It Is That Easy

I was perusing cnn.com yesterday, and one of the headlines in the entertainment section was, "Miranda Lambert loses two sizes." So I clicked on the link, and here was the story:

How Miranda Lambert dropped two sizes

When Miranda Lambert walked the red carpet at the CMA Awards this year, the rock on her finger wasn’t the only thing getting some attention. In addition to getting engaged, the country music golden girl had dropped two dress sizes.

"I don't know how much weight I've lost. I just know people tell me, 'You look great,'" she told US Weekly.

“She looks amazing,” fiance Blake Shelton told PEOPLE before the CMAs. “She set a goal for herself, worked hard and I am so proud of her.”

Lambert said she avoids most carbohydrates and works out with her trainer three times a week. She eats a lot of vegetables, lean meats, oatmeal and salad.

"Now instead of Cheetos, I choose almonds," Lambert said of her diet change. If only it were that easy.

Read the author's last sentence again. "If only it were that easy." It made me mad.

It made me mad because it IS that easy. Losing weight is about consistently making healthy choices in the food that you eat. We delude ourselves by making it any harder.

It sounds like Miranda laid out a sensible plan for herself, stuck to it, and reaped the rewards. It IS that easy. You can choose to eat a McDonald's hamburger, or you can choose eat a piece of lean chicken breast. You can rip open a bag of Cheetos, or you can pop some almonds in your mouth.

I'm reading a really compelling book right now called The Slight Edge by Jeff Olson. He examines the compound effect that the choices we make have over our lifetime. Health and fitness is one area he is passionate about, and explains that while eating the hamburger will not have an immediate effect on you tomorrow, or even the next day, a lifetime of choosing the hamburger will reap negative rewards. 

Eating the burger is just a simple error in judgement. Not eating it, a simple positive action. Eating it won't kill you--today. But compounded over time, it can and will. Not eating it won't save you--today. But compounded over time, it can and will.

Why do you walk past the exercise bike? Because it's easy. If you don't exercise today, will that kill you? No, of course not. You know what you need to do to stay healthy and feel fit...You know it, I know it, everyone knows it. And it's easy to do. But it's also easy not to do...that simple error in judgement, compounded over time, will take you down and out.

In our culture, we love to celebrate the fruits of our labor, but give no credit to the actual labor. Miranda Lambert gets all kinds of attention once she's "dropped two sizes," but there were no reporters sitting outside her gym reporting that she did 64 lunges and used 10-pound weights on triceps extensions today. Imagine the headline: "Miranda Lambert grills chicken and asparagus instead of a 12-ounce rib-eye for dinner tonight!"

The truth is, what you do matters. What you do today matters. What you do every day matters.