When you were a child, you could almost eat anything and not put on a single pound. No matter what time of the day, you’d raid the pantry and shove some sugary goodness down your throat.
Did I say you? I think I meant me. 😊 Sorry.
Growing up I was the skinniest kid on the block, but it wasn’t through lack of trying. I used to eat everything in sight and any food left within arm’s reach was in mortal danger. My mother used to ban me from the pantry regularly.
“Shane, it’s almost dinner time and you’ll ruin your appetite.” She said while she was chasing me out of the kitchen with a wooden spoon. And my mum was quick, so being quicker than her to avoid the sting of the spoon was imperative.
However, the running made me even hungrier.
I was the prototypical tall skinny kid throughout my schooling years, eating what I wanted, having bad skin (in part due to my poor diet) and getting pushed around easily because of my inability to gain weight.
Then during college, I discovered the joys of weight lifting while still eating want I wanted and the seemly the impossible happened. I finally gained some weight. Hallelujah.
I rode that wave for a while and then life happened. I
- Moved countries
- Got married
- Had a couple of kids
- Become a Personal Trainer
- Lost most of my hair
Then eating what I wanted when I wanted came with repercussions and it wasn’t the good kind. It was the expanding waistline kind. However, if I wanted to be the guy who completely lets himself go, this wouldn’t be a problem.
However, I think a man being bald and fat is unacceptable, and it screams giving up. After I’d already lost my hair (I blame my kids for that) it was decision time, either I
- get hair plugs
or
- don’t get fat
The choice speaks for itself because being an out of shape Personal trainer wouldn’t inspire confidence in my services.
However, not getting fat is difficult in our current environment. We have an overabundance of sweet, salty and fatty foods at our disposal.
A lot of our food is produced in laboratories, so we don’t stop at one bite and the advertisers know how to push all the right buttons, so those treats end up in our grocery cart.
To make matters worse, we live in a time crunched 24/7 non-stop society where we’re always on the go but never really going anywhere and we move less and sit more because most of the important things are at our finger tips.
“Alexa, can you please go to the gym for me, I’m too lazy.”
And because I’m a part of the health industry, you’d think I’d know right from wrong in terms of what I put into my mouth, how much I exercise and how I should look. However, I’m subject to the same pressures as you are.
You want proof? Take a look at the inside my pantry.
Being the father of two boys who can eat what they want and not put on a pound, combined with an over worked and stressed out wife and my work hours being all over the place, the temptations of quick and easy sits in our pantry.
Could my family make better food choices? Sure, but let me ask you this. When you’re tired, hungry and stressed, could you be bothered whipping up a five-course gourmet meal? I think not, unless you’re Gordon Ramsey.
Furthermore, with my growing boys eating us out of house and home, being on a tight budget and with food only getting more expensive, not all our food choices are healthy. Could it be better? Yes, of course it could but this is the reality I live in.
Sometimes, the pantry is an enemy to my waistline.
How about yours?
Email-shanemcleantraining@gmail.com
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