Friday, April 19, 2002

Get Off Your Lazy Butt


Here's my quick Halley's Comment Fit not Fat Regime. I think Dan Pink's concern with American obesity is right on. He's a good man -- he might just save your life!

1. Get off your lazy butt and move, at least once an hour. Sound easy? It's actually not. Notice that it's probably MORE that you are accustomed to moving.

2. Change your commute in some way or another so you have to WALK for at least 15 minutes each way every day. Park farther away, or don't drive, or just start rollerskating — do anything.

3. Watch out about eating in restaurants. You really have NO IDEA what's in the food. If every dish came with the same Nutrional Information you find on store bought boxed food, you'd be a little surprised when the Carbonara announced that it contains 283 grams of FAT!

4. If you must eat out, go Japanese. It's hard to find seriously fattening Japanese food.

5. Forget the gym, unless you're really very fit. If you're fat, it's only MORE depressing. Exercise at home.

6. Admit that you have to exercise in the early MORNING — while you're still asleep essentially — because once the day starts, it's tough to find the time.

7. Have an affair. All that sneaking around is good exercise, especially if you're worrying about getting caught, you'll be a nervous wreck — that will cut your appetite nicely. And honestly, nothing takes the weight off like spending a good part of the day prancing around naked. Of course, all that screwing helps too. Gets your mojo working big time.

8. Spend some time in a nursing home with all the stoke and heart disease patients — there are not too many THIN ones.

9. Expect to blow it and fail often. Just be sure to reduce the time between diet attempts to no more than 24 hours. If you go nuts at McDonald's on burgers and fries on Monday, it doesn't mean you need to be depressed for a week and start "being good" on Friday. Try, try again SOON.

10. Diet food sucks. Eat REAL food and lots of it, but eat most of it at breakfast, a little at lunch and next to nothing at dinner.