The last fifteen years have been a wild health ride for me.
I entered my mid-20s at nearly 200lbs. Which, when you’re only 5'5" is a rather unhealthy place to be.
Thankfuly, my early 20s found me fully immersed in anarcho-capitalism, LewRockwell.com, and — of course — Ron Paul. Radical libertarianism aside, LewRockwell.com in the late aughts was rife with posts and essays on the benefits of the various paleo diets. As one does in their 20s, I went all in.
By 27 or 28 I was 130lbs, could wear a boys XL1, and was cycling miles each week on my bike. I’d never been so healthly in my life and I felt great.
The first half of my 30s, I was able to keep things mostly in control. Paleo fell a little to the wayside, but I never went back to eating SAD2. I mostly kept on track by restrictive dieting, calorie counting, Weight Watchers, and various apps. I had nearly zero time for exerise and basically did none. Still, with calorie restriction and a fairly young metabolism I kept my weight under 150lbs.
But then, my mid-30s hit. My metabolism tanked, stress increased, and everything was out of wack. It was incredibly hard to lose weight. Even to maintain a weight required some pretty extreme calorie reduction. I discovered a border-line eating disorder. At some point I gave up and stopped trying. I determined that constantly stressing and thinking about food was less healthy than the weight.
By July 2024, my “fat pants” were getting tight and I realized that instead of being the 160lbs I thought I was, I was a tad over 180lbs. I’d promised myself I’d never let myself get here again, so I took immediate action.
Michael’s Magical Health Plan for Lazy People
I knew myself well enough to know that I couldn’t do a diet, wouldn’t go to the gym, and wouldn’t give up my morning routine.
What I had at my disposal was 8a to 5p while I was at work, a standing desk, and a treadmill I’d bought as part of a previous (failed) effort to lose weight.
My wife and I were already really far down the path of healthy eating. We’d already gotten chickens, a CSA, made our own bread, and stayed away from ultra-processed foods. With our diet, we were feeling better and I was maintaining my weight. I really only needed a way to lose the fat and increase my strength.
Working with my wife, I devised the following two-prong approach:
Walk 50k Steps/Week on the Desk Treadmill3
a. Barefoot if possible4
b. Strive for bonus steps/exercise on bike & weekends
Maintain a Whole Food Diet5
a. No Ultra-Processed Foods
b. Home-made Yoghurt 6
That’s really and truly it.
We maintained the diet we had started a year or more prior after watching Food, Inc. and several other related documentaries. And, I started walking on the desk treadmill for at least 50k steps during meetings. I walk at various speeds (sometimes fast, sometimes incredibly slow). My goal isn’t calories, time, or anything else. Just the steps my treadmill records. Steps off the treadmill don’t count. (Unless it’s a big hike, bike ride, or exercise-focused activity.)
I started this back in July and hit my target for July & August. I fell off consistency (and slowed progress) until I recommited in January. Since January, I’ve consistently hit or exceeded my 50k target.
In that time I’ve:
- dropped down to 169lbs
- gone down four belt holes
- can stand up from kneeling with no support7
- dropped my Diet Coke habit
- have noticable core strength
- was able to unload 45 bags of mulch with no problem
In all this time, I haven’t tracked a single calorie, stopped drinking, or changed anything about my diet (other than the artificial sweeteners).
Per my good friend Claude, if I continue my 50k steps each week, I’ll achieve and maintain a health body weight by Christmas.
This is by far the easiest and most sustainable fitness and health plan I’ve ever followed. Generally I only need an hour and fourty-five minutes of meetings each work day to achieve my target. Even on days where I can’t get my steps in during the day, a round of Age of Empires IV while walking gets me there or pretty close. (I might need to do a few extra thousand steps the next day, but that’s twenty to thirty additional minutes, so no big deal.)
Because I’m targeting only 50K steps per week, I’ve got built-in space for sick days and travel. It’s really not a big deal to miss some days and catch up doing a 20k session or a few 15k sessions.
Conclusion & TLDR
In conclusion:
- Watch Food, Inc.
- Buy an underdesk treadmill
- Walk 50k steps per week (10k per work day)
That’s it. That’s the health plan. Do it and you’ll see results. Do it and you’ll establish a habit that’s easy to maintain and requires little thought.
Got questions? Need more details? Hit me up on Micro.blog!
#hobbitsrules #shortkings #kidssizesarecheaper ↩︎
the Standard American Diet ↩︎
I purchased a Walking Pad S1 back in March 2022 and it’s still going strong. ↩︎
Do your own research, but I’m pretty convinced on the benefits of barefoot walking. I’ve seen noticable core strength, better balance, and greater flexability all from my 50k barefoot steps on the desk treadmill. ↩︎
“Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.” - Michael Pollan ↩︎
I recently read Super Gut by Willian Davis. I’ve not gone fully down the path of making his specific yoghurt recipes, but he did inspire me to make yoghurt at home. For the last several months I’ve been making my own yoghurt from a French culture I got at the grocery store. I’ve been eating at least 1/4 cup day each day and I notice I just feel “better.” It’s hard to define, but good. ↩︎
An odd, but important, metric for a priest. ↩︎
