I'm not a fan of the "because it's good for you" philosophy either. The only diets that work in the long run are the ones you can make fit your lifestyle so you live with them daily. I think the best exercise regimens are the ones where you're doing it because you enjoy the activity or are training towards a particular goal. It's got to be a hobby that has the benefit of being healthy.
I have been in and out of the gym since high school (25 years, damn I'm getting old) I need to do it to keep mobile. I walk almost all day, but if I don't toss in some squats or do some opening up of the joints I get stiff and sometimes get knee issues (competitive skier, tennis and bmx as youth). I keep resistance bands around for easy exercises to toss in the mix in the office or around work.
I did the crossfit for a few years and it was good. You have people keeping you accountable and it is like going to the bar to catch up with others in the neighborhood, except I was a 5am'er. Almost all of them have a free intro or groupon to give you a chance to try without commitment.
I find one of the best ways, don't judge me, is to find a place with a bunch of really hot friendly girls. I will be 40 this summer and find flirting with the 25-35yo ladies keeps me coming back. I wish I had time to do more dynamic exercise like rowing or hiking the mountains, but time always seems limited.
This spring I'm going to rent a bobcat for a weekend and clear a path around the perimeter of my property. One circuit will be +/- a few feet of half a mile.
My plan is to start taking the long way around when I go to the mailbox or out to the shop. Sure it isn't a marathon, but it also isn't any more difficult than leaving from the back door instead of the front.
OP, since you used to bodybuild, you know that all the things you are getting frustrated with are things you don't need to do...unless you have plans to get back on stage. You don't need boot camp style training, measure every calorie, seem like a second job, etc...
My wife and I are both into bodybuilding/fitness/nutrition. She's hardcore and is toying with the idea of getting on stage. I work very hard, but have no interest in competing. I'm about the same age as you, maybe a little older. I go to the gym 5 days a week regularly....only times I miss are if I'm travelling or on vacation (even then I try to get some work in).
I'm not a big guy, and that's OK. I'm 5'9" and weight hovers around 175-180lb depending on the season. My body fat is in the low-mid teens, again depending on season. I'm pretty muscular for my size. I'm quite regimented in my nutrition. I allow myself one cheat meal per week, and one "snack" per week...my other 25+ meals per week are clean. As you know, if you want the true 6 pack, you need to have 100% of your meals clean, but I don't care enough to do that. I'm very fit, and happy with that.
I've got my share of physical challenges too. Crohns' disease, had surgery on both knees, surgery on one hip (the other is an eventuality), L4/5 and L5/S1 herniations. Every day, something hurts. Not going to be melodramatic and say that without working out I'd be wheelchair bound, because that's not true at all. But I have no doubt that it keeps my issues from being a lot worse.
No boot camp workout crap for me. I'm at the gym at 4:45am every day. I lift hard for about 45-50 minutes, taking proper rest between sets. Have a typical 5 day/week split. Finish off my workout with 10-15 minutes of moderately intense cardio. Done. No special fad workouts. My wife does the same, just does a bit more than me, and she's amazingly ripped. I also don't track every calorie. I used to, many years ago, but I know enough now to have a really good idea of what I'm putting into my body and can hit my splits just fine. I do roughly 275-300g protein/50-75g fat/125-150g carbs. If I wanted to hit the stage, then I'd need to track everything. But my splits are good enough to get me where I want, no feeling like it's a second job.
Best advice I have is to just scale it back. If you're just looking to get back into good shape, you can do it without all the hard core stuff. Like I said, I'm not stage ready, but in all modesty, I look pretty darn good for a guy in his mid-40s. Plenty of muscle, no pot belly, and it's not killing me to do it.
I refuse to try crossfit, because I already have 3 slipped discs, thank-you-very-much. 
This thread is relevant to my interests, because I'm trying to get back into shape as well. (When I was in school, I was into cross country and mild bodybuilding.) But my doctor recently told me that I have the metabolism of a geriatric sloth, so losing weight is next to impossible for me. 
I know nothing about this lifestyle of which you speak (which explains my waistband size) but I just wanted to offer a gigantic thank you for saying "oriented", not "orientated", in the post title.
One more thought. It's a bit of a misconception that simply cutting calories/starving yourself is the key to weight loss. It will work in the short term, but not a long term answer. Your body will quickly go into starvation mode and will hang on to each and every calorie it can. So you'll lose weight initially, but then progress will grind to a halt. You need to be orientated to both diet and exercise. Yes, calories burned > calories in is the most basic formula, but it needs to be the right calories and the right burning of same.
Reading through this I can say I have no expertise to offer the OP but brother I hope you can accomplish what you want. You've been there once, you can do it again.
And the knowledge base here with the subject at hand, seems very high. And being nutrition seems to be a key component of the OP's thread, specifically eating "clean". Does anyone have a link (s) to specific food choices and/or recipes that fall under the umbrella of eating "clean"? If actual portion sizes could be noted that's even better.
A couple thoughts on pretty much any successful endeavor. Apply SMART criteria.
Specific
Measurable - if not quantifiable, at least clearly measurable (e.g. "Compete in Scottish Games")
Agreed upon - who is doing it? (okay, this is for group/organization goals, not personal ones)
Realistic
Time-related - when will you achieve your goal by?
So, what is your goal in all this? How will you measure it? If you plan to make permanent changes, what is the best course to do things that you will have the motivation to adapt as a permanent part of your lifestyle?
drainoil wrote: Reading through this I can say I have no expertise to offer the OP but brother I hope you can accomplish what you want. You've been there once, you can do it again. And the knowledge base here with the subject at hand, seems very high. And being nutrition seems to be a key component of the OP's thread, specifically eating "clean". Does anyone have a link (s) to specific food choices and/or recipes that fall under the umbrella of eating "clean"? If actual portion sizes could be noted that's even better.
Here's a good article for sources of protein, which are the most "important" of the macro groups.
You'll find lots of good info on this site.
There's a lot of debate about nutrition and timing. A lot of fitness experts say it really doesn't matter and it's an old wives tale to "not eat after 9pm".
I don't agree on cheat meals. Like I said, I do one per week...simply because I want to. I'm quite content with low teens body fat and all the muscle I have. The only thing it keeps me from is having a true 6 pack that really bulges out, but that's OK. And when I do my cheat meal, I do it in grand style. It's Friday night, so it's sort of my "happy hour". I have a lot of protein in the morning...about 150g or so. Eat some veggies for lunch and that's about it. So I go into dinner, which we eat at 9pm, at something around 700-800 calories on the day. I rotate what I buy, but the most common things are either a big burger, 3 slices of pizza, chicken sandwich (from a restaurant...fried chicken breast, cheese, etc...on a bun) or Chinese. Plus I'll eat a E36 M3 load of grocery store french fries which we bake, not fry in oil. I waddle upstairs to bed stuffed like a pig and happy. Since my goal isn't to compete, I'm OK with doing the cheat meal.
1988RedT2 wrote: I would never argue against the benefits of regular exercise, but in my experience the best way to lose weight is to modify your diet. Simple fact: If you burn more calories THAN YOU EAT, you WILL LOSE WEIGHT. Just making a few changes to your current diet will make a huge difference.
This, cal in < cal out can be oversimplifying it, but it's not if you just want to drop weight. Or at least it worked fine for me.
You can't outrun a fork.
BrokenYugo wrote: You can't outrun a fork.
Dude...that's right up there with "rust never sleeps". Deep stuff man, deep stuff... 
Everyone post pics
Keith Tanner said:My 75-year-old dad doesn't go to the gym. Never has. But he doesn't overeat, doesn't eat sweets and lives in a three-story house so he does lots of stairs every day whether he wants to or not. He walks all over the place and just plain does stuff. He's currently in the hospital with what looks like a fairly nasty cancer diagnosis. If he wasn't in such good shape, the doctors made it clear they'd be talking about maintaining quality of life and signing off on him. But instead, they're going to treat him the same way they'd treat someone half his age. Instead of being given a terminal diagnosis, he's being given a chance.
If there was a drug that provided the benefits that exercise does, it would be proclaimed a miracle. Thanks to being in a bunch of meetings with my dad's doctors, I'm going to get back into it myself. I can run a 10k in 56 minutes and a half marathon in 2 hours, so I'm not a total couch potato. But I'm bigger and heavier than I should be, and I'm not on track to be in dad's shape at his age.
There is so much good advice and wisdom in this thread, but this is what it's all about. Are you going to be a miserable 75 year old? It's funny how we look at age as we get older. It really matters to Keith's dad that he recover from cancer. When you are thirty, you would think it wouldn't, but it does.
All we have to do is be "good" 80 percent of the time. Diet is huge, but you don't need to be a fanatic unless that works for you. As part of my practice, I am a weight loss counselor. I ask people for a minimum to get out and walk every day. Find a style of eating that works for you. Get to a weight you are comfortable with and then keep at that weight. Someone said to do an exercise that you like, that's true.
I hate having to eat healthy, but with the number of injuries I've had in my life, I really notice when I don't eat healthy. One of my autocross clubs was talking about making an over 50 class. Screw that! I want to beat those kids. This keeps me motivated to be healthy.
I get it, I don't like having to live this lifestyle, but my choices are being old before my time. When I'm around my siblings, it is obvious that I have taken care of myself. I'm stuck in this frame for a few more decades, I don't know if I will have to fight cancer. If I do, I want to be like Keith's father. I just don't think any of us at the end of our lives or if we have to fight some health crisis will wish we had eaten more donuts.
Will it help understand how to canoe?
Still can't do exercise for the sake of exercise. Now that I've moved out of the swampass latitudes I can do some enjoyable outdoor activities that involve exercise, like cycling.
Kayaking is another such activity, very similar to canoeing 
There are so many complexities to these issues though.
Take sleep:
Most people sleep better with regular exercise.
Fitting in exercise sometimes results in less sleep.
In order to get 8hrs of sleep and be up at 5AM, you need to be asleep by 9PM.
Diet:
I know people who have very strict diets. They also have no energy. When they start to exercise, the diet needs to change to give them energy. Without exercise, they dont lose weight, but with exercise the calories increase.
I have a buddy who went vegan for this reason. He says its easier to make everything a certain way than it is to worry about portion sizes. It works, and when he dials in his fitness alongside his diet, he maintains a good weight/energy combo although pasta is a vegan's cheat foodz
The last 18 months have really helped me realize the importance of my own health.
I'm now closer to 40 than 35, and I put on a solid 30 covid pounds. I have a son who is about 3.5 years old.
I look at my inlaws, my father in law died last year at 65 after suffering an assortment of issues over the last few years, and my mother in law is just over 60 and struggles with 3 stairs. My parents on the other hand are both older (my dad just turned 76), and aside from basic aging (cholesterol, eyesight), they are doing great. My maternal grandmother passed away in January at 96, and was living on her own until she fell late last year.
My wife had gastric bypass in January (obesity runs in her family), joined a crossfit gym, and is down more than 80lbs now, and has more energy and athletic ability than she remembers every having.
What all this tells me is that I need to take care of myself if I want to be able to keep up with my son, watch him grow up and maybe someday be a grandparent, I need to make some changes to keep myself going. I joined the same gym as my wife last week, with the goal of fitting into a suit I haven't worn in 5 years, and running a half marathon in under 2 hours. I haven't had an alcoholic beverage in 6 weeks either, and although the rest of my diet still needs work, I'm starting to enjoy the process of improving my life.
The comment about not having motivation without purpose really gets me. I never did a purposeful day of workout or diet monitoring in my life until I accidentally won a competition to go race dirt bikes overseas. My only thoughts about food were that I shouldn't drink lots of soda, and my only exercise was that I loved mountain biking and riding dirt bikes, and those are fairly physical.
I've had screwed up knees and lower back since I was young (tall, weak, and lifting heavy things did irreparable damage) and those things always hurt, every day. I started eating better, and started doing cardio/HIIT a few times a week, weight training once a week, and pretty solid yoga as warmup for everything. I had a purpose, and for the first time I was able to stick with it. Yeah, my body still hurts, but now it is manageable. It is so much worse if I get lazy and stop working out for any meaningful length of time. I also crash better on the dirt bike, I think because my flexibility is better. I've had some nasty wrecks, and since getting into yoga, the muscle strains/sprains have become much less common even though I'm crashing harder when I do.
I'd been an upper C class racer for a while, and working out got me to the front of A class in basically 2 years. I literally can't explain how much better it feels to be in relatively decent shape and not have random aches and pains all the time. Yeah, it takes time and may not add length to my life, but even in my 30s I can say without a doubt it's helping my quality of life and my outlook on the world. Like others said, sounds like you just need to figure out what the purpose/competition is for you now if it is something you really want to get back into.
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