No Joke

We have covered a lot of ground. Point A embarkation a success. We are underway. This is it, and IT is not a drill. This is not a dress rehearsal, this is not practice, preparation or preview. This IT is IT. This is your life. You can do with it as you choose. Until you lose the power to decide. When abuse, sloth, ignorance, apathy or circumstance takes away the keys to the car. When you lose the vehicle, when your body gives up and gives out. At this juncture Point B has almost always been reached. 

At which time there is a review of sorts. How was the ride? What did you accomplish? How much did you love? How did you help? There are a lot of Saint Peter at the Pearly Gates jokes, but this is not one of them. Instead I will try (once again) to knock-knock some sobering realities onto the doors of your perceptions. 

Knock-knock: The clock is ticking. Time is short. The message is clear: Do it now. The duration and quality of your life is your responsibility. NOT the .gov's, not big pharma, not your insurance company. It is yours. You are responsible and accountable for you. There is no-one to blame other than thou. Do you see how comically immature it is to blame McDonald's for your diabetes? You are a saturated fat-head if cost is the sole criteria for your food choices. Look folks, I LOVE doughnuts, I would ram a dozen a day IF THEY DIDN'T MAKE ME LOOK AND FEEL LIKE ONE. 

Knock-knock: If weight management is your biggest priority, all the spin sessions in the state won't help if you sabotage them with a habitual deep-fried diet of poly-unsaturated crapola. A (somewhat) secret of the health & fitness industry is that 80% of diets fail. Weight removed (miraculously) is soon replaced. The 20% understand that the combo is diet & exercise, not burger & fries. Further, if you are involved with a group exercise program and DO NOT change your diet, you are missing the call. YOU NEED BOTH. And AT THE SAME TIME. Spinning to burn 300-600 calories builds an appetite. If after class you rush to the bakery and replace that with 300-600 calories of buttered, fried in 100% animal fat, sugary, yummy dough, what have you done? 

Nothing, yet. The damage comes after. The rest of your day. Armed and confident with the effects of endorphin flow and the support of your group, you spend the remainder of the day in a self-congratulatory state of denial. Need an inventory? OK. That Subway sandwich and chips not only swayed the scale, it almost broke the chains. And that was lunch! The 'healthy' snacks you enjoyed carried enough sugar and simple carbohydrate to jet propel an ultra-marathon. Dinner? OMG. Too much, too rich, too late and too tasty!!! But hey, you did 60 minutes of high-intensity at oh-dark thirty. So let's celebrate with a couple of 200 calorie per serving barley pops! Yea us!!!! Go team. End of the day totals: Calories IN: 4,500. Calories OUT: 300-600 plus metabolic, so let's just say 1,000. 

Knock-knock: Who's there is a net gain of 3,500 calories, or one pound. IN ONE DAY! No wonder people complain about exercise actually causing them to gain weight. You spin, you get hungry, you eat, you gain.

NO MYSTERY. Not rocket science. Once understood, it is a simple matter of creating a new routine. Finding some discipline, wanting the long term more than than instant gratification. Is this hard? HELL YES IT IS. Can you do it? 

Knock-knock. Only if you want to. And then, YES YOU CAN.

As I mentioned yesterday, one cannot out train a bad diet. Unless you are seventeen. Anybody here that age? 

So let's take close look at the way we eat. Portions, combinations, habits. 

Make the same bold statement you once made at Point A with your fitness today with your diet. Substitute carrots for chips, apples for those delightful peanut M&Ms. Drink more water. Get off sugar. 

I want to see you get to Point B with high quality and your life's goals met. For no other reason than I feel it is the right thing to do, a responsible and worthwhile endeavor. And I think it can be fun, too. 

No joke.