Getting Healthy

Over the last six or seven years, I’ve had numerous efforts to ‘get in shape’. This generally entailed running long distances many times a week, with the intention of basically exhausting myself so that I lose some weight. And you know what? That actually worked pretty damn well when I was 21 or so.

My junior year of college, I used to bang out seven brutal miles every morning up to The Dish and back. I lost about 45 pounds (no joke) and was so skinny that at least two close friends who hadn’t seen me in a while were genuinely concerned. The funny thing is, even while I was doing that, I was still eating like I was a 17-year old high school basketball player.

I’vealways known that I had pretty bad eating habits, but Jim recently let me borrow a book called, "Eat, Drink, and Be Healthy."It’s this crazy book from some ridiculous place "Harvard Medical School," but I’m going to assume it’s not lying to me.

Basically what I’ve learned so far (not done with the book yet) is that ALL of the things I like eating are the things that fatten and kill people.

That’s an exaggeration of course, but I’m that guy who always chooses the fettucine alfredo, the salami sandwich on Dutch Crunch bread, the burrito (flour tortilla, heavy on the rice and carnitas), the macaroni-and-cheese (out of the box, even), the bacon cheeseburger, and of course, the dry-aged Rib Eye steak with baked potato and creamed spinach. Those aren’t occasional meals I treat myself to, those were pretty much the staples of my diet.

Not only that, but I tend to eat a lot.

All of these things were fine back in 1999 when I was working out a lot, but now (at an OLD 26) it’s getting really out-of-hand. So since the beginning of 2008, I’ve been (for the first time in my life) taking a different approach to ‘getting in shape’. We’ll see if it works:

• Moderate exercise: it’s just not feasible (schedule-wise) for me to be working out for an hour every day, so I’m trying to get in around 20 miles a week (maximum), with basketball or biking to substitute.
• Healthy Diet: like, really healthy. Whole-grain everything and slim amounts of the bad fats.

I’ve been eating like this since January 1 and, I have to tell you, honestly…

It kind of fucking blows.

The book talks a lot about how eating healthy can be more tasty. I think that might be true for other people, but not for me. Mostly, I just find myself wanting to walk down to La Costena and ordering a quesadilla. You know, just as a snack, just like the old days. Maybe with some guac, sour cream, and, I don’t know, some carne asada in it.

Instead? I’ve been grabbing a banana or orange from work and chugging a bottle of water. Goodbye taqueria, hello less-satisfying-snack-augmented-with-artificial-water-filling! Welcome to my 2008.