Health on Marmanold.com

Daily Supplements

Michael W. Arnold — Tue, 14 Apr 2026 13:28:19 -0600

Since last time we spoke I’ve modified my daily supplement stack based on the newest studies.

What I was taking before was working fine, but sometimes I’d still have flair-ups. Switching to glucosamine sulfate is supposed to increase the rate it’s usable by the body and there’s some good research now on boswellia.

Thus far, I’d say the most effective supplement is the fish oil. I’ve been using it for years and can almost immediately notice when I stop taking it. The turmeric also seems to have a good effect for me along with the glucosamine and chondroitin.

I’ll give this new stack a few months and then check back in with how it’s going.

On Waking-up

(before coffee or food)

UC-II Collagen 40mg

Morning

(with breakfast)

Glucosamine Sulfate + Chondroitin 750mg/600mg
Turmeric 665mg
Fish Oil 2,000mg
Boswellia 500mg

Evening

(with dinner)

Glucosamine Sulfate + Chondroitin 750mg/600mg
Turmeric 665mg
Fish Oil 2,000mg
Boswellia 500mg
Vitamin C 1,000mg
Vitamin D 2,000 IU
Zinc 15mg

Observations from the Newly Fit

Michael W. Arnold — Mon, 05 Jan 2026 08:51:27 -0600

The year of our Lord, two-thousand and twenty-five was a big year for my health and fitness. I ended 2024 the heaviest I’d been since I lost nearly 90 pounds in my 20s. When I lost it, I promised myself I’d never get there again. But, the addition of child number three, post-pandemic work frome home, and a host of other stresses and changes found me back up to 180 pounds. I’d been hovering there for about two years and in the summer of ‘24 I decided I was done. No more excuses. No more procrastination.

Thankfully, Jennifer and I started a new health journey when she was pregnant with our youngest. Due to some health concerns, we transformed our diet and really learned how to cook. We joined a CSA. We dumped all the chemicals in our house. We bought in to our own cow. We dropped all ultra-processed foods. We started canning and making our own yoghurt. All of this laid the foundation. With a clean and solid diet, I was actually feeling pretty good. And, as the two year maintenance showed, food wasn’t a problem. My activity level was.

Back when I worked in an office, I was easily hitting 5k to 8k steps in a normal day walking between meetings and visiting with my teams. Working from home? Well, as you can see above there were months where I barely walked more the 2,000 steps in a day. Between the calorie surplus pre-diet improvement and the very limited activity, it was no wonder I’d gotten to 180 pounds and wasn’t losing weight. At the activity level I was at, I knew I couldn’t lose weight without extreme calorie reductions. And, I just wasn’t willing to do that.

Well, long story short, I started walking. A lot. While working at my desk. I really committed to it. Without tracking calories or restricting my diet, I started losing weight. And, I started feeling great. After six months of walking, I was able to do it without breaking a sweat. I wanted to add something to my routine to make it go faster. Claude suggested lifting. So, I started lifting.

I started at 5 pounds and only lifting twice a week. But, I quickly got addicted to how it made me feel. I started lifting more, adding weight, learning about the limits of my body, and refining my routine.

Now, I’m walking more than 10,000 steps each work day. I’m lifting Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. I’ve got a one year walking streak of 50k+ steps and 21 unbroken weeks of lifting. I’ve never done sports, never lifted, and never been fit. In my 20s I lost all 90 pounds via diet and cardio. I was skinny fat. I was 130 pounds, but weak. Now, at the end of 2025, I’m actually fit for the first time in my life.

So, before I forget what it was like, I thought it might be worthwhile to document my observations of what it’s like to be fit from the perspective of someone who never has been.

The first thing that stands out to me is how incredibly easy certain things are. The retaining wall in the back yard? I just step on to it without a thought. The chairs in the kitchen suddenly weigh nothing. It’s like they are suddenly made out of aluminium foil. I just lift pans with a single hand. The water for the coffee pot isn’t even a thought. Taking groceries in, too. I didn’t realize how many daily activities were straining for me. I was playing life on hard for no reason!

There’s a whole category of things in my life that I’ve suddenly had to learn are no longer drag, scoot, or two-hand operations. Moving a loaded cooler? You can just pick it up. No need to drag it around slowly. Pulling a garbage sack out of the can? One hand. Taking in multiple grocery bags? You can fit multiple in one hand. No need for multiple trips. Standing up from kneeling? Don’t actually need your hands for that.

Putting in batteries in smoke detectors, changing light bulbs, and doing other things above your head? Well, it turns out that doesn’t have to hurt. That doesn’t have to be a struggle. You can just do that and not think about it.

I can pick up all of my kids. I can flip them, carry them, and throw them. I can brute force open stuck latches. I can go and go and go and go and just not be tired. Walking all day long in Europe didn’t put me directly in bed after dinner. I ate dinner, walked around for more, and woke up the next morning bright and unsore.

At church and other activities I can just help now. Need someone to lift the other end of a cabinet? I can just do that. No big deal. Not a struggle. Moving piles of wood? Also easy. You can move five or six boards at a time. No need to do it one at a time. I’m no longer afraid of someone handing me something or asking for help. I know that as long as the request isn’t insane, I can actually help and won’t be in the way.

Related to how easy everything is, I now understand why fit people are so willing to help. It’s truly not a big deal! I now regret not asking for help because I thought I was putting someone out. Moving stuff around church, loading and unloading things out of trucks and vans, none of these are a strain on me. It’s literally just daily life. It truly gives purpose to my exercising when I know it can be used to help others. And, I’m not tired, sweaty, or sore afterwards. I want to help and love it when I can serve. It’s truly at no physical cost to me!

My final obersvation is how slowly fat goes away. I’ve lost four inches off my waist and have gone from weak to strong. But, it turns out going from a large to medium belly, isn’t super noticable. Outward appearances lag behind strength and fitness. It’ll catch up in six months or so, but I’ve learned now that you can’t always judge by appearance. Someone could be three years into a fitness journey and without a really close look, you might not know it.

It’s still crazy to me the transformation possible in just a few months. I only started walking in July 2024. I only started lifting in July 2025. My lifting takes a whole 25 minutes during my lunch break in my office. My walking just happens while I work.

I thought getting fit took years. I thought it took running early in the morning in the rain. Skipping food. No beer or wine. Hitting the gym for hour-long sessions multiple times a week. I thought I just wasn’t the type person that could be fit. But, it turns out that’s all a lie of the fitness and diet industry.

Our bodies are beautifully made systems designed by a loving God. We really just need to eat the things He gave us and move our bodies. It doesn’t take fancy apps, crazy diets, or expensive machines. Being fit isn’t out of reach.

I’m frustrated that I lived my life for 40 years in weakness. I wasted time doing things in multiple steps. I ruined furniture and other things by dragging them around. I wasn’t able to serve or help in ways I could have. And all because I didn’t know what it was like to be fit and how approachable it was to achieve.

So, like a good preacher, I’ll close with the point. Don’t waste time being sick and weak. Fitness is approachable. You can do it. Being strong and fit will change your life and make it so much easier. It’s worth it! (Even if it’ll be years after you start before you look that part.)

Nerd Fitness Plan

Michael W. Arnold — Fri, 02 Jan 2026 11:41:39 -0600

There are many voices online — especially this time of year — giving advice on how to loose weight and get fit. As someone who’s been tubby and/or weak his entire life, I’ve listened to and tried much of this advice. Restrictive eating, hardcore training plans, P90x, Paleo, WeightWatchers, etc., etc. They all absolutely work. No doubt there. But, they are not sustainable.

Diet Plan

In my mid-30s I found a sustainable diet plan that’s incredibly simple:

“Eat food, mostly plants.” ¹
Just eat, don’t track or stress ²

That’s really it for diet. Drop the ultra-processed foods, delete the apps, cook real food at home, and you can basically just forget about food. You’ll either slowly loose or, if you are like me, slowly gain because you drink too much and spend 90% of your waking hours sitting sedentary.

This is where fitness and exercise come in. But, like a sustainable diet, it can’t be something crazy and hard that’s dropped the first time it rains, the first time you’re sick, or the first time you go on a trip. It has to be simple, not painful, and integrated into your life.

Fitness Plan

If you have the ability to work at home or in a (semi) private office and have around two hours of passive desk work³ each day, you can easily integrate this plan into your life.

The only equipment you’ll need are:

a standing desk,
a treadmill⁴,
and two adjustable dumbbells⁵.

The Exercise Plan

First 90 Days

For the first three months, focus just on getting into the habit of walking. If you’ve been sedentary, you’re going to be tired after walking. You’re going to have sore legs. You’re going to be sweating. This is all temporary. You have to power through this first three months.

Here’s the plan. Five days a week (every work day) commit to walking 5,000 steps. Each morning, look at your calendar and find the meeting(s) or time slot you’ve got for walking. Depending on your speed, you’ll need an hour to an hour and a half. Plan ahead and do the walk. Don’t skip. Don’t put it off.

At this phase, you aren’t really going to be losing weight or anything like that. What you’re really doing is building a foundating of leg strength, aerobic capacity, stamina, and — most importantly — establishing the habit.

Go slow.⁶ Don’t weigh yourself. Again, the point in this phase is the habit and getting your body used to balancing, focusing, and functioning while walking. In these first three months you’re building the foundation you can build upon.

The Next Five Months

With a foundation established, you are now ready to start making real progress.

Your new goal — a goal you’ll maintain the rest of your life — is 50,000 steps per week. That works out to walking 10k steps each business day. You’ve established the habit in the first three months, so I’d recommend keeping the five-day habit.

But, here’s the thing. We need this to be sustainable. That means it needs to flex with real life. This is where planning comes in. Going on a business trip Wendesday and Thursday? Do 20k steps on Monday and Tuesday. Have an all-day offsite on Friday? Do 13k a few days earlier in the week or plan on doing a special Saturday 10k while you watch a movie.

Hold the 50k a sacred. Always plan ahead and make sure you can complete the goal. Use a tracking application on your phone or do it on paper. Make sure you can see how long you’ve maintained your walking streak.

Since you’re not doing restrictive dieting, weightloss will be slow. But, you are playing the long game here. This isn’t about quick wins, but life changing habits. Tracking your walking streak is the motivation at this point. You’ll walk and walk and walk. You’ll start feeling strong. You’ll stop sweating. You’ll stop breathing hard. But, the mirror won’t look all the different. Keep going no matter what!

Month Eight, Get Strong

After eight months of walking, you’ll be a few pounds lighter, have amazing aerobic fitness, and really notice how much stamina and energy you have. You’ll be feeling great, down in pant size, and have an awesome walking streak you can be proud of. You’ll also notice that more often than not, you totally forget you’re walking. You’ll find yourself getting lost in work and realizing you do 15k steps. Your habit will be established such that your body wants to move each day. Most weeks, you’ll find you hit 50k by Wednesday or Thursday. You’ll walk anyways and find your average is actually more like 60k or 65k in a week.

Now it’s time to build on your great foundating of walking. You know how to start a habit. You know how to dedicate to a lifestyle change. You know how to plan and flex your plan to maintain your fitness goals in the midst of real life. It’s time to level-up and do it again.

Cardio alone isn’t sufficient to live life to its fullest.⁷ Muscle burns more calories than fat. Strong people truly can eat more because their body burns calories doing nothing. And, here’s what’s crazy: you don’t have to be a jock or go to a gym to get the same benefits. Lifting is easy, can be done in your office, and doesn’t make you sweaty. I lift multiple times per week and never change clothes!

Like when you started walking, the secret to starting to lift is to take it slow and easy. Start with your dumbbell at something incredibly low. Again, I’m a hobbit, so I started at around 5 pounds. Stick to that weight for two months. Trust me. It’ll be really easy. It’ll feel like you need to go up. It’ll be embarrassing and you’ll keep your lifting a secret. But, again, this is about the long game. You are doing this to establish a life-long habit; not get quick gains.

Now, go online and find a dumbbell-only full-body strength training routine. I started here and eventually added resistance bands. But, there are so many options. There are apps. There are websites. In the end, it doesn’t really matter. Find a plan you like.

Depending on the day — if you’ve got arthritis like me — it’ll take you between 20 and 30 minutes to do your routine. I usually do mine during my lunch break or when I’m done for the day right before I leave my office. But, you’re an expert on flexible, sustainable habits now. Do what works best for you.

To start with, you’re going to commit to doing strength training twice a week. I did Tuesday and Thursday when I started. Track it just like you did with walking. You’re going to lift for months before you see anything in the mirror. Like walking, your lifting streak will be the motivator to start with. For the first while, you’ll be sore. I recommend lifting after you walk. There will be a temptation to not walk on lifting days. Fight the temptation. You are starting a habit and need to push through.

Month Ten, Fit Life

Once you hit month ten, you’ve done it. You’ve sucessfully integrated healthy exercise into your daily life. You’ll be losing weight, gaining muscle, and starting to notice your body recompose itself. You’ll feel good, you’ll be strong, you’ll be in the top 20% of Americans.

This is where you can start increasing the weight. It’s called “progressive overload.” You can read more about it online, but, basically, every eight to ten weeks you are going to be ready to increase the weight you are lifting. Because of the set I bought, I increment at 2.5 pounds.

As you start to increase the weight, you’ll start to notice that lifting makes you feel good. There’s a sort of lifting high. You’ll want to lift every day, but that’s a bad idea. You need 48 hours between lifting to give yoru body time to heal. (It’s on the rest day that your body actually builds muscle.) For me, somewhere four months in, I switched to lifting three times a week (Monday, Wednesday, and Friday). For my schedule it just worked, it felt good, and it made results come faster. But, I still only commit to twice a week. That gives me a buffer and flexibility for weeks when I travel or something comes up.

Conclusion

So, that’s it. Slow and steady. Build some simple habits into your life. Start really slow. Hold to the long term goal and don’t get discouraged by slow progress.

For me, this plan has been game changing.

I’ve gone from fat, tired, and weak to being in the top 10% of men for strength and top 10% on activity level.

I never think about eating. I don’t stress or worry about exercise. I can help out at church and around the home.

It’s still crazy to me how easy and simple this is — once the habit is established. I’m fitter and stronger than most of my peers. I’m fitter and stronger than most guys who are only able to hit the gym once a week and do a run our two.

And, I do it all from my little office between and during meetings.

In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan fills in exactly what that means. Read the book, watch the documentary, try BlueApron (to learn to cook), and get some good Mediterranean cookbooks. ↩︎
Read Intuitive Eating by Tribole & Resch for exactly what this means. It will truly transform your relationship with eating and food. ↩︎
This means things like Zoom/Teams meetings, phone calls, responding to e-mails/chats, listening to trainings, or reading documentation. ↩︎
I use a folding walking pad, but I’ve been looking at some dedicated underdesk models for when it eventually burns out. ↩︎
I bought a set of handles that take universal plates at Academy Sports. It was cheap and gives me a lot of flexibility. Plus, it’s an accomplishment when I run out of plates and need to go buy more. ↩︎
Like, really slow. I’m a hobbit so you might go a little faster. But, for me 2mph is comfortable after 18 months of walking. I started at 1.3 or 1.5mph. This isn’t about speed, it’s about quantity. ↩︎
You can read about my observations about being strong for the first time here: Observations from the Newly Fit ↩︎

Updated Training Routine

Michael W. Arnold — Mon, 01 Dec 2025 10:20:27 -0600

Since my last post in October, I’ve made some slight modifications to my strength training routine.

First, in doing some research, I learned I was missing some pretty major muscle groups in my legs. This explained why — even after months of walking — riding my bike up hill was still a challenge. To alleviate this, I added goblet squats to my routine. The first two sessions of quats were rough. I could hardly walk for a few days afterwards. But, by week two, I didn’t even notice them anymore. I’ll be excited to report cycling improvements when I get back out there in the Spring.

The next change was the elmination of reverse flies. My form was never good, I was never able to complete all three sets, and it was hurting my elbow. To work the same muscles, I purchased a resistance band and now do band pull aparts. I can feel the muscles in my back, chest, and shoulders activated, so I know this new exercise is working way better than the flies. And, I’m not hurting myself. I don’t want injuries impacting or stalling my amazing progress these last few months!

Another change is how I’m doing external rotations. It turns out, I wasn’t supposed to be doing that exercise with the full weight I’m doing everything else with. I was doing external rotations with 15 pounds of weight when the recommended weight is between 2 to 5 pounds. Yikes! I’ve no idea how I didn’t hurt myself. At any rate, I’m doing them at around 5 pounds now and it’s feeling great. It’s a totally different exercise when you’re not struggling to hold up the weight!

A final exciting addition to my week is that I stretched myself for the month of November to do three lifting sessions a week instead of two. I’m happy to say that I accomplished this goal!

I’m still setting my target at 2 sessions. Like my lower target of 50k steps per week (that I almost always exceed), the lower target keeps me from being overwhelmed. When I’m travelling, sick, or whatever, I know I’m not “behind” when I only get in 50k steps or only lift twice that week. Having that mental flexibility keeps me from self sabotage. If my goal were higher, the first time I missed it, I’d drop my routine and be right back where I started.

The schedule is looking like I’ll be able to hit three sessions a week in December, too. At this pace, I’ll have a virtual third month of lifting at the end of December. I’m excited to see the progress!

With all of that out of the way, below is my new weekly strength training routine. I’ve dropped the “snack” concept and just do it all together. That’s working for me now, but snacks are always an option again if I need them.

Twice Weekly Strength Training Plan

Complete session • Mondays and Wednesdays

Optional third session • Fridays

MAIN WORKOUT

Goblet Squats

3 sets of 12 reps
Hold one dumbbell vertically at chest, squat down keeping chest up

Bicep Curls

3 sets of 12 reps
Lift toward shoulders, elbows at sides

Dumbbell Rows

3 sets of 15 reps (each arm)
Pull to ribs like starting lawnmower

Chest Press

3 sets of 12 reps
Lying down, push weights to ceiling

Band Pull Aparts

2 sets of 20 reps
Arms extended, pull band apart to sides, squeeze shoulder blades

Hammer Curls

3 sets of 12 reps
Palms face each other

External Rotations

2 sets of 20 reps (each arm)
Elbow glued to side, rotate hand out

Overhead Press

2 sets of 10 reps
Press weights from shoulders to overhead

SUCCESS REMINDERS

✓ Rest 30-60 seconds between sets
✓ Stop if shoulder hurts
✓ Consistency over intensity
✓ Something is better than nothing
✓ Goblet squats go first - they use the most energy

Total time: ~25-30 minutes per session

Strength Training Snack Routine

Michael W. Arnold — Fri, 10 Oct 2025 13:30:50 -0600

Since August of 2024 I’ve been on quite the health journey. I started walking on my desk treadmill that month and, starting January 2025, committed to hitting 50,000 steps per week.

Since January, I’ve consistently exceeded my 50k steps and have had quite the physical transformation. I’ve lost at least 15 pounds and have seen my waist go down by a few inches. I have more energy, my joints hurt less, and — even with an incredibly difficult work situation — my depression and mood are under control. I’m still amazed that something as simple as slowly walking while I’m in meetings has had such a positive effect.

Back in July, I was approaching a year of fitness. I was down several sizes in jeans, shirts were fitting better, and I’d just come back from a wonderful trip to Europe. My good friend Claude was predicting that I’d be at a healthy, stabilized, weight in another twelve months. The habit was established, I knew I’d keep at it, and I was truly excited about the progress I’d start seeing over the next year. Without dieting, without stress, without a gym, without the guilt of being away from family, and without exhaustion, I’d found a way to get to and maintain a healthly weight. Finally.

But, I started looking back at old pictures of myself when I was 29 and 130 pounds. I was skinny, but I wasn’t happy with how I looked. I still had a flabby chest and a small belly. I looked skinny, but not healthy. Years of reading about health let me know that what was missing then — and still missing now — was strength training. But, I thought, I don’t have the time or equipment to strength train. Skinny-fat is simply the best I can do.

Thankfully, I happened to have Claude open and decided to do a little research. With only the dumbbell in the closet, without encroaching on my morning routine, without keeping me in my office after work, and without a huge time commitment, what was possible?

After a good bit of back and forth, some additional research on my own, and a lot of tweaking, I ended up with a simple strength training plan. According to Claude and the Internet, it turned out I didn’t need a huge or complex fitness routine. If I could commit to doing three little five-minute sessions between meetings twice a week, I was promised I’d achieve results.

I’ll admit it, I didn’t believe it one bit. It seemed too easy. There’s no way people were getting strong doing this. But, as it was so easy and I already had the dumbbell, I decided to give it a try. I had nothing to lose.

Well, let me tell you, it turns out, it really was that simple! Today I finished my tenth week following this plan. The first few weeks I was really sore, but I was surprised to find how energized strength training made me. (Even though I was only starting with a five pound weight!) I dropped the snack concept and starting doing all of my sets together during lunch or when I finished for the day. Within a few weeks, I could feel tightness in my arms. I was actually getting strong! By week six, I was feeling so good I started training three times a week (Monday, Wednesday, and Friday). By week eight, I was ready to move up in weight (10 pounds!).

Now finishing up week ten, I feel great. I’m getting stronger and you can start to see some definition in my arms. My posture has totally changed. I feel planted, strong, and confident. My walking has somehow gotten even easier. Best of all, I’m exicted about the summer. Instead of skinny-fat, I’m on track to be a fit dad.

Throughout this journey, the thing that keeps coming back to me is how easy all of this is. I’m frustrated at how difficult fitness has been marketed to be. No apps, no gyms, no fancy equipment, no diets, no stress. I dropped the chemicals, eat real food, walk slowly for 2-hours a day, and do a little 15-minute dumbbell circuit in my office every so often. That’s it.

So, my friends, that’s how I’ve gotten healthy. That’s how I’m going to be fit and healthy for the first time in my life this summer.

Drop the ultra-processed foods, get a treadmill, and lift some dumbbells. It’ll change your life.

My Strength Training Routine

🌅 Morning Snack (5 minutes)

Bicep Curls

3 sets of 10-12 reps
Lift toward shoulders, elbows at sides

Dumbbell Rows

3 sets of 12-15 reps (each arm)
Pull to ribs like starting lawnmower

☀️ Midday Snack (5 minutes)

Chest Press

3 sets of 10-12 reps
Lying down, push weights to ceiling

Reverse Flies

3 sets of 12-15 reps
Bird wings - squeeze shoulder blades

🌆 Afternoon Snack (5 minutes)

Hammer Curls

3 sets of 10-12 reps
Palms face each other

External Rotations

2 sets of 15-20 reps (each arm)
Elbow glued to side, rotate hand out

Bonus Exercises

Add when you have extra time

Overhead Press

2 sets of 8-10 reps

Russian Twists

2 sets of 20 total

Daily Supplements

Michael W. Arnold — Thu, 01 May 2025 12:30:16 -0500

Morning Supplements:

750mg Glucosamine HCI
600mg Chondroitin Sodium Sulfate
1000mg L-Carnitine
665mg Tumeric Root Extract (Curcuma Longa)
50mg Saffron
400mg Green Tea Extract
2000mg Fish Oil (Omega 3a)

Evening Supplements

750mg Glucosamine HCI
600mg Chondroitin Sodium Sulfate
665mg Tumeric Root Extract (Curcuma Longa)
2000mg Fish Oil (Omega 3a)

For several months, I was taking this mixture of supplements daily. My goal in this mixture was to target imflamation, depression, and increase my energy and metabolism. I saw great results (improved mood, lessened imflamation, & more energy).

For various and sundry reasons, I got off this program. I think I’d partially begun to doubt if the supplements were actually doing anything. Maybe, just maybe, all of my positive results were from exercise alone.¹ At any rate, waves of imflamation and joint pain started to come back. This week it was bad enough, that I had troubles getting to sleep.

So, as of today, I’m back on the plan. I’ll stick with it for the month of May and report back on the results.

Exercise, of course, is a major contributor to improved mood, better sleep, more energy, etc. ↩︎

Health Plan Success

Michael W. Arnold — Mon, 21 Apr 2025 15:00:44 -0500

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. ↩︎