I Don't Like Oats!

Off Topic
1

Hey all. This is a recent post I put on my blog which I’ve actually copped some flak.

I thought I’d put it up here to see what’s thought of it, as the T-Nation audience seems more suited to my style of writing.

I said to someone the other day that the best thing to eat for breakfast is oats.

They said “Oh I can’t eat those, I don’t like oats”.

You don’t like it? Oh yeah, I hear that! There’s a lot of things in this life that I don’t like.

And you know what? I’m just not going to do them anymore.

This whole lifting weights thing gets pretty tough. I don’t think I’m going to do it anymore. Pain. Ouch. No thanks. I’m just going to play computer games instead.

And you know what else? I don’t like eating clean food all the time. I’m gonna to stop doing that as well. My new diet will be a kebab with cheese for breakfast. 3 Cheeseburgers for lunch and a large pizza for dinner. Yeah. Much more tasty.

And in fact, I don’t like work either. I’m going to stop doing that too (actually that’s not true, I love work, I’ll keep that up).

So what’ll happen when I stop lifting weights and paying attention to my diet? I’ll start to look pretty damn average. But hey, it’ll be worth it to only eat the food that tastes nice right?

Every day I hear excuses. Well you know what? We all have a choice and these choices control what we look like and how we experience the world.

Choose health and yes, you might not eat as much pizza as you’d like, and you may regularly eat something you don’t like, but how much better will your life be?

But that’s too hard for a lot of people. And that’s why they’re unhappy, with their lives and their bodies. Because what’s required to change is too hard. Lucky for them, you only live once so that feeling won’t last too long.

For the rest of us, we know what we have to do. Sure it’s not always fun. But the rewards last a lifetime.

2

I agree totally. I eat all that goddam broccoli because I love the suff? Just suck it up and get the job done…no whining allowed.

3

“Those are not problems. You know what to do to lose weight. In a take-off of Nike’s slogan, just fucking do it. You know how to gain muscle, hell, we’ve printed about a thousand articles about it. Just fucking do it. If you can’t, and you’ve no underlying medical problem, you’re just weak willed. Can’t stand the taste of cottage cheese? For chrissake, shove it down your throat, you pussy!”

  • TC

Classic.

4

  1. You don’t have to eat oats to be healthy. Noob.

  2. I like brocolli.

  3. If there was an argument hidden somewhere in there, it would be a slippery sloap.

5

Too many people in this life don’t have the discipline to do what needs to be done.

They are too busy doing what they feel like doing… which generally is not much.

6

[quote]ShaneM686 wrote:
“Those are not problems. You know what to do to lose weight. In a take-off of Nike’s slogan, just fucking do it. You know how to gain muscle, hell, we’ve printed about a thousand articles about it. Just fucking do it. If you can’t, and you’ve no underlying medical problem, you’re just weak willed. Can’t stand the taste of cottage cheese? For chrissake, shove it down your throat, you pussy!”

  • TC

Classic.[/quote]

As someone who just chugged a cottage cheese and protein shake despite absolutely loathing the stuff, this quote really hits home. Just fucking do it is right. If people would put half as much effort into working out consistently regardless of the plan or eating some sort of clean diet and sucking it up when you don’t like something then everyone would much happier with their situation in spite of those complaints. The results are worth it.

7

I’ve noticed this too, and it isn’t confined to eating and exercising. When I choose to sleep in, play video games and watch TV all day, at the end of the day, I feel like shit, even though that’s what I thought I wanted to do. If I train, do some yard work, read a book and go for a walk, the day will feel meaningful, and I’ll be more confident and sociable at the end.

It’s funny how our bodies natural inclinations don’t seem to be on our side.

8

This all started because someone doesn’t like oats?

9

This comes at a good time, I love this site. Just when I’m about to skip a meal because i’m loathing eating chicken (again, someone posts to remind me that in order to be “over the top” you have to think, eat and train like it.

Thanks!

10

The “slippery slope” argument of yours overshadows the “sack up” message you are trying to convey.

I read this last night and have been mulling it over most of the day before responding, due, in large part, to the fact that I’m not entirely certain as to just who, exactly, it is you are trying to address with this piece.

I mean, the tone struck me in a way that makes me believe you feel that people who don’t “choose health” and lift/eat oats are lacking something in their life, or are generally unhappy with themselves. I know it’s a thought that floats around this site (people striving to be “more than average” by lifting and eating right, whereas Average Joe’s are unhappy because they’re “mediocre”), and in regards to viewing that as some sort of blanket statement I would have to disagree.

Then again, it could also have a more Universal message (what I’m leaning towards) - a “Just Do It” theme in regards to life, in general. In which case I would have to agree - I also get annoyed by those who bitch and moan about their perceived shortcomings, yet are too full of excuses to actually do something about it. I feel this way about someone who complains about not getting into their college major of choice, even though they partied too much to make the minimum GPA, or someone who whines about not being able to lose weight despite continually justifying their addiction to Cheetos.

This is what I believe the theme of your piece should be more plainly about - one I believe this site champions, though some on occasion mistake the “Take Home” message to be paragraph 3, above.

If your piece was focused upon just that - people with goals in mind (whether they are general-life goals or fitness related) yet too many excuses to work towards them - then this entry would be right on the money, in my opinion.

As it stands, though I do agree with your message (as I read it to be), it just kinda-sorta comes off as you going off on someone simply for saying they don’t like to eat oats/don’t have your enthusiasm or interest in health.

Or, I could just be overthinking it.

11

Nah connor, You pretty much hit it straight on the head.

I wrote this piece in responce to 2 separate overweight clients I was training, neither of whom would change their diet in a single way.

Then one of them had the hide to tell me that my training ‘didn’t work’. I said “Have you changed your diet at all?” Her response. “My diet is not the problem”.

The piece was aimed at people like her. They say they want a good body, but they’re not willing to do what it takes to achieve it.

In my book, training is the easy part, it’s fun. It’s the inability to modify diet and avoid temptation foods that holds most people back.

Thanks for reading, I’m glad that it made you think a bit, even if you were thinking about the flaws in my argument. From what you and the other posters have said, I’ll be able to make my next writing better.

12

yea Connor is right.

The “just do it” philosophy was something that stuck home in my asian philosophy class. Those trying to seek the true self or ‘no self’ will try to meditate in every task that is performed. Pure absorbtion into each and every thing you do. Whether that is eating, walking, lifting, etc. Focusing on the task at hand 100%.

When eating, knowing that eating a turkey meatloaf filled with veggies over that burger is much more beneficial is applying your knowledge, now you just have to ‘do it’.

Most of my best training sessions are when talking is kept to nothing or ‘help’. 100%.

I’m not religious at all, but there are great philosophies from many religions i have studied. This was one.

13

This thread is classic.

Not to single any one out and many examples could be substituted but:

“I’m such a hard assed, hard core body builder that i just suck it up and eat broccoli!”

hahahahahahaha!! No offense but that is just funny.

14

[quote]ShaneM686 wrote:
yea Connor is right.

The “just do it” philosophy was something that stuck home in my asian philosophy class. Those trying to seek the true self or ‘no self’ will try to meditate in every task that is performed. Pure absorbtion into each and every thing you do. Whether that is eating, walking, lifting, etc. Focusing on the task at hand 100%.

When eating, knowing that eating a turkey meatloaf filled with veggies over that burger is much more beneficial is applying your knowledge, now you just have to ‘do it’.

Most of my best training sessions are when talking is kept to nothing or ‘help’. 100%.

I’m not religious at all, but there are great philosophies from many religions i have studied. This was one.[/quote]

But the problem with existentialism is that it basically just makes you a product of your own environment.

The root of the philosophy is really just “never make a decision when confronted with a choice. Go with the flow and let what ever happens happen. Then you will have found you.”

The problem with this is that you will get screwed every time. Somebody will be out to make shit happen and you will expect it.

Like broccoli or oats. If you don’t like either, try green beans and wheatina. Be proactive, find a suitable substitute and get on with your diet and training. No sense subjecting yourself to stuff you don’t like when you can have something else equally good.

15

[quote]texasguy1 wrote:
“I’m such a hard assed, hard core body builder that i just suck it up and eat broccoli!” [/quote]

Hahahaha. EXTREEEEME!

16

[quote]texasguy1 wrote:

Like broccoli or oats. If you don’t like either, try green beans and wheatina. Be proactive, find a suitable substitute and get on with your diet and training. No sense subjecting yourself to stuff you don’t like when you can have something else equally good.

[/quote]

But is that what Sxio is saying or is it that these clients aren’t just saying they don’t like oats but they don’t like anything healthy. I am betting he’s suggested alternatives and they don’t like any of them, or they only want to eat a healthy dinner and have their Pop Tarts for breakfast and their Nachos Bell Grande with a milkshake for lunch.

It is the mindset of I don’t want to be fat and I don’t want to work for it, so YOU Mr. Trainer, find a solution for me that won’t take any effort or cause me any discomfort.

But I may be wrong about what Sxio meant.