I ate alligator...

I'm in New Orleans for the week. I arrived yesterday. I ate alligator; alligator sausage. No it doesn't taste like chicken, or beef, or pork, it has a distinct taste all its own.

Recently, I met with a nutritional consultant, Mike, regarding my diet. I had made some adjustments that were, let's just say...no agreeing with me. Around 300p every afternoon, my stomach rebelled. This rebellion came in the form of churning, gurgling, pain, and the (not so occasional) explosive burst.

Mike instantly zeroed in on one glaring detail, the lack of variety. I eat pretty much the same thing everyday. The variety just wasn't there. I ate some fruit, I ate some vegetables - but the problem was that I ate the same thing, day in, day out.

Let's take a step back, in time. I was the chubby kid in high school. I was the kid who couldn't do a pull-up, couldn't run a mile, couldn't wear "cool-kids" clothes. I lost the weight through a combination of heart-breack and hard work. I kept it off through hard work and dedication. Mike noticed, without a missed beat, that this diet is a result of desperation to maintain control over myself. I measured food out meticulously...which leads to consistency, but not variety. The consistency gave me control. I bought the same things, I ate the same things, I always knew exactly what was going in to my body.

Consider that the key to success is consistency, intensity, and VARIETY. I vary my workouts, I vary my training, but I never varied my eatin? I never realized I was missing one of the key components of success.

Mike gave helped me see the problem, and helped me work through a solution. Eggs with veggies in the morning, rather than cereal everyday. I was over supplementing, too many shakes, and pills, and not nearly enough real food.

I'll to spare you the complexities of the rest of our conversation.

Here's what I want all of you to take away from this little story: My mind got in the way. I fear falling back into the "high-school me", so much so that I've given up enjoying one of the most enjoyable parts of every day...food. I ate the same thing day in day out, so I could be in control.

What Mike realized was that I really wasn't in control. I was a slave to those same meals, those same nutrients. Mike is helping me put together less restrictive diet. I've never had problem making good food choices, but when faced with the option of eating "the usual" over something different, I'd always choose the usual. Mike's helping me change

Granted, I'm not going to change over night. I still eat relatively the same things, but I look for ways to change it up. Salad with lunch, V8 at breakfast, fish instead of chicken. I'm working on it...i'll probably always be working on it, but at least I'm getting somewhere now.

That was probable more than you all needed to know; but I thought it was a valuable story. No one knows everything, as much as we like to think we do. I've always believed in being an expert in your field, and surrounding yourself with experts in the others. I've got a great accountant, a great financial planner, a great lawyer, a great massage therapist, and a great doctor. I do what I do, and look to others for everything else. Mike was one of these people. He's not a nutritionist, but he knows me, and he knows what I need. Let Fit2You Fitness find that person for you. Whether you need help exercising, eating, working through emotional troubles...we can help you, we can find you that person that does what they do best, so you can focus on doing what you do best.

--BA
Fit2You Fitness, LLC
Philadelphia and Main Line in-home personal training, wellness, massage, nutrition, and corporate wellness.