the lost man chronicles
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cheesy bread sticks

It’s quite amazing how easy it is to gain weight. It is likewise jolting to realize how vigilant one needs to be to stay fit.

The folly of straying from and staying on the course to health is quite risible when you consider how our culture encourages this contentious contradiction, simultaneously purporting ideal figures while goading with gluttony, slaying self-discipline with an onslaught of pressure, influence, and temptation that ensemble make the task of keeping trim as one optimally ought to be, a rather formidable challenge indeed.

It literally took me six months of horse blinds and grueling punishment to my abs to slim down three sizes and realize a relatively flat belly. Within a week of letting go and simply eating as I pleased, I bordered on gaining a size immediately. Thus, the disparity between what it takes to make the needle on the scale go left or right is disheartening—especially when you compare your monastic diet and military regimen to that of the free-for-all that the world that waddles around you indulges in daily. On one hand you beam with pride, but with the other, like most others, you’re poised to grab and devour at will.

Both my mind and body strongly believe that being in great shape is the better choice. The problem is that the world I live in seems to disagree. For although there will always be a parade of celebrities who look great because they work out for four hours a day and have personal chefs to ensure that they do not stray, these svelte models do not mirror reality for most of us—they are merely far-away stars that twinkle in a universe otherwise filled with hot gas that the rest of us subject to while we eat, shop and otherwise consume.

And god knows one can get pretty hungry pretty quickly when shopping.

The comical follies which result when we try to feed our appetites, as well as simply satisfy our hunger, reminds me of an example of the formidable foe we face practically everyday. On the dull grey fabric wall of my office cubicle I have tacked a Domino’s Pizza ad for one of America’s greatest culinary innovations—cheesy bread sticks.

Every once in a while I glance over at the picture of this pungent lure to remind me why I aspire to higher ground.




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