Call It A Gut Feeling

Let’s get serious for a moment. My six-pack abs more closely resembles a keg. In fact, I don’t ever remember having a six-pack, but I know when I was growing up I was very skinny. You wouldn’t know that to see me now, partly due to the fact that my shadow has gained a bit of weight and partly due to the fact that my shadow hasn’t really been taking very good care of itself. From all the studying I did when I was running and jogging years ago I know that the most successful equation to weight loss/weight control is very simple. Diet + Exercise = Fitness. There’s no other way around it. Dieting alone is not good for the body. Reducing your calories is only part of the equation. You can eat one piece of dry toast in the morning and a radish or two for lunch and go nuts at supper with an apple and and orange and you will lose weight, but eventually your body will fight you for fuel and basically force you to the late night drive through. And then you’ll think you failed. All you did wrong was not follow the simple equation of Diet + Exercise = Fitness. When I’m talking exercise, I’m suggesting a 20-minute walk or 20-minutes in the garden, not running your first triathlon because the day before you accidentally inhaled a box of doughnuts. I remind myself frequently that it took a lot of years to get into the (bad) shape I’m in. It’s going to take some time to correct it. And I’m going to get hungry and I’m going to crave something I shouldn’t eat, but it’s all okay as it’s a long trip I’m going on. Which s why I do not believe in, nor endorse any packaged diet program. Nor do I believe in bathroom scales, but that’s a whole different story.