Lean and Hard

They say consistency is the hobgoblin of small minds. Maybe so in some respects, but with fitness, it's the only way to succeed over the long term.

When I was getting my undergrad degree at the University of Florida, I'm proud to say, I never pulled an all-nighter. Not once. I hate the idea itself, but more than that, it's a bad way to study. It just isn't a good idea to take a test after staying up all night, essentially in a sleep-deprived condition. Instead, I preferred to prepare myself for tests over a period of weeks, a bit at a time. It's like they say, the way to eat an elephant is one bite at a time.

How did I lose 130 pounds? By skipping a bite at a time, and working out consistently. And consistency is also the way to maintain your ideal weight. But I found myself getting away from that philosophy without realizing it.

Here's what happened. I indulged too often in my greatest temptation: pizza. So I found that I'd add a few pounds from the pizza pig-out, and have to cut way back during the rest of the week just to stay at my ideal weight over the course of the week. I'd starve, then be so hungry and feel so deprived that the end-of-the-week pizza became irresistible. Then back to deprivation, pizza, deprivation, pizza, and so on and so forth and what have you. Not good. I had to break the cycle.

I did it by eating more during the week so as not to feel so deprived, then doing without the pizza altogether. Which is not to say I won't ever have pizza again, but certainly I won't indulge in it very often. Consistency! It works for me.

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