How Do OTR Drivers Manage To Stay In Good Health?

I ask because every now and then I see something on the TV news that truckers have health issues as obesity.

At least I don't smoke, drink or do dope.

Are those truck-stop gyms truly effective at keeping you people on the road in shape?

I am age 54. I have another 75 pounds to lose before getting back to work again. Doctors orders.

And yes, I am serious as a heart attack about taking up a trucking career in spite of what some people have been saying here.

I don't want to spend the rest of my life as a poor man. My plan is to put a hard long 5 to 10 years on the road full time to bread myself up, by a cheap new-construction 3-br house in Indiana then take a local job or retire.

Todd...my apology, I thought you DID not intend to get into this.

I’ll be 60 next year and maintain a healthy weight, BP, blood sugar and cholesterol by limiting calory intake, reduced carbs/simple sugar and walking 5 out of 7 days no less than 20 minutes per day.

And yes, I am serious as a heart attack about taking up a trucking career in spite of what some people have been saying here.

I don't want to spend the rest of my life as a poor man. My plan is to put a hard long 5 to 10 years on the road full time to bread myself up, by a cheap new-construction 3-br house in Indiana then take a local job or retire.

What are you waiting for?

G-Town, I'm starting to give this whole trucking thing a good, hard second thought now.

An elderly woman I knew for 33 years just passed away a week ago. She had money and property in opulent Marin County, California and I was told by one of her sons 18 years ago that I would be in her will in place of her older son whom she supposedly disinherited. She even told me I would be in her will herself 10 years ago.

Next month, I will be checking the probate court records to see if this was really true. One of her sons might be the executor of her estate and I don't want to question him about this personally.

Just in case this will business was all a lie, I will have to find another way to fill my bank account with cash for old age.

It's possible that trucking might be my last true hope for a nest egg before I get old and kick the bucket.

I had money when I was younger but made poor financial decisions that destroyed me.

Todd...my apology, I thought you DID not intend to get into this.

I’ll be 60 next year and maintain a healthy weight, BP, blood sugar and cholesterol by limiting calory intake, reduced carbs/simple sugar and walking 5 out of 7 days no less than 20 minutes per day.

G-Town, what kind of pensions are available in the industry? How long do people usually work (driving, driving combined with other trucking-related positions) to get retirement pay? Do trucker pensions beat social security in pay?

Do you like 401K's? Other retirement plans?

Yes, G, these are serious questions to ask. Taking a driving job is an INVESTMENT in one's future.

And yes, I am serious as a heart attack about taking up a trucking career in spite of what some people have been saying here.

I don't want to spend the rest of my life as a poor man. My plan is to put a hard long 5 to 10 years on the road full time to bread myself up, by a cheap new-construction 3-br house in Indiana then take a local job or retire.

What are you waiting for?

Weight loss: rehabilitation. About 75 pounds to come off is the wait.

My doctors say my chronic fatigue and arthritis pain is aggravated by obesity.

I am living on disability pay now.

Most carriers offer 401k programs with some level of matching.

Pensions? None that I know of...

Weight loss: rehabilitation. About 75 pounds to come off is the wait.

My doctors say my chronic fatigue and arthritis pain is aggravated by obesity.

I am living on disability pay now.

I'm at least 50 pounds overweight, according to the weight charts, 75, though I weighed that much 30 years ago and looked like a skeleton.

I hurt everywhere, every day, for the last 25 years minimum, have gout, an arthritic toe that doesn't bend and has a giant bone lump on it (broke it when I was 10, that has hurt with every step since), broke both bones in my leg at the ankle a year ago, and am extremely out of shape. I have either sciatica or something currently that makes it hard to sleep. But as long as I can pass the company physical, I'll do what I have done all my life, work and ignore the pain. I went through USMC boot camp 7 years after I broke that toe, running 3 miles every other day, marching miles every day, etc.

If you really want to do this, just do it. No apologies to Nike.

Most carriers offer 401k programs with some level of matching.

Pensions? None that I know of...

Matching funds...so every dollar I put into 401, I get back two.

My grandfather got a union pension from Operating Engineers. He put in 15 years as a hard hat on heavy equipment and retired in 1973.

Todd, I don't know where you've been keeping yourself, but pensions are a financial tool that very few corporations are using anymore.