<\/p>\n
When I used to work in corporate entertainment, I had the most spectacular boss. He was in his late 40s, and while he rarely worked out beyond an occasional swim (he was managing a frantic work life, kids \u00e2\u20ac\u201c the whole deal), he always stayed trim and fit and had tons of energy. He was happy and unfettered (for the most part) by the challenges of a busy life. He ate reasonably well, but not in an inspired way. <\/p>\n
He asked me how I kept my lean body (I was 49 at the time). I told him. He nodded his multi-million dollar head and swept his fingers through his $400 haircut and said, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Well, that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s just wonderful. I mean, all you did. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s inspiring. I think my body is a temple as well, but I like to raid it now then. Don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t trust people who don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t. Something suspicious about all that.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
To give you a sense of where I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve come from, here are two pictures of me. <\/p>\n
Me in 2010: <\/p>\n
<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n You gonna eat that?<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Me today:<\/p>\n <\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n Is there a McDonalds around here?<\/p>\n<\/p>\n No irony my favorite ice cream in 2009 was Ben Jerry\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Chunky Monkey\u00e2\u20ac\u009d. <\/p>\n I lost a total of 55 pounds and a lot of Oedipal issues, as well as a need to hide fries on the way home from my job. My favorite excuse at the time was that I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m of Irish and English descent, thus eating carbs and looking fairly sweet and doughy is in my DNA. <\/p>\n What\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s that thing about Law of Attraction? We attract what we most focus upon? <\/p>\n I was reading this article recently on Melissa McCarthy. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d give anything to see her do Chekov in that kitty sweater she wore in the movie \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Spy\u00e2\u20ac\u009d. There wouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t be a dry pair of Depends in the house. To be fair, I have very absurdist taste in movies. I think \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Airplane\u00e2\u20ac\u009d should have swept the Oscars. <\/p>\n Anyway, Ms. McCarthy lost a bunch of weight recently. When the interviewer asked her how she did it, I expected to read, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Oh, you know \u00e2\u20ac\u201c macrobiotic\u00e2\u20ac\u009d or \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Paleo or death!\u00e2\u20ac\u009d or \u00e2\u20ac\u0153So much cardio, I vomited a lung.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d <\/p>\n Instead, she said was something to the effect of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153You know\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6I just stopped thinking about food. Isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t that crazy? I didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t focus on it like I used to and the pounds faded. I distracted myself. Personally, I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t get it.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n After reading her insightful comments, I turned on the TV and there was one of my favorite spiritual teachers talk about America\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s troubling relationship with obesity. I had been obsessing about the 10 pounds I still have on my stomach. I have this habit of grabbing that last vestige and pulling on it like Silly Putty. <\/p>\n On TV, this famous spiritual teacher said, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not what we eat in life, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s how we FEEL about eating it. If we don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t feel good eating it, then how on earth can we expect our bodies to like it?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d <\/p>\n I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m talking a lot about food because I could go on and on about all the exercise I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve undergone. I used to teach aerobics during Jane Fonda\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s heyday. I wore leg warmers and all. They were very slimming to my fat, Irish legs. They need to make a comeback. <\/p>\n Then I stopped doing aerobics, dealt with a lot of emotional issues and got chubby. <\/p>\n Fast-forward 20 years. I hit my 40\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s and I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m back at the gym on a regular basis, but not losing much flab. Fast-forward to age 46. I take up yoga, and I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m amazed at how much I hate the instructor, but how fantastic I feel after. <\/p>\n Fast-forward again to my becoming a certified spinning instructor at age 46. Even after that grueling certification process, I only started to lose weight after<\/em> I stopped doing what Guru McCarthy said, and that was to subscribe to what others<\/em> said I needed to eat to lose weight, and instead, ate what felt good to me<\/em>\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6and then pounds dropped faster than the ratings for the last season of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Lost\u00e2\u20ac\u009d.<\/p>\n People who I haven\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t seen in 10 years say I look younger at 51 then I looked at 40. I always feel a little bad when they say that, and think to myself, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Did I look that bad back then?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d <\/p>\n The answer is, I didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t look bad, so much as unhappy. Or, I should say, not willing to embrace the secret optimist I was. Once I accepted I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m a big sap, who can also be a badass, and<\/em> I became conscious of how I felt about what I ate, then it became a easier to avoid shoving a Big Mac down my throat in less than 30 seconds behind a McDonalds dumpster.<\/p>\n There is a lot more I do. I use an affordable, organic face-moisturizing regimen (it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s possible to feel masculine whilst rubbing your face with something that smells of blueberries and petroleum). I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m picky about hair products. I take too many vitamins. I buy clothes on how they feel, not how comfortable they are to take a nap in. <\/p>\n Taking care of ourselves as we get older is truly the greatest gift we can give ourselves. If we gain all of this insight and awareness and clarity after 50, don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t we want to milk the heck out of it as we age? If I told you everything I do it would take a part 2, 3 and maybe 4, and I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t want to tax the nerves of my deeply stellar Editor-in-Chief, so\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 <\/p>\n I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll close the book gracefully and say this: keep thinking of your body as a temple, but make Indiana Jones proud and raid it now and then. But be careful and make sure your ark isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t made of trans-fat. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve heard that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a killer, but it can sure taste good once in awhile.<\/p>\n Earlier on Huff\/Post50:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n \t\t\t<\/p>\n