belly. That's how the script goes. But here's the thing - at 48, unfit and overweight AND having small kids, is TIRING. How did I expect to be a dad and sole breadwinner if there was a likelihood of me being struck down by some serious health issues along the way? I was nothing more than a ticking timebomb what with the family history of hypertension. I realized then I was being really irresponsible. It is NOT selfish to take time to take care of yourself. I couldn't do anything about my age, but I certainly could do something about my health and fitness. I owe it to my children and wife to be the best version of myself. I would very much love to see my kids grow up and not be wheelchair-bound, bedridden or dead. Life and death are in the hands of Allah, but YOU have to put in the work. All these excuses about not having the time to start working out and exercise and take care of what I was consuming like how I used to do was just weak and lame. I was disgusted with myself.

With the asthma being back as well as the blood pressure and being overweight and who knows what else might be lurking in the underlying abyss of my physical self - I thought enough is enough. This sucks. Things had to change. I had to change. I stepped out of the doctor's office with a firm resolve.

I'll write about the things I did to whip myself back in shape since, in the next one insyaAllah.

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