Pickle Hands

In the last post my friend a la facebook, Ben, commented that he can't get more than 500 feet without stopping, which genuinely humbles him to the point where he doesn't get very far with exercise. I know. It sucks. Whenever I first started running back in high school, I couldn't run much more than Ben. But I kept at it, day in and day out. Its one of those moments that is burned in your brain and you'll never forget all the tiny details: It was about 4 or 5 in the afternoon, just a few mere hours before the first day of school. I got to the water tower, about a mile and a half from my house, and I wasn't tired. I kept going. I finished running all the way around my house, over 4 miles, and didn't lose my breath. I had come so far from where I'd began, that running farther became easier.  All it takes is that first step out of your house.
I was watching Rosanne today (yeah, I watch it, what of it?) and Dan's high school friend Ziggy showed up and made Dan and Rosie assess their stagnant lives and contrast them of their younger days. I'm about to quote a line of dialogue from Rosanne for motivation, but stick with me, its good:

You don't get dust on the fenders 'til you turn off the engine.

See, pretty good, eh?

As far as my diet is concerned during my sojourn to regular-sized clothing, I've been really hesitant to do much in the way of a diet-diet. That is, I don't want to go overboard with it and get burnt out altogether just because I'm counting the calories in rice cakes. It also really irritates me when people assume a diet will solve everything. Diets are just as much snake oil as diet pills or electronic massage belts that promise to melt the fat away. You want to eat like a self-deprecating rabbit? Go on a diet. You want to change how you look? Exercise, and then possibly complement it with some sort of diet. 

Back in college before I met my wife, I followed a pretty strict diet (at least through the work week):

Sunday through Friday:

Breakfast

-Mini-Wheats with skim milk or

-Oatmeal

Lunch

-Turkey or 

-TurkeyBLT sandwich (microwaved) or

-PB&J

Dinner

-1 cup of brown rice with plum sauce

-1 can of tuna

Saturday:

-All bets are off. 

I want to carry out something similar, but I read this a while back and would like to impose something similar. Basically the game plan is come up with a few options for each meal and snacks, and then lay out the week or next day ahead of time so I don't just tell myself "I've been doing good" or "I can't take it anymore" and eat half a chocolate cake and a full rack of ribs. So for now I'm just trying to eat good, and tomorrow or something this week I'll come up with meal options that I can lay out for weeks at advance so there's no cheating. Basically, as long as I don't eat this, I think I'll be okay.