I’ve worn the same pant size since I was 20. I’m 100% with you on this.
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So besides many basses, you also have BAS (Bike Acquisition Syndrome)? 
I use a headphone amp too. It’s so nice to be able to play at any time without anyone hearing it.
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I was always size 32 pants size since I was 18, with the exception of my midlife crisis time, when I brought myself down to 6% body fat and all muscles. I had 30 then…
Now I have some “issues” with 34 …f#ckety f#ck!
But it was a wakeup call, believe you me!
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Same, I’ve worn 32/34 my entire adult life. I just broke down after Xmas and bought a couple of pairs of 33/34’s because I just cannot get the weight to come off. No matter how I workout or eat.
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That’s almsost impossible!?
Did you try:
- low carb (where you reach ketosis!!!) or intermittent fasting
- high intensity weight training. And I mean: HIGH intensity - very high weights, low repeats - the kind of where you think you die?
- Interval endurance training - the kind of where you think you die?
- TRX and body weight training - just for fun and to show off - doesn’t really help for weight loss. The girls dig it though, and that what keeps you motivated
I did that and never looked fitter than then.
The first months were worse than hell though. Then I became addicted. Later I became lazy again … and now I’m fat 
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I’ve gone low carb (under 125g of carbs per day), I wan’t do keto though. I don’t like dieting, I’d prefer to find something I can maintain. Haven’t done a high weight / low rep routine since before Covid when I had a gym membership. Interval training with a mix of bodyweight, kettlebells, and resistance bands have been my bread and butter along with my Peloton and rowing machine since Covid and it worked great for years. Now, it just isn’t cutting it anymore.
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WTF?
Reaching Ketosis is very important, in my opinion. It takes about two weeks to get there. Those weeks are sh#t!
After, you feel like you can tear trees out of the ground.
It’s possible to maintain … if your wife supports it. My girlfriend was like: be normal, dude! That was not easy…
Also, travelling can be complicated. Low carb and hotels don’t match, unfortunately.
In terms of maintaining: I found it easy … when I reached Ketosis. Gave up sweets, soft drinks, all that. Wandered around supermarkets, enjoying the view of things that don’t have control over me anymore.
It was great!
What brought me down was a project that ended after 4 years. I gave everything for that and when it was finished, I just let myself go.
Stupid me!
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What a beautiful and most acurate expression! It still amazes me, how strong it is, and that you guys feel it, too.
I did a lot of dancing in my past, ballet, jazz, contemporary and pole dance. Not at the moment, unfortunately, because work, moving, and yes, playing bass got in the way. One day, I will be back.
And you know what: I do shoulder strength and finger grip exercises for playing bass, which are also very important for pole dance.
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Thanks! It sounds almost poetic. It’s like a mermaid’s call, difficult to resist. I find it hard to find time for other things I need to do. For me, it’s easy to postpone physical exercises because I want to spend more time playing bass.
So many small tasks we need to do everyday in our daily lives end up taking so much time, so there’s less time for everything else. I’m trying to find the discipline to develop a routine of daily exercise. I didn’t give up yet, though it is challenging.
That’s awesome! You are keeping in shape for dancing too, so it will be easier to start again when you have more time.
Probably need to lose 10 or so years 
Older you get, harder it gets in general.
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I mean……
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Hi there,
I had to experience losing weight before I could understand how hard it is for some people. I think it’s all about your environment and how you shape it. For example, I banned snacks from my apartment and lost weight - but now I live with my partner who always has snacks in the pantry … which I eat, too. And gain weight from. 
Currently, the bass is calling me again - I saw a rock band and want to chug rock lines. 
I started bouldering (climbing) recently and declared Muscle Monday as a day to do the opposite muscle groups (push ups, planks etc). And I want to ride my road bike again, and try double wrapped bar tape.
To make room for new activities, I will sell my motorcycle though and have dialled back my singing lessons to zero.
For me, the challenge with hobbies is to find the time next to a full time job, and to actually get going. I should be able to practice bass every night, but sometimes it gets lost in the mix. 
Cheers,
Antonio
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I went low carb (keto) as part of an elimination diet - to figure out what was hurting my gut. I was flying a lot for work, so I was very motivated to solve it… Anyway, once I got that figured out, I had already been off of carbs for a few weeks, so I just stayed off of them for about two years. Travelling was difficult, but with a bit of persistence I was able to find low carb food most places I went using the key phrase “just put some meat on a plate.” In San Francisco and a few other places, I had to add something to the effect of “I am being serious, I want the meat to touch the plate, please do not bring anything else as I don’t want to waste food,” because if I didn’t they’d put the meat on or between sheets of lettuce…
After a few months, I had so much more energy than normal, I had to workout just so I could get to bed at reasonable time, and soon thereafter I was in the best shape of my adult life. For example, I could fit some clothes from my senior year of high school (20+ years removed), and I was in pretty good shape at 17… That all came crashing to an end shortly after my kids were born, and my wife and I reverted to survival behaviors.
Now, almost 8 years later, I am taking a less extreme (and more sustainable) approach, but between that and being nearly a decade older, the process is slower.
As to OPs original question, the physical activity I do is a mix of mostly bodyweight resistance exercises, because those are easier to ramp up the intensity without a gym partner. For example, pullups, pushups, dips, etc. However, I am leaving out the stuff I do that is just part of life around our house… while it varies, for some reason I rarely get more than a few hours of time to sit and “do nothing.” I’m responsible for the yard, the dogs, all the handyman stuff, and for reaching stuff for the short people in the house. I don’t measure the work done, I try to pay attention to the outcome. Do I feel better, do I have enough energy, etc.
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I hate ketosis so much. I feel like constant shit and it never gets better.
You know what worked great for me? Simple calorie restriction. I kept under 1000/day of a high carb, high protein, liw cal and low fat diet - exactly the opposite of paleo - and lost almost 100 lbs, all fat, in under 2 years.
I got obese in the 90s - combo of a bad marriage and getting out of the army but still eating like I was in it. Losing that shit was the best thing I ever did for myself.
Recently (pandemic) I have become old guy skinnyfat. Need to fix that, start working out and dieting again.
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Yep, pushing 50 now and trying to avoid Dadbod. I’ve managed to till now. I’m just not ready to give in yet.
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I lost about 50 pounds back in 2019. Put me at the top end of my goal weight range.
Turns out that weight loss was due to cancer, which was diagnosed in late 2023. After i got that taken care of last year, I put all the weight back on.
But on the plus side, finishing chemo is what got me to finally give in to my long-time desire to purchase and learn the bass.
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I read “start working out and DATING again”, and for a moment I thought, “yeah, that makes sense”
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I’ve worked out 5-6 days a week for as long as I can remember. Yoga, weights, kickboxing mainly. For many years I used a fitbit but i’ve since switched to apple watch
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That’s interesting. I had a similar experience some 15 years ago. Everyday at work, 3 hours after lunch, I had abdominal pain and bloating. I could hear my guts making noises because of excessive gas. I went to doctors a couple of times, but their advices were unhelpful: instead of making any tests, they gave me prescriptions of medications or enzyme supplements. It didn’t work.
I tried to make by myself an elimination diet, but that was time consuming and inconclusive (at first). I was sure the problem was something I ate at my workplace’s cafeteria. My regular lunch used to be meat or fish, salad, and either potatoes, rice or pasta. I noticed I had less problems when I didn’t eat carrots or iceberg lettuce with my meals. So I stopped eating them, but the problem didn’t completely go away.
Later I read about low carb diet and decided to try it to lose weight. And surprisingly, my problems went away. The culprits were rice, potato and specially pasta, and anything rich in carbohydrates. I still had problems from time to time, and later I found out the main culprit was gluten. By cutting gluten altogether from my diet, I felt much better.
At the time of my low carb diet, I lost weight and had much more energy. Apparently I had developed anemia during the time I ate gluten. Eliminating gluten was one of the best decisions of my life.
I don’t think I ever managed to reach ketosis, because I probably didn’t eat small enough amounts of carbohydrates. But I noticed that when I ate too little carbs, I felt better and had more energy when I went for long and brisk walks. I think probably my body was using the carbs the liver saves, or maybe sometimes it was burning body fat. Anyway I was consuming far less energy than I used, so I lost weight.
A few years ago I tried intermittent fasting and I liked it. But I reverted back to eating at regular time meals, because my husband and I wanted to cook and eat together nice dinners during the weekends. It was sometimes inconvenient to have different meals and meal times. But I’m considering trying again intermittent fasting. At the time I was on intermittent fasting, I felt less hungry, had more energy, and could go surprisingly long without eating. I was surprised some of my friends couldn’t go for a 3 or 4 hour walk without taking something to eat because they would be hungry soon. Usually physical activity causes me to burn energy, so I don’t feel hungry as long as I’m moving.
Lately I have consumed lots of carbohydrates, and this sometimes has caused problems to my guts. Yesterday I had an “iced tea mango mojito” and though it was delicious, I thought it was quite sweet, so I checked the ingredients. There was no tea in it despite the name, and it had 42 grams of sugar!!! That was shocking. I thought “that’s it for me” and I won’t drink sugary drinks anymore.
Reading your messages I started to feel inspired to make some changes. I decided to start cutting down carbs (especially sugar), stop eating rice and potatoes, and start again a low carb diet. I’ll also start doing more exercise. It feels easier to find motivation after talking about this. 
Thanks to you all who answered and shared your thoughts and experiences!
It’s interesting how what works for some, doesn’t work for others. But our intestinal flora/microbiota might differ a lot from person to person. I know people who have the best results with a diet rich in carbohydrates, but for me it’s the exact opposite. The less carbs the better. I think the important thing is to know what works for ourselves.
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Cancer made me GAIN weight, so cancer wasn’t even on the radar for my doctors until my other symptoms became much worse. Then chemo made me gain even more weight. (And I haven’t been able to lose it, despite now having 1 1/2 meters less gut to absorb calories with.)
Guess I just gotta do everything backwards…
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