Friday Writings for Randos - You don't have to be perfect.

{Friday Writings for Randos - A weekly post that features pieces from other writers that touch some facet of the Randonneuring experience, even if that was not the author's intent. It's stuff that's best read out loud - slowly.} This week it's:...

An excerpt from:

Bike for Life

(from an interview with Rich White)

By Roy Wallack & Bill Katovsky

Don't judge yourself by the mirror. You don't have to be perfect. You just have to be fit enough to do the things that you want to do. That's the most important thing.

On a daily basis, you have to get up in the morning and kickstart your body. Your metabolism. Soon as I wake up, I do half an hour of light aerobics, rowing machine or tai chi kickbox workout before breakfast.

Foodwise, remember that the hole up on your head is bigger than the hole in your ass. You can't shove tons in, have a little bit come out, and not expect to have the rest stick on your fat gut.

All these BS diets with this trend and that trend, it really always comes around to a balanced diet. Eat a lot of fruits and vegetables. Cook fresh food. Avoid anything that says "all you can eat." Just because it says that doesn't mean you have to. . . Eat things that you like to eat and that you know aren't bad for you.

Then put a lock on the TV for one hour after you eat. Until then, you have to move. Do anything, just don't lay down. . . Find something you like to do whether its cycling or hiking or bowling, do it a lot. Work up a sweat. Make yourself suffer. One of the things about adventure racing, which I'm now getting into, is that if you can be comfortable being uncomfortable, you'll be a good adventure racer. Well, to work out in any sport, you have to teach yourself to be a little uncomfortable - just for a little while. Just long enough to burn more calories than you consume.

That's easy if you find something you like doing, like cycling. That's fitness in its simplest terms: find something you love to do - and do it a lot.