I Had a Slice of Pizza and Half of a Fancy Dessert for Lunch Today

I’m 39 with a biological age of 26 and I’m still not internet famous. Make it make sense.

“…But he looks like a normal, fit forty-something-year-old,” was my puzzled response when this guy Bryan Johnson started hitting the news earlier this year to, I assume, sell something. After all, isn’t it reasonable for a rich person in a rich country to be healthy?

And here I am, months later, still getting served articles on my news apps that say this person with a young biological age takes 378 supplements a day, something about bathing in virgin blood in the moonlight, runs marathons backwards, and more make-believe tales I could joke about.

I may not have met this guy in person, but I have seen him, that “old” person in great shape, on the street, in the gym, at the office, and so forth. Why in the world was this getting so much news attention? My friends in my age range also look youthful, so what gives?

Maybe I’m crazy, but I think buying every supplement on the market and doing every exorbitantly priced treatment available is much more work than consistently doing resistance training four times a week and eating a balance of fruits, veggies, and proteins almost every day.

But I could be wrong. I just texted one of my great-looking friends to ask how she felt at her old age (she’s six months older than me), and she complained of loss of flexibility and how it’s harder to lose weight now. Fair enough. She also lamented having to use reading glasses, but I assured her it’s not our fault AI decided to subtly vanity size all the fonts on the computer over time.

The point is, I’m not entirely convinced someone who is already in pretty good shape has to make an extraordinary effort to have a best body ever. Although I will concede it is a luxury for most to carve out one hour for a workout.

This past summer at a gym I visited, I received my biological age estimate of 26. I was super surprised it was so low! Although other factors supported it, like a decent BMI, muscle mass, fat percentage, etc., I knew it was also a bit unscientific. As a trained statistician, I know how easy it is to choose the right variables to get the number you want.

At any rate, I’ll go ahead and brag about it on the internet. Physically I feel and look great, so why not share what I’ve learned?

I already had some great things going for me before I hit 35

Running on momentum is probably my main key to success. Or perhaps it’s my belief that it’s never too late.

I gained only a few pounds over my adult years, because I’m not the type of person who buys new pants when what I have become difficult to button. Exercising more and eating fewer cookies seemed like the more logical choice.

Growing up, and into my adult years, I was never really into soda (although I do love cookies and chocolate). I always thought it was crazy that people chose to drink several of these sugary/synthetic drinks in a day. I can’t imagine this benefits the body in any way, like excessive drinking, smoking, and drug use.

I have had a pretty steady exercise habit since my senior year in high school. But I don’t want to make it sound like it’s been easy — I’ve had my ups and downs over my life where I neglected my physical state. Luckily, I’ve always rebounded because I like the aftermath of finishing something difficult.

I changed the strategy in my post-35 “why is my body falling apart” phase

Man, what the hell is going on? Seriously! I have to eat less and work out more than when I was in my twenties. After doing some research, I read that around this age, our muscle mass starts to decline, which makes everything more difficult.

For me, this resulted in not relying on at-home workouts only and going to the gym to do resistance training with heavier weights. And I try to have a protein smoothie most mornings and think more about my nutrient intake. (If you are over 50, please don’t tell me how things will change in the future. Let me be happy for now.)

All in all, I can’t complain because I am working harder and challenging myself more now than in my salad days. The pistol squats and pull ups I do are assisted, but better than thinking I “didn’t need” to try them when I was young and foolish. A win for experiencing a feeling of accomplishment a few times a week.

I have a (generally) healthy relationship with food

And I don’t believe in overthinking it.

One thing I really dislike about going to dinner with a lot of my Western girlfriends is that they spend a lot of time going on and on about the food they’ve chosen not to eat (like gluten, carbs, etc.), but yet have no problem drinking alcohol or eating half of my dessert. Of course this isn’t fully our own fault because we have, especially in the US, been conditioned to classify entire food groups as good or evil, with seemingly no grey area. I remember in my childhood, fat was the enemy, and from then the villain changed every decade or so.

Of course I have my issues with food (I have a compulsion to snack when I feel harried), but I follow an “everything in moderation” approach to eating, which sounds nuts to a lot of people who will try every weight loss shortcut except eating less and lifting weights. I realize for some people moderation means cutting back fast food to just one meal a day, or drinking three sodas or alcoholic beverages per day. That’s not what I mean!

Is orthorexia the default of American society? Sometimes I think it is, because stressing out over food, something we all consume 3–5 times a day, sounds nonsensical to me. I do my best to eat a wide variety of nutrients over the week (and I enjoy several tough workouts), so I don’t feel guilty when I want to eat the occasional extravagant pastry or hamburger.

I’ve also heard friends freaking out over sugar in coffee or soy sauce on sushi. If you’re not diabetic or suffer from Celiac disease, what exactly will a teaspoon do to you? I avoid foods and drinks that don’t agree with me and I don’t complain about it.

If you want an extra tip, I try to eat a variety of flavors (umami, sweet, salty, spicy, etc.) and textures earlier in the day to cut down on cravings later on.

I choose to not engage in drama and stress

A hill I will die on is that gossiping will give you wrinkles. Drama and stress have a negative effect on physical and mental health, so it is imperative for me to eliminate them from my life.

I’ve decided that emotional vampires who thrive in chaos get cut off when it goes too far. Unstable bosses, self-important boyfriends, social media, I’m uninterested in it and I choose my mental health instead.

Stress and anxiety are a little more complicated to intellectualize away and set boundaries on. One of my favorite quotes is from the pianist Arthur Rubinstein, where in an interview at the age of 90 he said, “My love of life is very, very, very unconditional.” Yes, that may be easy to say for someone with his talent, but he also had difficult years in his youth, including a suicide attempt. At the time of this interview, when he was losing his vision, he said he was able to discover a new facet in life. Since he couldn’t spend his free time reading, he listened to more music and created a new way to enjoy a beautiful life. If that isn’t youth, I don’t know what is.

It would be nice to say a walk in the park will clear all of your stress away, but it’s not that easy for a lot of people. Depression and anxiety can even make it harder to do the things that could boost your mood. Working on our personal resilience, choosing the healthier option at a restaurant, and being kind to others are great first steps.

I haven’t given birth

I can imagine having a human person kick around your organs for months on end can age the body by a few years. Enough said.

My skincare routine is top-notch

“Wow! I thought you were in your twenties!”

“Yeah, I know, thank you.” I’ve had the luck of being a skincare addict since I had terrible acne in my teens. I can say three of the techniques that have kept me looking young are alternating nights between tretinoin and gentle acid treatments, using gentle cleansers, and layering hydrating serums and moisturizers.

How much effort and money are you willing to put forth to decrease what a machine says your body’s physiological age is? Not much for me, so I will remain decidedly unfamous on the internet. I think as long as I feel strong, I can remain balanced over rugged terrain, and I can run for a bus, I’m pretty young!