6 by 50 – Target Acquired – Regaining My 6-pack By Age 50
6 Pack by Age 50
Well, I am now 50 years old. As I looked in the mirror about 14 weeks ago, I was disgusted. My body was not only a reflection of my lack of discipline in my health, it was a reflection of the lack of discipline in every area of my life. The goal of regaining my 6-pack by age 50 was not just about looking good in the mirror, or with my shirt off. It was more about regaining control in one area of my life – setting and achieving a goal, and building on that success throughout my life.
I believe that life is build on the decisions we make. Circumstances come and go – nothing we can really do about those, and contentment is centered on how we react to those circumstances. However, success in any endeavor is built upon, or destroyed by our decisions.
I have made some very good decisions over the years, and have enjoyed what I consider to be a large measure of success. I have also made some extremely bad choices, and have seen much of what had been built collapse.
Do I just settle? Do I lay down and die? Am I to continue to live life with my tail between my legs? Is fear to be my master for the rest of my days?
So it was time to start making some good decisions. Even small decisions made well build momentum towards success. It has been said that “success breeds success.” That begins by facing fear, and walking towards it one step, at a time. So, as base and shallow as some may see it, I have made many, many small good decisions over the last 14 weeks, and those have been centered on my health.
Deciding to get up early, or stay up late to get a work out in, rather than settle and miss it.
Deciding to drink water throughout the day – a lot of it – every day.
Deciding to NOT eat what everybody else is eating.
Deciding to get up early, fix healthy meals for the day, or for several days depending on the schedule.
Deciding to push through my workout, not cut it short, no matter how bad I felt.
Deciding to keep learning more about the task at hand, and applying those principles as I go.
Deciding to not allow bad choices from the past interfere with my current direction.
Success starts with a decision…just one decision.
So, I made a bunch of them.
Small decisions…Big results.
Starting Weight: 196 lbs – Final Weight: 178 lbs.
Starting Belly: 39 1/4 inches – Final Belly: 35 1/2 inches
Starting Upper Arm: 15 inches = Final Upper Arm: 15 1/2 inches
Starting Thigh: 25 inches – Final Thigh: 24 1/2 inches
Starting Chest: 41 3/4 – Final Chest: 42 1/2
Sept 13 – 178 lbs
Before and After
So What’s Next?
After achieving THIS “6-pack” objective, what’s next on the horizon? Mr. Olympia? LOL! Not hardly! But, I have been in the valley, climbed a mountain, and this is what I can see from this “summit.” It’s funny how your perspective on things depends upon from where you happen to be viewing them at the time…
Next, is a week off for my aching joints. 
I am going to rest at this summit, because I will need energy to reach the next – and from here, I can now see there are more peaks to climb that I couldn’t see from the valley a few months ago. 
So then, I am back at it so I can continue climbing upward in my health. No time limits this time, but I have set a goal to take another inch or so off my belly (yep, there is still enough around the middle to do that), and I do want to learn more about my nutrition, continue to apply good eating habits to improve my body from the inside as well. They say you are what you eat, and I believe I read somewhere that your body replaces every cell over a 6 month period, so I still have a few months of replacing the good for the bad.
In short, I want to keep the momentum moving forward in my health.
But also along the way, I want to build this little habit of making one good decision at a time into other areas of my life – spiritual, financial, professional, personal, and psychological. I don’t want to take up too much space here to go into those details, but I am going to pursue building on this success, to grow in other important areas of my life – success breeds success, and deciding, then taking action is how we move in the direction of our dreams. Momentum is moving forward for me now in many areas as a result of this one achievement, and I just have to keep climbing in the direction of that momentum.
I do hope that this success also encourages YOU to move toward your dreams – that you can see how making just ONE little good choice literally moves you forward so you can make the next, and with building momentum, each little decision makes the next easier…leading you towards the life you desire. Your goal may not be to have a 6-pack, or to be fit at all. Doesn’t matter. The principle still applies.
Just decide to make a change – set a goal – then take ONE step – make ONE good decision, and momentum begins moving in that direction. Celebrate that one decision follow through, then make ONE MORE decision – then ONE MORE…
Before you know it life itself all seems to be moving along on your journey in the same direction. There are, and always will be set backs, and circumstances beyond your control that will appear to knock you off track, but believe me, just keep making ONE good decision after another and you WILL overcome! You will achieve the object of YOUR desires.
May God bless you along the way, and I look forward to hearing about your successes too!
Blessings,
-Jerry
