I'll Never Be Skinny (Again)

I'm very well aware of my body image. I'm vain to the point I don't ever want to be fat(ter), but I'm also a little too lazy to guarantee that isn't part of my near distant future. I graduated from high school at 155 lbs. I graduated from college at 185 lbs. Today, I'm a hair south of 220.

I have a problem with several things that seem to inhibit my ability to down-size. Beer, bourbon, dessert, and something I read about once - they call it 'will power'. At least I think that's right. 

All of those demons will be what keep me off the cover of a magazine, or walking around shirtless. And truth be told, I'm just fine with that.

I've always been an IPA guy. I got sucked into the money bit that is bourbon several years ago. And dessert has always been the best part of my day. 

I'm 53 and the days of single-digit body fat are so far behind me, I'd need Waze to help me find my way back.

LiTRe is great for me because part of the reason I needed it was to avoid those other shaming apps. You haven't had enough water today. You didn't record the grams of protein or the mg of salt or the whatever measurement of sadness you had for lunch. Hard pass.

I'm the kind of person who is going to eat what I'm going to eat, I'll go to the gym to work out (work it off, if I'm lucky), and then I'm going to rinse and repeat. I see these men and women on TV and all over my socials and they're in phenomenal shape - muscles popping, glistening, just sexy af. 

And then I think, "they don't know what decadent chocolate cake tastes like...they've likely never known the pleasure of a fantastic bourbon paired with a Trader Joe's mini peanut butter cup..." and so on. 

And maybe they're happy. Their bodies make them money, I guess. And they have to do what they have to do to get that check.

But I know I can shove whatever I want into my mouth with some modicum of abstention around gluttony, I can go to the gym 4-5 days a week, I can have a great workout, and I can go home to dinner that doesn't require water to rehydrate.

I'll never be on 'My 600 lbs. Life', but I'm also never going to pick a Strawberry LaCroix over a 2 oz Eagle Rare 10-year pour. 

Do you, boo. Know what you want out of life and do what you can to get as close to it as possible. Will power (or so they say) can limit or empower you. It's all in how you look at it. Be a Lizzo or be an Arnold. Listen to your mind and listen to your body. 

I'll never be skinny again. And I don't want to be.

The Unwritten Rules of the Weight Room

Spend enough time in a gym and you start to notice something.

Not the guy deadlifting without collars. Not the person doing curls in the squat rack (although… yes, that too). What you start to notice are the little rhythms that make a weight room work. And what can throw everyone off track.

Most gyms have posted rules: wipe down equipment, rack your weights, respect the space. But the real culture of a gym is built around the unwritten rules that everyone (hopefully) eventually learns.

For example, if someone is in the middle of a set, you wait. You don’t hover two feet away staring at the bench like it’s about to disappear. If this has ever happened to you, I think we can both feel the tension it creates. I hate it. If this hasn’t happened to you yet, just know it’s coming one day – perhaps sooner than you’d like.

If you ask someone how many sets they have left, the correct answer is the honest one. Not “one more” when you’re about to start the fourth of five.

And then there’s the classic: don’t curl in the squat rack.

That one might be more of a running joke than a true rule, but it exists for a reason. In a busy gym, everyone is sharing the same space and equipment. The unwritten rules are really just a way of keeping things moving smoothly.

The good news is that most people figure this out quickly. Spend a little time lifting and you’ll see the same faces week after week — people working hard, resting between sets, sometimes spotting each other when a lift gets heavy.

Despite what you might think walking in for the first time, most weight rooms are actually pretty friendly places. You’re always going to have ‘that guy’ or ‘that girl’, but they’re easy to spot – and avoid.

The etiquette mostly boils down to a few simple things:

Be aware of the space around you.
Respect other people’s time.
Put your weights back when you’re done.

That’s really it.

Everything else tends to take care of itself.

And if you’re new to lifting, don’t worry too much about getting it perfect. Everyone started somewhere, and most people are far more focused on their own workout than anything you’re doing.

Just show up, work hard, and improve a little each time.

Which, when you think about it, is the whole idea behind progressive overload.

Lift.
Track.
Repeat.