Friday, May 20, 2016

"Trucking Healthy"

So here's the deal, being a truck driver I know how tough it can be out here to be healthy. Truck stops are bringing in more and more overpriced fast food joints. The "dollar menu" at a McDonald's in Pilot truck stops starts at like $3. For fatty, processed junk food. But, hey, it's quick and easy, right?
Truckers getting paid to sit still and stare out the window all day, dodging cars and dealing with general motorist assholery. It can be stressful; so sometimes we need to take a quick break and shove a Fatty McLardassburger in our facehole. 

But then one turns into two turns into a habit. Next thing you know you're getting winded trying to get out of the truck. Your pants seem to shrink by inches every time you put them on. You've gone from "svelte" (it's a real word, trust me) to "husky" to "planet with feet" and you start worrying about every DOT physical. 
Your blood pressure keeps rising with your waist size and the doctor is talking about "pre diabetes cautions". Every time you step on a scale people run thinking springs are going to fly out like shrapnel in a war zone. 

I've been there. My waistline grew steadily. I felt like a Macy's float. Hell, I LOOKED like one. I ended up with medical issues. My blood pressure started to look like a sketch of the Rockies. I knew something had to change or I was headed for trouble. Or the morgue. I'm pretty sure the morgue still qualifies as trouble though. 
After losing a fight to gravity I ended up being forced to get in shape. That gravity is one bad mother, I'll tell you that. Left me with a bunch of broken bones and shit. Surprised me, really, because I figured I had enough blubber to cushion my landing. Wrong. Nearly dead wrong. 

And that's the thing. We get out of shape easily in this sedentary life. Fast food slows us down and wrecks our bodies in invisible ways. It's like magic but tasty, dark, dark magic. Soda slowly kills us with its delicious sugars. 
Being on the road and hustling from city to city and state to state, we don't have time to stop in at the gym. And our vehicles don't fit in at a lot of places. So fitness and health take a back seat. And that's exactly where I found them; in my bunk on my truck. 

A little bit of innovation and I had a bench to work out on. I carry it on my truck along with weights and other items I use to go from obese to "oh, beast". A wee bit of tinkering with my food choices made that even easier. Am I a beast now? Nope. But I'm much healthier than before and steadily improving. 
Shortly after getting back on the road from my 6 month "you broke a buncha stuff" vacation I met my buddy, Robert. He was interested in getting in better shape too. So we worked together to develop and tweak a system that worked on our individual needs. We both got results and are on our way to our goals. We aren't overly concerned anymore about the new DOT rules coming out regarding physical fitness and what'll happen to our jobs. We both are living a healthier lifestyle. This means less ailments and, hopefully, more years with our families. 

Each of us have focused on different aspects regarding health and fitness. We've spent a couple of years working at it and getting results. Smaller waistlines, better blood pressure and general health. Being healthy you'll find you have more energy, you sleep better, you breathe better, you're happier in general and usually a little less stressed. See, being healthy isn't just about diet. It's about an entire lifestyle change. But I'm not supposed to tell you that. It scares people sometimes. They're all like "ermahgerd! He's going to banish our chocolates! He's going to make us eat shit we don't like! He's evil!" Then they want to chase me with sticks. And I'm all "hey, look! You're running! I'm so proud of you!" 
Relax, guys, it's not like that. Being healthier isn't a punishment and it shouldn't feel like one. I'm not out to steal Halloween and Easter candy from you. Although I wouldn't horribly mind if we put McDonald's out to pasture. 

Which leads us to the point of this post. See, we figured if we can help other drivers lose weight, get healthier and prolong their lives then it was important we do so. We decided to start simple for now. We started with a little group of drivers helping drivers with health goals. Healthy eating tips, exercise tips and ideas, best use of space and stuff like that. The beauty of it is that this can work with everyone because the concepts are all about simplicity and efficiency. 
In the fast paced world of today time is a precious commodity. We don't have much to spare and you probably don't either. Because the clock ticks go by so quickly, we've learned to make them count. So we created Trucking Healthy on Facebook. We're working on a website but I can barely figure out my phone, website building is not in my repertoire. It should be ready before too long though. In the interim, we invite you to check out our little group. Maybe it'll help you or motivate you. 
The obesity rate is climbing drastically. People are succumbing to blood pressure, heart disease, diabetes and other preventable illnesses all too quickly. Our goal is to slow that down. No matter what your job, your hours or your body goals, OUR goal is to help you get Trucking Healthy. If you aren't happy with what you see in the mirror then we want to help you. You can make excuses or you can make changes. We hope to help you make the changes you want. 

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