Geocaching Senior Manager Casey Cady gets in shape

written by Michelle Hopkins

Casey Cady said he was “that kid.” You know, the kid in school who is always the last pick on the sports team.

“I was skinny growing up, but not active,” said the senior manager at Seattle’s Geocaching HQ. “Sports and gym were never my thing. … I was a computer geek who found exercise a real chore.”

Cady admits it didn’t help that his family was sedentary. He grew up in a military family and spent much of his youth moving. “We lived in England, Germany and North Dakota,” he said. “Moving all the time probably didn’t help me get motivated to join sports, either.”

However, the day of reckoning approached. It was July 2016 and he was about to turn 40. Like many, this milestone birthday made Cady re-evaluate his lifestyle. At 6 feet tall, Cady was carrying 20 pounds more than his ideal weight. “I am a foodie. I was noticing that my weight was creeping up on me, especially around the belly,” Cady said. “My wife was encouraging me to eat better and get fit.” Finally, her words struck a chord, and he joined the Washington Athletic Club’s Wellness 360 program.

As someone who works a desk job and tried various programs before, Cady was determined to make it work this time around. He began his journey by working closely with a nutritionist who made a couple minor modifications as to not overwhelm him, which helped Cady develop healthy, sustainable habits that stuck. He also started working out regularly.

“When I first started, I had a 45-minute session with a personal trainer,” he said, adding he meditates daily, which gives him mental strength. “After 35 minutes, I couldn’t move.”

Today, Cady has lost more than 12 pounds, most of it in body fat. He has gained muscle mass and feels stronger and better than he has in years.

“I think it’s fair to say that this holistic approach to fitness has changed my life for the better,” he added.

Cady believes his new regimen works because he isn’t depriving himself of guilty pleasures once in awhile. In the past, he failed miserably on restrictive diets. “If I cheated, it turned into, ‘Well, I blew it so I might as well just enjoy myself all weekend and I’ll start again Monday.’” That’s how a single “cheat” meal turned into a
weekend bender.

Now, he allows himself a couple of meals every week where he eats whatever he wants.

“Often, we’ll go out to a restaurant or sometimes a Sounders game and I’ll have beer and stadium food,” Cady said. “The important thing for me is to not view it as a ‘cheat’ but as an important element of eating healthy without feeling deprived.”

For the first time in his life, Cady says he actually looks forward to exercise.

“A couple weeks ago, my wife said, ‘Who are you and what have you done with my husband?’” he said.