This might even be a fairly coherent thought.\u00a0 Do not be alarmed.\u00a0 Randomness will abound soon.<\/p>\n
I live by a lot of principles and methods in my life, but one is definitely trying to find the least I have to give up to get the most of what I want.\u00a0 In other words, I like to find the most efficient way to do things.\u00a0 Case in point, my commute is more than 5 but less than 10 minutes any way I drive it, depending on traffic.\u00a0 I still always wonder which way takes the least time on average to get there.\u00a0 Because 1 minute is totally gonna make or break my day, right?\u00a0 Still, this is how my brain works…<\/p>\n
It took me so long to want to start losing weight because I wasn’t so sure what I would have to give up to do it.\u00a0 I knew I would have to eat less, which I was ok with in theory.\u00a0 I knew I would have to get some physical activity, which I was ok with, in theory.\u00a0 However, the unknowns were out there.\u00a0 I was smoking half a pack to a pack a day.\u00a0 I wasn’t ready to quit.\u00a0 Could I still lose weight?\u00a0 I was playing a LOT of video games.\u00a0 Would I have to quit playing games to lose weight?\u00a0 I was drinking less than I was in and just out of college, but you don’t exactly see getting jiggy with a bottle of ![\"\"](\"http:\/\/newmedia.funnyjunk.com\/pictures\/trikek.jpg\")
whiskey and muscles together, generally (at least for those of us of the fairer sex – and why is that?\u00a0 Why are dudes allowed to workout hard and then play hard, but when a chick with a rep for being healthy is out, they expect us to be daintily sipping a water with lemon and eating salad with no dressing?\u00a0 Anyways…).\u00a0 Would I have to quit drinking?<\/p>\n
Eventually I decided damn the odds, I was going to start doing this, but I was going to not do anything that I wasn’t ready to do.\u00a0 A lot of it has taken care of itself.\u00a0 Sadly, or not so sadly, depending on your perspective, I just don’t play as many video games as I used to – at least the same kind of games that took full weekends out of my life.\u00a0 I still drink, but I couldn’t even dream of polishing off a bottle of whiskey with just my Zliten in a few hours like we used to.\u00a0 I still smoke, but sometimes the packs get stale before I finish them.<\/p>\n
Beyond this, I have other unhealthy habits.\u00a0 My diet is not clean, nor raw, nor vegetarian, nor … any label that doesn’t include a sweet treat at night and at least a few servings of red meat per week.\u00a0 I love “plant my butt on the couch” days, even though I could be logging more calories burnt with random non-exercise activity.\u00a0 But I’ve developed a lot of healthy habits along the way too.\u00a0 Exercising is a non-issue, I love it now.\u00a0 I gravitate towards healthy food choices and rarely overeat just because I can’t control myself, if I choose to indulge, then I choose to indulge, and it’s right back to normal after that.\u00a0 For the most part, I gave up caffeine and when I do drink even a regular diet soda or more than 1 cup of decaf coffee, I feel it’s effects.\u00a0 I drink maybe one diet soda a day (and it fills more of a “sweet treat” type role, not a “I’m thirsty” role).<\/p>\n
However, I am always looking for the most bang for the buck.\u00a0 I didn’t give up all the unhealthy foods I loved, I just started looking for alternatives and smaller portions of my favorite foods that filled the craving.\u00a0 I love places where I can get a 1\/4 lb or junior burger and fries (and ditch about half of em).\u00a0 I don’t feel deprived, but it keeps me from become gigantor-Quix again.\u00a0 My favorite “genre” of food, if you will, is the sandwich shop type of fare: sandwiches, soups, salads, and wraps.\u00a0 Generally if you avoid the 1000 calorie salads and tuna sandwich landmines, these are good staples if you’re trying to both eat healthy and sanely (for me, that means not having to cook all my own meals).<\/p>\n
I’ve also been able to really push myself fitness-wise without giving up the partying.\u00a0 It’s looking like the half marathon experiment is going to be a success – I’m only 2 miles away and I was feeling good after 11 miles Sunday.\u00a0 I can lift and climb and bike and I have some pretty killer muscles to show for it.\u00a0 Still some tummy pudge, but if that won’t go away without me completely overhauling my life, it’s not going to go away yet.\u00a0 I love it, because I feel like I’ve been able to drink my beer and have it too, if you know what I mean.\u00a0 Getting up in the morning to run or heading to the gym for a weights session after work might be tedious, but it’s something I want to do and the rest of my life generally works around it.\u00a0 It doesn’t feel like a sacrifice to me.<\/p>\n
Saturday, however, was the first time in a while I felt I really sacrificed for it (at least at first).\u00a0 I had my fun night on Friday, planned to take it easy Saturday, because I scheduled my long run Sunday morning.\u00a0 There was nothing going on that weekend, so it wouldn’t be a problem.\u00a0 Then, Zliten’s friend from college was playing a show ![\"\"](\"http:\/\/newmedia.funnyjunk.com\/pictures\/selection_160_30.jpg\")
downtown.\u00a0 He went out for lunch, then for drinks, and then ended up downtown hanging out with his friend waiting for them to go on stage.\u00a0 About 2 hours into the adventure, he asked if I wanted to come join them.<\/p>\n
I went through a bit of a minor existential crisis there.\u00a0 Of course I wanted to go out and have fun and be a “roadie” and get in free and get cheap drinks.\u00a0 But – that meant no run.\u00a0 I’m not stupid enough to try to do an 11 mile run hungover and tired.\u00a0 I tried to convince myself that I could just get up really early and do it on a weekday, but come on – that’s getting up at the latest at 7am, and the idea of running that long that early and immediately having to go to work for 8 hours – no fun at all.\u00a0 So I did the responsible thing and declined and stayed home.<\/p>\n
It ended up working out for the best, the guy’s band was supposed to go on at 8… then 9… then midnight.\u00a0 I had to go retrieve my Zliten around 8pm from a really sketchy house the band had gone to eat BBQ and apparently do some other unsavory things which he was not OK with.\u00a0 However, it was the first time I felt like I had two choices that were mutually exclusive and they both sounded like things I really wanted to do.\u00a0 I think the worst part was my partner in crime was already out doing one of them, and to chose the other, I couldn’t be there!<\/p>\n
I know it sounds as if I was being extreme.\u00a0 Why Quix, you say, why didn’t you just go out and not party, but just hang out?\u00a0 It’s harder than it sounds.\u00a0 It’s just like peanut butter in the house – I would LIKE to say I can be responsible with it, until I’m face down in the jar, wondering how I’m going to burn off these extra 4000 calories.\u00a0 I was tired, it was a bunch of people I didn’t know, and the only way it was going to be any fun was after a few beers, or at least some coffee – which at a shitty little dive bar probably wouldn’t exist.\u00a0 So instead of putting myself in an awkward situation, I stayed home, made some necklaces, caught up on So You Think You Can Dance, and relaxed.\u00a0 And it really wasn’t that bad.<\/p>\n
I had a great run the next day, had a wonderful BBQ lunch, and even later enjoyed a few margaritas on the patio at El Mercado as a treat.\u00a0 I can question what fun hijinx I could have gotten up to if I would have said “screw it” and wandered downtown, but the 30s have given me some perspective.\u00a0 It’s not the end of the world if I don’t attend EVERY party.\u00a0 With friends in town this weekend and 3 invites to random fun things the next Saturday after that already, I don’t think I’m going have an issue having to skip a few fun things to be responsible and train.\u00a0 There will be much more fun to be had on a day before I DO NOT have to run 11 miles, and the benefits totally outweigh the few costs.<\/p>\n