On Not Being a Total Disaster

I weighed myself on my way out of the gym yesterday evening (obviously I'll be spending a lot of time doing this over the next three months). The scale read 197.8 pounds. Not good.

Then I went into the locker room to change clothes. I turned to look at the mirror. Let's just say that I'm not exactly at the peak of physical perfection nowadays.

I briefly considered the situation. For a moment, the words "staying lean is harder than it used to be" popped into my head. Is that true? You hear about people experiencing dramatic weight gains once the college years pass. Some of my high school classmates certainly verify that. And while I may only be 25 years old, that's actually a relatively advanced age compared to Stone Age humans. Maybe my gut isn't built to handle the same amounts of foods that it used to digest with aplomb. Perhaps this is supposed to get more difficult with time?

And then I laughed, because blaming genetics or age for my double-digit body fat percentage is pretty damn comical. This blog post was written by the same guy who:

• Not only goes back for seconds, but usually gets a third plate of catered lunch each day at the office.
• Drank approximately fifty beers between December 28th and New Year's Day.
• Regularly makes omelettes that are larger than his computer monitor.
• Is psychologically and physically incapable of stopping at one dinner roll at a restaurant.
• Has a "running" hobby that is intermittent at best (hence the New Year's Resolutions).
• Has the sleeping habits of... somebody who has very poor sleeping habits. 

The reason I'm not a ripped, lean ball of muscle is because I'm an undisciplined moron who is lucky to not weigh over 300 pounds by now. If I modified literally any of the multitudes of unhealthy habits I possess, I would probably lose five pounds in a week. Obsessing over the minutiae of "optimizing fitness outcomes" is so comical in comparison to my overarching failings to take care of myself.

Ramit has an amazing and hilarious post about precisely this. You should read it.

Here's the thesis: look for big wins. Instead of prematurely optimizing for the long run (and therefore setting yourself up for dashed expectations and likely failure), try to identify the areas that are completely and unrelentingly sabotaging your success. Remove the obstacle, and see what happens. Most people don't do this.