Forum versus function, part 1.

I recently had a long, great discussion with someone who is a cross fitter, weight lifter and paleo diet follower.
And I left realizing that I will never go on the paleo diet and I would probably not weight lift.
Here comes the hate email….
There is an inherent guilt on strict diets – and there is a Catholic guilt on lifestyles based around diets.
One is natural – you make a promise to yourself to eat one way, then you eat something you shouldn’t and you feel guilty.
One is psychological to it’s core – you follow a lifestyle, you break a rule, you punish yourself for breaking that rule by over-gyming it, you confess your sins to those around you who follow that lifestyle.
That is control – and I don’t like control.
I always try to avoid saying, ‘This is my cheat day.’ I follow a pretty strict regimen on my diet and it works for me. I didn’t get it out of a book – I read up on diets, how my body works, what it craves and why, and then decided on a diet that was good for me.
The next step is I changed my buying habits to reflect it by setting a budget.
Then I began to follow it.
Then, I engaged my ever-present will power and stayed on it. Because it’s that simple – that’s all it takes. Will power, and self-forgiveness when I decide I really want that piece of Chicago style pizza – and self-control to only have one.
I don’t have a cheat day – I have a diet I follow for my health. When I hear ‘cheat day’ I begin to get very reactive, because I don’t like the word. The connotations behind it are simply offensive to me. I am cheating what? My wants? My needs? What exactly am I cheating? A diet someone who never met me wrote in a book then published? Am I cheating him out of a dollar – or am I cheating my gym out of a dollar?
Maybe I’m nuts – but when I sit down to have a nice meal, I’ll have a nice meal – if they don’t have something within my diet, I make the decision to portion control and enjoy what I’m eating. I only live once – I refuse to have an artificial construct limit my ability to enjoy a good meal, or a big beer after a long day. I never feel guilty for eating what I want.
Which leads me to a myth I heard of functional strength….in part two.

1 Reply on Forum versus function, part 1.

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