50 and Still in Great Shape: What's My Secret?

There are tons of stories out there from people who have lost weight. Some people have lost large amounts of weight, others have lost it, gained it back and then lost it again. There is no shortage of impressive, heart-warming weight loss stories to inspire you. I haven’t read that many stories, though, from people who have never had to lose weight, from people who have always been in shape, particularly middle-aged people and beyond. And isn’t that the goal? To never get fat in the first place? Isn’t that what we want for our kids? Well, I’m one of those people who has always been in shape and here is my secret. Actually, there’s really no secret, but this is how I’ve done it over the years.

I was the youngest of five kids, born in Mishawaka, Indiana in 1960. We didn’t have the money to go out to eat when I was a kid, so all of our meals were eaten at home. We always ate breakfast together every morning. We drank milk with our meals and we never had soda in the house. I did get to drink soda pop occasionally at one of my friends’ house. By the way, she was heavy.

Anyway, when I was three years old, my dad had his first heart attack. He was 43. When I was ten, he had his second heart attack. It’s not that he was out of shape – he just had a bad ticker. He had open heart surgery, back in 1970 at The Cleveland Clinic, when it was brand new stuff. It was a long, slow recovery.

In order to keep my dad alive and healthy, my mom updated her way of cooking. We ate skinless chicken long before it was the norm to eat skinless chicken. I remember because it was my job to take the skin off and I hated it. We limited our butter, switched to 2% milk and always had vegetables with every meal.

In addition to assuming a heart-healthy diet, part of my dad’s rehab was to walk, so he and I did a lot of walking together. We’d walk to the river or the park. We’d walk downtown and we’d walk uptown. We’d walk east and we’d walk west. Ironically, my dad’s heart disease resulted in my having a very healthy, active upbringing.

My mom and I did a lot of walking together as well. Gee, I sound like Forest Gump! My mom didn’t drive, but we had places to go – like shopping. So we’d walk downtown and we’d walk uptown or we’d catch the bus and head to South Bend to shop. We loved to shop, so we walked a lot!

I was never in any organized sports, but I loved gym class, and playing kickball at recess and playing dodge ball in after-school gym. We weren’t allowed to watch television or sit around the house too much. It was always “Go outside and play!” So we did. We played “kick the can” in the alley out back. I loved my swing set and hanging upside down on the trapeze. We rode our bikes all over the neighborhood, and no, we didn’t wear helmets.

The combination of a healthy diet and plenty of physical activity in my childhood benefited me well into my twenties. When I hit thirty, I got a divorce and hit the gym. It was my therapist and my social life during a difficult period. In the gym, I headed straight for the weight room. I’m definitely not the queen of cardio, but I love lifting weights. I saw results so quickly that I was hooked immediately. I’ve been working out and eating well ever since.

We could go into all the detail of how often I work out and how much I lift and what I eat, but the details just aren’t that important. What matters is that I work out consistently and I make healthy eating choices the majority of the time. If you want to stay in shape forever, eat healthy and get plenty of exercise. If you want your kids to always be in shape and never have to battle weight loss, feed them a healthy diet and make sure they get plenty of physical activity. Told you there was no secret!