Right, off to do my leaflet round - 2.5 hours of walking carrying a bag of junk mail on each shoulder. At least there isn't torrential rain today- though storms are forecast for later. Better get a wiggle on.....

Probably a couple of stubbies of mid strength a night. A lot less than a few years ago. My gut isn't too huge though, I just think how big it would be if I didn't run.

It is harder to lose fat as you get older, especially in stubborn areas like the stomach.
Two beers a night isn't a great deal but I bet if you stopped drinking them altogether, you would see a difference.
I suppose it depends what you're after, some people like to have a perfect body and are willing to sacrifice tasty food/fattening foods and alcohol to achieve that. Whilst others sacrifice their bodies to eat what they want.


For me personally it's about finding that happy medium, I want to look good, I want to be fit, and I love food, so somewhere along the line I have to compromise.


I have found that myfitnesspal helps me a great deal and during the week I try not to eat above 1500 calories, at the weekend I basically eat what I want.

I think to keep a good body and stay fit is a full time job, you can never let your guard down, especially once you pass 30 when your metabolism slows down.

I agree, but once he's got rid of the excess fat by running or doing a different cardio workout, then he could do sit-ups to tone it all up.

I don't get that you have to sacrifice anything (except portion size).

I can understand if someone has a trigger food they might want to avoid it, or if they have intolerances or allergies, or even have religious or ethical reasons for avoiding something... but you can have anything you want so long as you build it into a healthy calorie level (if you're wanting to lose weight)

The problem with a lot of people who are trying to lose weight (sorry, I know this is a get fit thread, not a lose weight thread) is that they want instant results so eat a ridiculously small amount of food, end up starving and binge eat, get disheartened and give up. The same can be true with exercise too - they go mad, hurt themselves or don't see a difference and then go back to their previous sedentary ways. Instead of starting slow and building on success it's all about NOW NOW NOW!!!

It feels like I'm just disagreeing with you all over the place today

For me it's mainly about having the stamina to do my role as a bush firefighter, you are not required to be extremely fit but it helps immensely if you want to be effective. We work long shifts in extreme heat and have to carry charged hoses around.

Same here but a fit bush firie tends to be the exception: most have stamina derived by age and trade...

Never been a gym bunny. Hate them but I tried twice. I took part in organised athletics and strength training "circuits" up until to my late 20s as part of my job. At puberty I started putting on muscle - it came from nowhere - and I discovered by accident that I had a sort of natural aerobic capacity which saw me win annual races I got volunteered for. I never really lost it: to this day I always carry a bit of muscle which causes people to ask if I work out. The answer is no. I have never lifted or trained with weights to speak of. I resumed adult rugby at 27!! and played a few seasons before risk of injury saw me back down.

I have actually trained a bit more 'outside hrs' as I have got older: I relied on natural fitness and the work I did in my 20s and only started training on my own lightly in my 30s. At a peak in my late 30s I was running with weights up and down Melbourne skyscrapers and doing pushups and sit ups. I now run laps of an oval at work but whole months can go by when I do nothing.

I also don't tear the arse out of it with junk food.
But I will never be a gucci kit monster with an obsession for any fad which includes cycling.

How many incidents would you say you attend each year Badge?

They have massively reduced in recent years in fact for reasons (outside my control) I will not go into.

It's interesting Renth : (and the reason for my answer) : Most of our incidents are of the type that you go to the incident - a younger bloke will do all the fast stuff and then people of all ages seem to handle the hoses. We all could be back in 20mins. I could be wrong here but it sometimes seems the bigger older, stouter guys have no aerobic fitness but can hawl a hose.

My view is that days and weeks at out big bush fires are where these older, stouter gentlemen can get caught out. But some of these guys won't volunteer - or they pace themselves- often they are tradies and am used to being on their feet. But I don't think I have ever met a vol firie who was a pure fitness freak.

Cool, we have a whole gamut in our brigade, plenty of very fit younger members and some older "Energizer bunny" types that keep on going. Plus a few fatties too. Average age for volunteer firie in WA is 47 and I believe most common cause of fireground death is heart attack.

We attend approx 200 incidents a year as a brigade although I'm only at about 20 to 30 of those.

Because eating a small bowl of sugar isn't the same as eating a large bowl of vegetables.

Thin people eat fat and fat people eat sugar.

I think all this stuff about people giving up diets is partly because they don't do enough exercise as well- they will focus on just food. And when they do go to gyms they don't really do the right exercises for them, probably.
They also start from a low base - having been overweight all their adult lives: they have no baseline. It never ceased to amaze me how even fit-looking people had no aerobic capacity - you see it on Police recruit shows - the bloke falling by the wayside even though he looks the business. Few of us are all-rounders.

Having said that it's easy for fit people - I don't really get it - but some people do seem to be naturally fit or inclined to be athletic (I don't mean they are mesomorphs) and again I am sure that there is something in muscle memory too. You do absolutely inherit some of it in your genes, I am sure.

That's a good way of putting it.

I do think some folk have more fortunate genes than others. I'm thinking that I may be one of the lucky ones in that regard, after a lifetime of blubbered couchpotatodom I decided to change pretty much everything I did - diet, exercise, the lot. From someone who could barely make it to the end of the street without every joint aching (carrying the equivalent of my rather petite best friend I calculated the other day!) today my Fitbit registered that I had walked 1000 miles in 135 days (my first 1000 was achieved in 141 days). I can heft weights reasonably easy for a nearly 65 yr old woman - I swing 20kg kettlebells and dead lift 30kg multiple reps. I really like weights and quite surprised the PT who designed my last program (old ladies only swing 5kg kettle bells apparently LOL). We have a review tomorrow - he's promised more challenges

I can't run though, I can do about half an hour jogging slowly but I'd never pass anyone's beep test. I can, however, walk 25 miles non stop although the odd coffee break is welcome! And I can swim (not fast, but steadily) pretty much any distance - 1km piece of cake!

All of this is a huge change for me but it's been successful thus far. I don't know whether a childhood of competitive swimming or an expectation that one walked or biked everywhere as a teenager or the odd pocket of activity in odd fitness attempts as an adult has laid the ground or whether I'm just lucky with my genes. They do say that even beginning exercise in your 80s is possible and with potentially huge benefits to longevity, flexibility etc.