Goals to look better than the younger you

You may find it's a lot easier to look good at 35 than it was to look good at 23, if by "good" you mean cut.

At 23 I was *skinny* and strong-ish, but I certainly didn't have the muscle volume then that I do now. Over the last 20 years, I've put on about 10 lbs of muscle mass, by extremely non-scientific visual estimation. (Also, I didn't have the knowledge I have now. Weight loss was a ton more difficult for me, because I didn't know I had a thyroid problem until I was 28.) I also didn't have the experience to know what weight loss trends would work like magic for me and what would just make me angry for a month without having any appreciable physical effect. Experience operating this meat-suit has been key to efficiency at obtaining my goals, and efficiency has been extremely important for my ability to maintain compliance with any plan I set out to execute.

Good luck!

Umm... what was the question? 😂

This happened to me by accident. When I first started my dreams was to lose the fat, eventually have a fit body, to stop shopping in plus-sized clothing stores and I was also thinking about my future and I didn't want to take pills, be in pain etc.

It took years, but I worked hard and made my dreams come true and received so many more benefits outside of looks. I feel great, sleep better, I get more opportunities/projects at work and I now shop in the junior's section in stores. Plus I'm the smallest I've been in my entire adult life.

The combination of losing weight, getting fit, having access to better clothes, gaining confidence and life experiences is making my 40's fantastic!

See the most fit I've ever been was when I was...maybe 14 or 15 years old? I was rock climbing 4+ days a week, apparently had very impressive health markers on whatever blood tests I had to take prior to a surgery, was very strong (kids who climb tend to be strong), etc. I'm 32 now, so that was 17-18 years ago.

The likelihood that I'll eventually be fitter than I was then is very high. I'm likely already there, though it's also not really comparable given that I do next to no climbing now and at the time I didn't really do endurance sports. There's also the physical development factor. I certainly have a higher body fat percentage, but that doesn't really say anything in terms of my fitness. In terms of climbing, there's no way that I could currently climb as well now as I did then, but so what? I don't climb anymore, though I would like to get back into it (time and money permitting).

It's funny because I had a similar conversation with a rowing friend of mine who is in his 50s a few weeks ago. His thought is that there's no way that he'll be as fit and strong as he was at the peek of his fitness when he was in his early 20s. Sure he's heavier now than he was then, but he was also ran track and cross country, held a record in a track and field event in high school (that apparently took a considerable amount of time for someone to best), continued competing through college, and was doing a considerable amount of strength training.

Assuming I'm still rowing (and competing) into my 50s, my goal will be to do whatever I can to be fast on the water. That likely won't mean being as fast as I was in my 30s (we'll just take my novice years out of this because technique is important), but it will mean trying to be at the top of my age group. If I can beat people younger than me on the water (so without an age handicap), even better.