Author: Garrett
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Walking Fit
Until now, I’ve resisted writing about walking. Not because I lack stories, but because walking has become a kind of ritual—my daily meditation. It feels strange to dissect something so deeply woven into my life. Most mornings, during my three-month Oregon adventure, I start before the sun comes up. The cabin is warm, the river…
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Thanksgiving on the Columbia
Living a minimalist life on the shore of the Columbia River this November has put me in an appropriately reflective mood. I wake up in the cold cabin, turn off the electric blanket, and step out of bed already dressed in the day’s uniform—sweatpants and an old long-sleeved shirt. It was 39° this morning. As…
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The Five Rules That Saved Me
A simple system men can actually follow (even after Thanksgiving) Most men don’t fall apart all at once. We drift. One day you’re a lean, capable guy with a jawline. Then a decade goes by and suddenly there’s a soft equator forming around your midsection and you swear the dryer is shrinking your shirts. I…
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My Second Tipping Point: Gasping for Air Above Timberline
Gasping for air on a mountain trail high above timberline, I stopped and looked up at the hikers disappearing into the rocks above me and wondered what I had gotten myself into this time. In July 2017, I closed one chapter of my life and began another. Since first visiting the Rocky Mountains as a…
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My First Tipping Point: The Day Shrek Walked My Daughter Down the Aisle
I experienced my first tipping point the morning after my oldest daughter’s wedding. Looking at photos taken by others of my beautiful daughter walking down the aisle — accompanied by Shrek — woke me up for the second time that morning. For reasons still mysterious to me, I had shaved my head down to a…
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Every Diet I Failed Started on Paper
After years of failed starts, I realized discipline doesn’t begin on paper—it begins in motion. This story captures the first steps that rebuilt my identity.
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I Let You Down
After two months of silence, I’m back—with the truth about failure, recommitment, and why your comeback starts with a walk. Where I’ve Been I promised to tell you how I went from fat to fit—and then I disappeared. No excuses. I owe you better. For a couple of months, this space went quiet. That’s on…
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The Hardest Part of Losing 90 lbs. (Isn’t Losing It)
If you’re a 40- or 50-something guy who’s lost the same 10 pounds three different times, I know you. I was you. For decades I “merry-go-rounded” my way through new gym memberships, wearable trackers, and the latest diet podcasts — dropping a few pounds in January, gaining more back by Thanksgiving. My body got really…
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AI Helped Me Unlock a 700-Year-Old Sword — But Not Myself
The One Thing Artificial Intelligence Can’t Do for a Writer The 700-year-old inscription on my childhood katana, revealed for the first time with the help of artificial intelligence. A few weeks ago, I held my iPhone up to a katana I’ve owned since childhood. Bert—my nickname for ChatGPT’s visual assistant—guided me as I removed the…
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Sitting in My Discomfort
You should know, right off the bat, that I do not like sharing my innermost thoughts and feelings with strangers, let alone friends. There is nothing wrong with sharing one’s feelings, and I am better today than ever at talking about my vulnerabilities, but it’s still not easy. However, a few years ago — about…
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Replace the Weight You Lost: The Secret to Eating More and Staying Lean
I was driving past Bear Creek Lake Park around noon today. If you are from the Denver area, you know it was bluebird morning seventy-five degrees, with a light breeze. Today was supposed to be an easy day: just a couple of light neighborhood loop walks. I had already knocked out 1.5 miles earlier to…
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What Am I Doing?
Three posts in, and I owe you a proper briefing on what I want to build together with you. It is no secret that our biggest impediments, after we turn 30, to a long and relatively painless life are excess weight and the associated decline in physical activity that comes with it. My intent is…
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From Green Beret to 260 lbs: How I Lost My Way (And Found It Again).
I wasn’t always 260 pounds. In my 20s and 30s, I was a Green Beret in fighting shape. But somewhere between building a business career and living a full life, the weight started creeping on. Serving in the National Guard meant that I needed to maintain a high level of fitness; I had to meet…
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The Real Battle Starts After Losing the Weight
Have you lost significant weight using a GLP-1 agonist? Congratulations and welcome to the club! Anyone that has dropped 20 lbs. or more, whether by following a plan incorporating a radical change in diet and exercise or through medical intervention, will soon discover what I did: dieting was, in many ways, the easy part. My…
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An Ordinary Guy
I think of myself as an ordinary guy who has lived an extraordinary life. A couple of months ago I stepped on the scale and discovered I had gained 20 lbs. since completing a solo backpack of the John Muir Trail through the California Sierras. After training hard for eight months and then hiking the…