A Serious Man

DAYS 16-17, TUESDAY-WEDNESDAY, APRIL 27-28, 2010

829 DAYS UNTIL THE WEDDING

Was it Henry Longfellow or John Fogerty who said, in every life, a little rain must fall? Whomever said it was a genius, because it's been storming in my neck of the woods lately.

As I've said before, a big part of this weight loss routine is mental. In fact, almost all of it is mental. I know I can run, lift, etc. But if my mind's not in the right place, none of that matters at all. Suffice it to say that for the last couple days, my mind has not been in the right place. Stress outside the gym almost affected me inside the confines of the Sweat Factory. Stress from work, stress from home - both things started to catch up to me this week and it almost derailed me. The specifics aren't important.

The one saving grace was that now, after 2 1/2 weeks of going to the gym nearly every day, it has now become a daily part of my routine. There really is no question anymore of if I'm going to the gym today; that question has been rephrased to "What time am I going to the gym?"

Trust me, though: if this series of events had happened my first week in, I would probably be burying my sorrows in a bag of Doritos. But I've built up enough discipline that I can sidestep the land mines that threaten to destroy all my hard work and keep chugging forward.

Which brings me to my one piece of advice for anybody looking to start this type of routine: Make sure your life outside the gym is stable before you commit yourself to this. I don't believe it's enough to depend just on sheer willpower alone; the rest of your life can catch up with you, and when it does, you will find yourself less and less in the gym. Trust me.