Most my life I've said being fit is 70% diet and 30% exercise.
But the older I get the more I think it's the opposite. Reason I say this is so many people start with a "diet". And to go on a diet is to confess you've already failed. You're gonna tell me about some bs strategy you're using. You're gonna act happy when you're really not. Try to get motivation from other people. And if you approach it from that angle more than likely you'll fail like most do.
For me, staying fit always starts at the gym. I won't deny how important food is. But the people who stay fit long term are usually the ones who make the gym their church. Or they make exercise their religion.
I don't even go to the gym to be fit. I go for crime prevention. Any anger I have is taken out on weights. If I wanna pound someones face open I do it at the gym. Or maybe I see a hot skank at Barnes & Noble. I'm not in the mood for conversation. I just wanna tackle her. Bite her clothes off and fuck her in the middle of the store. Yet I know as gently as I'd bite her clothes off there's no such things as gentle rape. So I go to the gym. I pound my feet on a treadmill till my tension drops to 0. A lot of days I don't even know what's stressing me out. I just remember how easy C4 is to make. I hear the glorious cries of children. But instead, I go to the gym. Everyday I drive there I'm tailing or cursing at some slow bastard in front of me. Then I drive home and that inner psychopath is napping. He's chill. I'm chill. I can go about my day without hurting anyone.
What I'm trying to say, don't look at the gym as a job or chore. Look at it as the 1 thing that will keep you off death row.
I know how dumb that sounds. But it's UNBELIEVABLE what lifting does for violent people, nevermind normal every day people like me(?). I wouldn't have got through 1 week in prison if I couldn't exercise. Most the guys in jail who get into fights (aside from a few latino gangs that require lifting)... they don't workout. I saw this same pattern repeat over and over. Most the non gang affiliated guys who lift don't get into fights.
You might have to be in that setting to see how profound it is. But when you're standing in a yard where half the guys are violent offenders, 10% are in for homicide or some horrible crime, yet we're all allowed to stand together in a crowd with metal bars, rods, chains, etc. It's amazing.
What's amazing is how often violence does occur in behind the wall. Yet how far guys will go NOT to use anything from the weight center. They'll collect 100 plastic wrappers, build a fire by sticking a soda can in the socket, melt the shit down then slowly sharpen it for hours. So they can go out and shank someone. But if you ask that person "why not steal a gravity rod from the gym?" they'll say it's "too risky". And when they talk about risk they're not referring to the risk of being caught for murder / murder attempt. They're talking about risk of fucking up gym privileges for the whole prison. Even the guys who DON'T USE the gym will rarely if ever cross that line.
That was a time in my life when I realized how crucial exercise is for wellbeing. Cause it's a bold declaration. Like a detonation. Opting to eat broccoli over fries is a passive declaration. Maybe you get 1 meal right. You feel a sense of control for a few hours. Till you get hungry. With the gym it's completely different.
I think the best context to put this, food is the fuel. Like C4 itself. If I laid 1lb of C4 in front of you, and you opted to get fit by eating healthy, you'd simply be holding a match to the C4. It would ignite, slowly burn away and you'd wonder what happened. Where did the energy go? On the other hand, if you opt to get fit using exercise as a baseline, you're now holding a blasting cap to the C4. In which case it detonates triggering a chain reaction.
There are people who'll talk about all the "fit" people who don't exercise. Which is bs. If you're not doing at least some form of calisthenics, you're not fit by any measure of the word. Or maybe you just wanna lose weight and don't care about being ripped. In either case I still say focus on exercise more than food. I eat fairly clean. Drink tons of smoothies. At the same time I don't count calories, don't buy diet food, don't look for fat / gluten free anything. I eat junk food whenever it feels right. The better my workouts the more I find I don't care about shit food. Maybe it's habit. Maybe it's less stress driving me towards those foods. At the same time, if I want a burger a turkey burger with baked potatoes its pretty fucking tasty & doesn't cause much damage.
I know in the end no matter what I eat, my workouts are the driving force that keeps the cycle going. I fucking love running. I don't know how anyone can not love running. What real excuse is there not to run? You're fat? Out of shape? Don't want to? I remember when I slipped for 2 years after getting hooked on opiates. Was in the best shape of my life. Ripped to shreds. I wasn't sick of maintaining that physique.... I think I was just bored with life. And exercise was the first thing that went, not food. I stopped the gym. A few months later my diet went. I put on weight, got pretty fat, then 2 years later transitioned off the drug.
I started running again not by force. I just wanted to feel good and knew running would do it. Threw sneakers on, came back and felt great. Next day came, I wanted to feel that way again. And just like that slipped back into my old ritual.
I can acknowledge if you've spent most your life not exercising or eating shit food, the walls gonna be that much higher. But a lot times I think people blow this fitness shit completely out of proportion. Do you like music? Yes? Great. Throw on some headphones, some sneakers, go for a light jog. Like 20 mins. It doesn't matter how fat you are. If you can breathe slow down. Go running before sunrise or after sunset if you're embarrassed your fat ass will be seen. I still run at night just cause it's more peaceful. If it's not obvious as fuck afterwards how much better you feel, how focused you are, how much quicker you get things done.... WHY you should keep doing it, I'm not sure what to say. If if you go running and come home to eat pizza, it doesn't matter. What matters is that you find some form of exercise you love. I really think some people don't realize it's possible to love exercise more than food. Running, lifting, biking, surfing, w/e shit it is... put on some roller blades and have your dog pull your fat ass around. Buy a dog if you don't have one. I bought mine just to have a running partner. Started running her at 3 months old. Against all vets recommendations. By 1 year the tables turned and now she runs me. She gets me out of the house by running to the window, scratching my legs, it won't stop till I run her. And if I run 3-5 miles I'm usually worn. But she'll keep pulling my ass till I have to walk home.
/end fitness rant
