It’s an hour or more without exception.

I believe it’s important to find the exercise program that works for you. I know some people benefit from yoga, for example, and perhaps I would too, but frankly, it bores the bejeezus out of me, so I won’t stick with it. But I like lifting weights and taking my long walks. I’ve never tried CrossFit, but who knows, maybe someday I’ll give it a look.

Lastly, it was your diet that had the most effect.

I am bigger, leaner, and stronger and, at least to me, my muscles look “full” with a VERY low carb diet all the time.

The only thing that happens when I eat a bunch of extra carbs is that my fat cells swell up almost instantaneously and I get gas.

I like cardio, but I like dancing. And yet I don’t do cardio because what happens is the instructor doesn’t take the time to teach you the moves, then tells you to just move along with the music if you can’t keep up. If cardio’s so necessary to health then the women I saw in my last class who could barely do anything on account of their age and fitness level weren’t doing themselves any good at all.

Oh, and about 80 percent of us were fat. So much for the notion that fat people don’t exercise.

Some years ago, a very trim friend of mine got a guest pass at my health club and joined me for a Nautilus workout. I could tell he was chagrined to discover he couldn’t lift nearly as much as I could. He was pretty image-conscious and probably had assumed my fat belly meant I was in lousy shape overall.

Back in 2001 or so, at about 205 (5’10) I decided to walk and I did so religiously for 5 years. That’s how long it took to finally get it that walking wasn’t the answer. By then, and over 6,000 miles, I weighed 230.

I do low carb, and only work out 1 hour per week, solid resistance training. I still walk for enjoyment (and for the doggies) and do some sprints now and then.

The most important thing you’ll need to work on is maintaining your “functional” movements like sitting down and standing up (a squat), picking things up off the ground (a deadlift), pushing and pulling on things, etc. They aren’t imaginary movements that only exist in a gym. Those are the movements that you’ll need every day for the rest of your life to keep yourself out of a wheelchair and out of a nursing home.

Arthritic knees and hips only amplifies the need to keep your muslce strong to take the pressure off your joints. Practice squating to a chair or the couch every day. You can do pushups against a counter top or the edge of the couch, if you can’t get all the way down on the ground. There are endless way to scale those functional movements to something that suits your particular abilities. Probably the best thing to do though would be find a trainer who knows what they’re doing.

My mom has arthritis in her knees from too many years of being overweight. She started working out 3 years ago at age 54. Through CrossFit and a caveman style diets, she’s lost 80lbs, down to a svelt 125lbs, and she can do things she never imagined possible. Her knees still give her grief sometimes, but she can squat down to full depth, run the stairs, play on the floor with little kids, and deadlift more than she weighs. Bad a$$ all around! It’s never too late to start and don’t let the physical afflictions or loss of certain functions hold you back!

Otherwise, very inspirational…

In the “before” picture, Josef took his own picture in a mirror, so you’re seeing the mirror-image.