How to be fit and healthy for the future of work – Future-fit your body now if you are getting older!
At 50, I was ‘obese’ according to my BMI score taken on 1st January 2019.
Carrying that extra weight had caused me to feel lethargic, lack of breath, experiencing severe back pain, tiredness at work, restrictions on my daily activities, and the list goes on.
Now, I am proud to say that after losing 11 kg as of last weekend, all these negative symptoms have been reversed.
In celebrating my 51 birthday in two days’ time, I am feeling good about myself. But I still need to lose 10 more kg for a ‘healthy’ BMI – a journey that I will continue to embark on.
There were several factors that triggered and motivated me to lose weight this year – my new year’s resolution.
One such trigger was when my children started teasing me about my extra weight at the end of last year. That wasn’t a good sign. I must say that no one now dares to say anything about my weight!
In fact, my kids have been telling people how much weight I have lost.
The health reasons for losing weight really clear to me – reduced likelihood of cancer (sitting at a desk job or just getting older), reduced likelihood of depression and having poor mental health due to an unhealthy lifestyle, or having high blood pressure (from inactivity).
Being healthy has many benefits – mental alertness, increase well-being and mental health, more energy, no severe back pain (I was just carrying too much weight around!), living longer (hopefully), decreasing the likelihood of acquiring lifestyle-related diseases, etc.
Above all else, the key reason why I had to reduce my weight at this age was that I must be future-ready and be fit to develop the capacity to work longer. This included being mentally prepared and fit for the future of work.
As my lifespan is ever increasing due to advances in technology and medicine, a Generation X person like me will have no choice but to continue working well into our 60s or 70s just to sustain our daily living.
More so in today’s environment of low-interest rate, little or no salary and job growth, low investment and superannuation income, increasing cost of raising children (especially teenagers and young adults), increasing cost of supporting elderly parents, increasing cost of living and medical expenses, etc.
Being unfit, unhealthy or unwell will only compound or add to these potential challenges I may face in the future.
In fact, I have documented no less than 62 challenges facing workers like me in my blog, Allmoneymakingideas.com. It has become evident to me through my research that I needed to do something drastic now to be fit and healthy for the future. I needed to feel good about myself and cultivate a positive mindset to be in the position to overcome many of these 62 challenges as I get older.
It is not a question of if but when. These challenges will come. There is really no choice for Generation X like me to be complacent about our jobs and health but to take control of them now.
I have read many studies and stories where people wanted to work longer just to earn an income but could not due to health reasons – not something I want to be in. It was an involuntary termination of their income source!
I figured that if I wanted to continue working and earning some income well into the future to support myself, my family, and my growing teenage children (I have 5 kids!), I must get into the ‘healthy’ BMI zone and operate effectively from that zone.
When my fitness level has improved and I am healthier, I should face less medical and hospital bills, less insurance premium cost (as I have recently stop this just-in-case cost), less food cost (as I am eating less), less fuel cost (as I am walking more), etc.
I now walk 30 minutes daily after work and during weekends with my wife. We debrief the day’s events and exercise at the same time. It works well for our marriage and health.
I have doubled my visits to the local swimming pool and have doubled my swim time during each session to burn off more calories.
I am consciously eating half or less than what I used to eat, thus reducing my calorie intake.
Thus, I am holding fast to this equation – less input plus more output equals less weight and better lifestyle and income.
Living in a wealthy and ‘lucky’ country like Australia (and the Western societies generally) did me no favors, unfortunately.
Like many people in my cohort who are getting older, I was over-eating and under-exercising myself to obesity, inactivity, and unhealthy behaviors and outcomes.
Our right to enjoy life for its abundance and wealth needs to be counter-balanced with a common sense future-thinking mindset to life, health, and financial stewardship.
The bottom line is that I must be accountable for my success, now and the future.
I hope that you will be encouraged by my journey to enjoy life with family and friends and be future-ready for the challenges ahead.