Shortcuts

Shortcuts, we all know them, don’t lie.

I know every single shortcut that I could possibly take in every day life. I know that when I get up in the morning I can skip making lunch and use the shortcut of buying later. I can not blow dry my hair and hope for the best. I can take short cuts at my job, but, instead I chose to stay a little late just to get things done correctly.

When I cut corners I know that I will not be happy when it’s over. It’s just instant gratification. It’s like when you were in college and at a party and decided to drink KeyStone Lite because it was quick and cheap. You don’t not regret that decision the next day. Or 20 minutes later.

When it comes to weight there are two kinds of quick fixes that I’ve found in my life:

1. Eating the fasted unhealthiest food
2. Trying a quick fix weight loss method.

The first one leaves me satisfied for a whole 3 seconds and then I feel miserable, especially now, sans gallbladder. But at the same time, sometimes I would much prefer a McDonalds Hamburger over waiting for something healthy to be made. Good decision? No. But it happens.

The second one I think I can pretty clearly, and accurately, let people know is a fact: There is no fast weight loss method. There’s no such thing as sprinkling stuff on food so you fill up faster or so it makes calories just disappear. There’s no healthy way to lose and maintain on a liquid diet, cabbage diet, shots of vinegar diet. Sure, you may, and probably will lose a lot of weight if you’re only drinking water for days on end, but one: that doesn’t sound like much fun and two: people around you will start hating you half way through. Of course, the time you spend with people will be minimal anyway because for most of it you’ll be in the bathroom.

Oh right, also:You gain it all back once you turn back into a human and start consuming food again.

Now don’t get me wrong, I’m no doctor, I didn’t even pass High School Biology, Chemistry or that other science. So I could be completely in left field and maybe a diet of air is 100% healthy.

Yes, there have been times where I’m jealous of people who lose weight really fast and brag about it, but then they complain when they gain it back, plus some, in a week. I’m much prouder of the long term results. I’m also not hungry and crabby.

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Lets switch to running real quick, because everything relates to running, right? I see shortcuts at every turn while out in the morning. Literally; I see them. I know exactly what road or path to cut down to shave any where from a few hundred feet to a few hundred miles off each run. And some days, it takes every ounce of willpower I have, not to turn. I actually have to trick my mind, I tell myself at every corner that I’ll go home once I get to the next cross section, and once I get there I tell myself the same thing again. There are days I do that from the moment I walk out the house until the end of the run. This sounds like torture, I know, but; unless I’m injured, taking a shortcut doesn’t help me, it makes me feel miserable. Then in turn, every one around me feels miserable. I always spread the love.

I prefer to do things 100%. Not every one does, and that’s okay, as long as you’re okay with it. I like to skip chapters in books (yeah, I said it), you may like to jump into a race half way to beat everyone (that’s not cool). Everyone has different perimeters on what shortcuts are acceptable and which ones aren’t.

But the thing is that weight loss is a long thing. It’s long and boring and some times tedious. Just trust me that it works. I know, I’ve done it.

Or don’t, like I said, not a doctor.

What shortcuts tempt you all the time?

How do you stop yourself from taking the easy route?

Challenge: Don’t take any shortcuts this weekend, take the long route, you’ll feel better for it. Let us all know how it goes; good, bad, ugly.