I suppose on some level I understand people who get inspiration from a constant barrage of inspirational sayings and posters. The effect of a positive outlook on things seems to have a positive effect on life, or at least my life at this point in time. No, I haven’t been shopping at Successories and gone all kumbaya or whatever but I have taken notice of people that I follow for fitness tips and their posting of daily affirmation type of stuff and managed to pay attention without it turning me into a cultist or one of those people who won’t brush their teeth because of fluoridated water.

So, I’ve officially gone through one year of CrossFit and don’t think I would have expected to be saying that a few years ago when I took fitness a little less seriously (read: not at all). Sure, I’ve been an active runner for about five years now and have had a bit of exercise in some form for about that long as well. I started when I noticed my general overall health starting to turn into a less than desirable state and stuck with it in a general sense up until this year when I decided to train for the Chicago marathon and recognized the need for a little more in the training arsenal.

I’ve got a lot to be thankful for, a family that depends on me and a lot to look forward to, I needed to be in good shape and healthy and a lax approach to that wasn’t cutting it and didn’t want to get hurt or waste all that time training for something and have it up going to pot because I was too lazy to work hard. I’ve also made a conscious effort to eat better, paying better attention to what I’m eating and how often and have seen results. This year was good, but I can do better and realize now how my past efforts didn’t produce the results I was looking for. For as much as I tell myself I’m eating better, there are times when I don’t and simply just not paying attention to calorie intake, and that always winds up negating any previous efforts to right the wrongs so to speak.

There are a ton of programs and information out there on eating better an getting in shape and the CrossFit community is not shy about sharing what it thinks is the best for its athletes. A lot of the nutrition information centers around a paleo diet, which I can honestly say I’m not up for completely, it’s just not realistic. It does introduce a good amount of guidelines on how to eliminate sugars and carbs, which I’m trying to do more of but that’s where we come back to the realistic part. I do like cereals and oatmeal for breakfast (along with other things on the no-no list) and they don’t require a lot of prep time, so they get chosen over more paleo choices and I go on my merry way.

I can’t say I even really gave paleo enough of a shot to see if it would be worth the trouble but I’m not sure I even care. It’s just too much of a pain in the ass, even without kids and a 9-5 schedule. I think diet is one of those things that evolves as you get older and your body changes so just roll with it, be smart about what you eat and pay attention to how your body acts to certain foods. Maybe try different diets to get an idea of what works for you but if you can’t commit entirely just figure out what that diet was trying to teach you from the beginning and take away the good parts. Eating while training is a little different but I’m not on a level where it matters enough to become ridiculous about the whole ordeal.

I’ve got some loose fitness goals set for the upcoming year but I’ve come far enough at this point to know that I’m better off focusing on things one or two at a time and not trying to cram all the things together since I may or may not be able to do them down the road or however I’ve motivated myself in the past to push through training and meet deadlines. Barring any unfortunate setbacks, 2016 should be my best year yet.