Hey all – happy new year! I know it’s been a while; to be honest I have been thinking about starting the blog back up for a while but I’ve been struggling to find an appropriate topic that would lend to more than just a single post followed by a 6 month hiatus. It is often suggested to “write what you know.” I constantly read about training and nutrition; I have written a lot of what (I think) I know in that arena right here on the blog already. So I should just keep spitting it out, right? Logic says so, but here’s the thing I started to realize over the last several months: I don’t really know shit. A few things are fairly obvious, at least to me: you should eat mostly things you could potentially hunt or gather, you ain’t squat if you don’t squat, etc. But beyond the few fundamental truths, there’s just so much information out there that there is very little I can be sure of. Yeah, I do quite a bit of research, but who’s to say I’m different from any other know-it-all blogger type (I’m cool with open relationships) or the schmo whose column you read in SHAPE magazine? I figured Bushido was doomed. Then just a few days ago, while I was performing a set of one-legged medicine ball cleans to failure, the “miracle fat-burning raspberry ketone” (not a plug – only click if you need a laugh) ad came over Pandora radio and it hit me that there’s one thing I know for certain: everything works.
Of course, that’s an incredibly vague statement after a clearly made up story. But that’s exactly the point! Eating nothing but donuts works…to make you fat and sluggish, and probably dumber (if those are your goals and that was you I saw at the mall last week, keep it up, you’re doing great!) All kidding aside, the point is if you make a change to be consistent with something, results over time are inevitable.
Everything works, but the degree to and direction in which something “works” depends on your goal, your baseline, and how drastic the change. If you consistently add green vegetables to every meal you’re currently eating, chances are you will generally feel better. If you replace all your meals with nothing but green vegetables, you’ll shit yourself into nothingness. Perspective. Let’s say your goal is to lose 100 pounds. Because your lifestyle is clearly not in line with that goal at this point, a minor change is all you need to start moving in the right direction. Low-fat, low-carb, vegan, Zone, spinning, CrossFit, triathlon, bench & bi’s – pick a “diet” and/or exercise regime, and watch the number on that scale drop. Even if it’s not the MOST effective means (or right for long-term health – topic for another day), a conscious change will result in some weight loss nearly every time (note: this probably does not include consciously following the donut plan – sorry; Common Sense 101 is a prereq for this course). If all you do is replace your usual bowl of breakfast cereal with a couple of eggs and park a little further from the entrance at Wegman’s, you’ll probably notice a difference in just a few weeks. Hell, I bet the raspberry keytones will actually trim you waistline a bit if you’re in rough enough shape because putting forth that effort will lead to other habits, conscious or unconscious. That’s good news for a lot of people, and great news for product sellers!
Ok, fast forward a year, during which you’ve been eating 17 bananas a day and wearing your electric ab belt religiously. You’ve lost 60 of those extra pounds, but the weight loss has slowed to a point where you’re not sure your banana diet is working anymore. You add some light running 3 mornings a week with a big ol’ glass of chocolate milk afterward because you heard it’s best for “recovery.” After two weeks you get back on the scale to see you’ve GAINED 4 POUNDS. Maybe it’s muscle, and you suppose that would be okay, but you fear that it’s not. You replace the milk with loads of strong black coffee to keep your metabolism revving, and you lose the 4 pounds just like that, but weight loss stalls and you’re having trouble sleeping so you decide to cut down on the morning workouts. I don’t know what happens next – chances are you continue to make changes indefinitely but never seem to reach your goal. Does that sound familiar? Everything works, but you have to make changes that ultimately work FOR YOU.
I’ve been tweaking my current routine for a few years now, and have become rather comfortable with it. In short, I follow a fairly strict “Paleo” (www.robbwolf.com for info) diet Monday-Friday, estimating my intake but not strictly counting. Eighty percent is animal protein and veggies. The rest is natural fats, tubers, and the occasional fruit. I RARELY eat before 3PM, but I eat my dinner(s) out of the glass bowl that is typically reserved for mashing potatoes at Thanksgiving. I lift heavy weights 3-4 times a week along with some occasional conditioning if it feels right. I work hard in the gym and spend a lot of time in the kitchen, but this is a simple agenda for me and it leaves me some time to lend to other interests too. I make minor changes here and there, but they’re usually short-term and results are almost negligible.
While it feels pretty effortless through Friday, I seem to require a mental freedom which makes weekends a total crapshoot; sometimes I’ll get a workout in on Saturday and usually play football with the guys on Sunday, but I tend to eat what’s convenient/available for the majority of the weekend (which is almost ALWAYS things I refused to eat all week, and a lot of them), and I also enjoy a social adult beverage (or 12). When I fall off the wagon, I fall hard and don’t get back on until Monday. That’s just the way it is. If the opportunity to eat ice cream and pizza does not present itself I will stick to my meat and veggies, but that is rare these days. Hyper-palatable food is everywhere you look, and I’ve never had anyone slap the cookie out of my hand or plead with me not to go out drinking; resolve is not so easy and I think often people are relieved to see that I give in to temptation too. Misery loves company, eh?
Strangely enough I really enjoy the balance of these roles. The “all-or-nothing” approach has lent me a fairly clean bill of health, relatively low stress levels, and improved my performance in the gym while still allowing me to enjoy going out with friends and eat far more than my ration of peanut butter cups. I guess in a broad sense those things are my main goals, so am I’m having my cake and eating it too (pun intended)? Maybe, but naturally I strive to be stronger, faster, and healthier and the maintenance cake just doesn’t seem large enough to satisfy anymore. So why not just tighten up on the weekends too, dumbass? I supposed I could, but the truth is I don’t want to change too much; my mental health and social standing (not to mention taste buds) depend on this version of me. I know I’m a little nutty about this health stuff but I’m very passionate about food and drink too; holiday time got me as bad as anyone else. I just spent 5 days vacationing in the Dominican Republic and let’s just say I wasn’t drinking protein shakes, because you know what? Nobody wants to be friends with that guy, or even read his blog.
I’ve learned it’s important to sort through the legit and the bull shit – and trust me, there’s A LOT more of the latter – and by now I’ve read enough of the sciency stuff to know that the human body is more complex than “calories in vs. calories out” (hey, another certainty!). We’ve got all kinds of hormones, neurotransmitters, metabolic pathways, feedback loops, and like 25 feet of intestines (seriously, look it up). I’m not trying to become Adrian Peterson here; I’m just looking move closer to my goals without sacrificing much of the other stuff I love. Isn’t that really everyone’s agenda? So the real question I’m asking myself (and you should do the same, regardless of your goal) is: how do I make this thing work for me and my hedonist ways? I don’t have an answer for that yet – it’s certainly not cut & dry – but damn if I’m not going to try to find out.
“Find a way, or make one.” - Hannibal
No comments:
Post a Comment