The story goes that explorer Ponce de Leon came ashore in Florida in 1513 and sent his crew out in search for the “fountain of youth”. It’s probably just a myth, but the fountain of youth lurks in everyone’s mind. What if there really is a fountain of youth, or what if the fountain of youth isn’t really a fountain at all, but can be found in snippets of information published in medical journals, research papers, and on podcasts presented by doctors on the internet? I am living proof that such information is available to us all.
Weight Loss
About ten years ago I wanted to lose 15 pounds. A normal low-calorie diet told me that I could expect to lose three to four pounds a month. That would have taken me nearly five months. As much as I like to eat, a five-month diet wasn’t in the cards. So, I went to the internet and searched diets. I came across a book by Dr. Jason Fung, “The Complete Gride to Fasting”. Not knowing anything about fasting I ordered the book, read it, and talked myself into a 24 hour fast. Easy peasy. A few days later I went for a 48 hour fast and got through it with no glitches. The following week I went on a three day (72 hour) fast. In that two-week trial period, I had lost four pounds. I could see that this was doable.
I went to the drug store and bought a glucose test kit and a ketone test kit and prepared for an extended fast. This time I was determined to go seven days without eating anything. Was it difficult? Only the second day while my liver was gearing up to produce ketones to scavenge my body for fat molecules to be delivered back to my liver and reprocessed into carbohydrates as fuel for my body’s normal functions.
I had set a goal of seven days and easily reached that goal. After that second day I never became hungry because my body was eating my fat stores. When I had reached my goal of seven days, I was certain I could have continued. During that seven day fast, I had lost an additional eight pounds. Add that to the four pounds I had lost earlier and I was close to my goal of 15 pounds. After two more 24 hour fasts I was down to my goal. In a three-week period, I had lost the weight that would have taken me five months on a low-calorie diet. Since that original diet ten years ago I have been on a 16-8 fasting diet. Fast 16 hours starting after my last meal of the day (usually 6PM) until my breakfast at noon the next day.
Muscle Loss
In my early 70’s I realized that I was becoming weaker by the day despite a weekly routine of exercising over the past 50 years. Something wasn’t adding up. I spent a lifetime doing what my doctor, the media, and our government had recommended for a fruitful retirement, yet I could see that I would probably need assistance getting out of a chair within a few years. Obviously, what I had considered to be good advice was a lie. Who to trust? I spent some time on the internet searching muscle loss, muscle gain, and strength for the older population, discounting anything mentioning jogging/exercising or anything which I had been doing in the past. I finally came upon a book written by Mark Rippetoe titled “Starting Strength, Basic Barbell Training”. I bought the book and read it. I’ll be the first to admit that barbell anything sounded quite intimidating and seemed beyond my capabilities. Knowing through my research that there was no other option I purchased all of the needed equipment for a proper functioning gym and sat it up in my basement. You may ask how intimidating was this to me? After setting up everything I spent the next seven days walking around it wondering how I was going to attack such a structure. The only answer I could come up with was “start”. I’ll admit that the weights I was first working with were something that any ten-year-old child could lift. Over time and through the “progressive overload” process recommended in the book I have become quite strong and don’t see myself doing anything other than weight lifting going forward. I highly recommend barbell weight lifting for anyone forty years and older, man or woman. There is much to be said about weight lifting, but I’ll leave that to another article.
Poor Recovery
Somewhere during my second or third year of lifting weights I felt that my recovery could be better and for some reason I can’t recall I wanted to increase my metabolism. Back to the internet. What I found for better recovery was to eat more, but I was already full after eating my meals. At the time I was 76 or 77 years old. I found that men at an advanced age have a low testosterone level and that testosterone replacement would improve both workout recovery and increase my metabolism. I contacted a doctor specializing in testosterone replacement therapy “TRT” and had my levels checked. My readout was somewhere below basement level. I subsequently went on TRT and life is now very good indeed.
Because of these three missing pieces of the fountain of youth which I was able to locate and use to my advantage I have found that my mind, body and spirit have been cast back into the body I occupied at 35 years old, along with the accumulated knowledge I have gathered over the past eighty years.
I write this article to tell you that there really is a fountain of youth, but the pieces are scattered everywhere. You just need to know what you’re lacking and search for that missing piece. The fountain of youth may never be completely built because of the many oxen that would be gored in the process. Examples are; what would happen to social security if we were to live an additional twenty years, what would happen to the medical industry if knee and hip replacements became unnecessary or common illnesses became rare, or what would become of the housing market if we were to live in our home an additional twenty years? Until these types of things can be dealt with on a national level we will be left to search for that missing piece of the fountain of youth that applies to us. I see things as only getting better in the future.
Bob Baker Three 5’s Barbell Strength Training email [email protected] tele 419-277-6581
