RFT 453: Pandemic Pounds

Ready For Takeoff - Turn Your Aviation Passion Into A Career

If you're like most Americans, you've resigned yourself to gaining a few pounds over the holidays, then plan to spend the next 11 months trying to lose the weight.

But now, with the pandemic approaching 10 months, it gets worse, as many of us are stuck at home, unable (or forbidden!) to go to the gym. So naturally, we sit in front of the computer or television, and we don't get that "10,000 steps each day" exercise that we plan on completing.

Here's my story: in the year 2000, at age 55, I had gotten to the point that I was putting on a pound a month as a wide-body (pun intended!) Captain. I weighed in at 182 pounds and my waist was 36 inches. And I had tried a lot of fad diets, failed, and resigned myself to being a fat old man.

There's an expression "when the student is ready, the teacher appears". During recurrent training I was introduced to a fitness program, Body-for-LIFE, that changed my life forever. And I learned how to control my weight, fitness and health for the past 20 years. It's kind of like learning how to perform a magic trick. I currently weigh five pounds less than when I wrestled in high school!