What are you doing these days to stay healthy and fit? Has it changed recently or over the years or is it nonexistent? Are there revelations you've had in the past decade or less that you wish you knew when you were a kid? How is your diet? Do you even care? These are just sample questions to get you to divulge your details, I'd love to hear it. I'm of the opinion that we should all do a bare minimum of things that we can individually, but I'm also willing to share advice and information for people who feel like they need help with how to proceed with things like how much of what to eat, what not to eat, when to eat it, and lifestyle priorities that need to be in place for changes to take place or at least to maintain goals that have been reached. Ok that's enough from me for now.
Physical exertion, or the things you do to stay alive these days
I have 3 blue heelers, so that's a couple miles of walking each day.
From May through July, I lead a bunch of 5-18 y/o kids as a swim coach, so that's another few miles of running a week, plus swimming.
Three days a week, I go weight train with my friend, my wife, and sometimes my kid (we do body weight Mondays - pull ups, sit ups, planks, dips, leg lifts, etc), core Tuesdays - bench, free weights, more leg lifts, and leg Fridays - squats, dead lifts, and various isometric machines; each day has a warm up and cool down on the indoor track at the gym).
Three other days a week, I run from my house to my house, around a private high school, which works out to 5 miles. I am slow.
After getting hit by a car, I've cut back on my bike commuting pretty hard.
I eat like a campground racoon.
Your powers are useless! I'm wearing my tinfoil underwear!
Ooh this is a good one for me! My apologies for a novel...
So, I am jacked now. Because I had to get gastric sleeve almost exactly 5 years ago (this June) as a requirement to get my back fixed (5 years this November), EVERYTHING changed for me. I have lost 135lbs and am maintaining well. But I have very little wiggle room allowed for regain on my hardware (20ish pounds max) so it keeps me from eating like an asshole and from skipping workouts. But my mental health really improved with working out--unfortunately also to the point where if I don't have that option, I am a fucking nightmare to be around!
Exercise-wise, I get up weekdays around 4am, do at least 60 min of cardio, some days harder than others (stepper or treadmill or even jumping jacks for an hour), then get ready for work. I also walk/run in the banquet room or outside at lunch most days. I also lift heavy weights 3-4x a week, usually right after work for an hour 2-3 days a week, and then as long as I can spend on a Sunday morning without running into scheduling bullshit--2 hours or so usually, and if I can do the full 2+hours, I literally do every machine in my splits that day and do my damndest to murder myself. Weekends are often a lot of moving parts because there's usually some kid's baseball game or basketball game, or multiple kids games and none of them are ever remotely nearby each other, so unless it's like an 8am game, I will get up early and do at least the basic hour of cardio, then pack a meal to go. Otherwise I do whatever I can around the games. Homie doesn't do rest days, the most "rest" I do is maybe only that hour of cardio in a day.
That's been something I've had to talk about in therapy, because I cannot sit still when I am anxious and will literally get up and jog in place or do jumping jacks sometimes bec it keeps me from panicking or just keeps me from obsessing about stuff. My shoulder surgery Monday is going to be a mental challenge, my surgeon told me on our pre-op zoom last night that I am gonna get frustrated, but that I am allowed light cardio after day 5, and can walk outside at a "reasonable pace" after the first day or two (once the anesthesia is worn off)--the reason it's "light cardio" is bec he doesn't want me to get sweaty around the wound and it will also be gross since I can't shower for a while. The OCD germophobe is not handling this well. My followup at 10days out will determine how much longer I sit, but he thinks after 3 weeks I can start doing lower body with some adjustments (much lighter weights, bands, cables). I don't do much upper anyway, but that will definitely be put off a while. I don't start PT til at least 6 weeks out.
Foodwise, I am neurotic. I track every morsel I consume, meal prep/plan, and I am generally pretty low carb overall. I have a fucking vitamin store protein aisle in my basement, and keep a stash in the dining room and at work. I eat 4x a day, usually 9am, 1pm, 5pm and 8ishpm, and can only hold about 3/4cup of food at a given time. I don't eat and drink at the same time with rare exceptions (sometimes I will eat protein cereal with protein shake as the milk, and I do that on nights I want to get the shits because it gives me a form of dumping that is thankfully fast acting, vs the regular kind I get that lasts a fucking week.) After I eat, I wait 45min minimum before I drink anything, and then drink water constantly til my next meal, and stop drinking around 20-30 min prior to the meal. That prevents the food I just ate from getting pushed out of my stomach too fast, and also if I mix the two I feel like shit. No carbonation ever, no alcohol ever, don't really do coffee. An average day with cardio only is around 1500-1600 cals, 175+ protein (195 average), 60ish fat, 85 total carb. On a lift day, more like 1800-2000, 225+ protein, 60ish fat and 125 max total carbs.
That made me laugh out loud
It's probably why I'm not jacked.
Your powers are useless! I'm wearing my tinfoil underwear!
Possibly! But you're also not super out of shape/unhealthy either.
Mostly trying to ear right, plus lots of walking what with the floofs.
Wow ame, Jehannum, you guys are both killing it, ame with the juicy details and Jehannum with the meat and potatoes no BS facts of hitting it. Really glad to hear this from both of you, it makes me so happy to see people living lives like this and how there is variation for each individual to what works for them, what can work best, and what can be improved upon or flat out avoided. I especially like that ame you laid out your exact daily macros and they are probably the most important thing if I were to start anywhere with somebody from square one, and your macros are on point! Very impressive weight loss and don't forget what a monumental feat you've accomplished and maintain, bravo.
I'm going to be honest. With everything that happened(and ohhh boy do I have some stories to tell about a year ago, but they can't be in a public forum), I ended up coming back to my home town, and I was super super depressed and the food that's available here is awful and I put on around 30 pounds.
Then I started ADHD medication and now I forget to eat anything all day. What's that? 6:00 PM and all I've had for the day is a bowl of cereal? Well I guess that will work...
It really is interesting how just walking compared to not walking can make a difference in people's lives, and the emotional component to eating that affects disciplined decision making for self improvement goals or a lack of desire to care about self improvement (what's the point!?) in specific environments and situations has such importance as to whether a change will or won't take place for the long haul. All of these aspects are present for everyone, the question is will you address them or not, and how overwhelming does it feel for you to address them.
I am amazed at those of you who can actually work out and put the discipline and effort into it. My sincere admiration 
I just walk when the weather’s nice and that’s about it. 
Quit doing IT 10+ years ago. Now a Museum Nerd.
Vulture wrote: Sat Feb 21, 2026 2:12 amWow ame, Jehannum, you guys are both killing it, ame with the juicy details and Jehannum with the meat and potatoes no BS facts of hitting it. Really glad to hear this from both of you, it makes me so happy to see people living lives like this and how there is variation for each individual to what works for them, what can work best, and what can be improved upon or flat out avoided. I especially like that ame you laid out your exact daily macros and they are probably the most important thing if I were to start anywhere with somebody from square one, and your macros are on point! Very impressive weight loss and don't forget what a monumental feat you've accomplished and maintain, bravo.
Thank you! My coworkers and family are fucking awesome in that they have been so supportive and understanding and apparently my coworkers feel like they want to try to stay on track with whatever they're doing because I push them. I used to run everyday for like two hours at work when it was slow and someone actually was like "ok now you're just fat shaming us".
I have quarterly check ins with the bariatrics team and they also follow me on Instagram (as does my therapist) which helps keep me on track. I am a very unusual case for the bariatric surgeon in that I was given pretty clear instructions and the surgeons laid out the consequences of not following them, and I am pretty damn good at following such directives. A fair amount of patients farther out tend to slip back into bad habits and have some form of regain, and I not only have not experienced that, I have actually gotten leaner and ripped because I take it very seriously. Some of them stop doing their followups, and I think that also makes it easier to go backwards. Knowing that paralysis is a possibility acts as a great deterrent for not staying on plan, but it's also become a really good outlet for anxiety and general restlessness. This surgery tomorrow is going to be a big blow to that, but he told me I can do some movement so I am a little less stressed.
I had a DEXA scan last year around my 4 year anniversary from the sleeve and an InBody this past November at the surgeons office and both kicked back that I have roughly 9% body fat (9.2% I believe-and the surgeon actually wants me to gain more fat which...no?) I am actually mad I didn't think to do those before surgery since i love to track the data and the before and after would be insane. I use MacroFactor to track, and Bevel and Athlytic to aggregate data. I don't like any of the workout type apps like Hevy or Ladder, though. Seeing the numbers is probably not good for my OCD, though. But that's why they have me on meds lol
I cannot say that I've ever forgotten to eat though.
What is the shoulder surgery going to be exactly, a torn rotator cuff repair? Just curious because most people who strength train always are told don't do this and don't do this for this many weeks but instead they get undet the bar as soon as they can and actually heal up faster and better by training smart and not laying completely out like the doctors suggest in most cases.