Yesterday I ate three servings of vegetables: one for breakfast, one for lunch and one for dinner. I also ate three square meals. As of late, that’s one, sometimes two, more meals than I’d normally eat in a day. But I’m paleo now and skipping meals is a no-no, so this morning I made a half-ass attempt at breakfast. Eggs. From the microwave. I know, I know. Breakfast is hard.

Almost everyday I workout at 10:30am. The problem with my laziness is that it coerces me to set my alarm for 9:40am, allowing twenty measly minutes to fix this mess of a self. The trek to work is about twenty-five minutes long- I’ve always been a slow walker, I have short legs- which leaves me with no time to eat. No, I couldn’t have prepared something the night before and it’s out of the question to wake up any earlier. Who are you, my mother?

I do know the importance of breakfast and eating one. I’ve given hundreds of orientations to potential clients. Diet is always the biggest topic:

“I eat one meal a day, why am I still fat?”

“Protein? I eat protein. I have fruit in the morning. “

“I’ve cut way down on my carb intake, I only eat whole wheat bread now.”

“I eat really clean, but the one thing I won’t give up is alcohol.”

I get it. It seems logical enough. Food makes you fat. Fat is bad. Food is bad. Exercise makes you skinny. Skinny is good. Exercise is good. Thus, eat less and exercise more. In a society striving to simplify life and get thin while doing so, we fail miserably at this one. The problem being that, as a whole, we are misinformed.

I’d never advise a client come to class without eating. I’d never excuse eating once a day. And I’d certainly never lie and say it’s possible to outwork a shitty diet when I know it isn’t.

So why was it good enough for me? The fact that I’ve allowed myself to revert for so long only arms me with compassion for the seemingly lazy ones who don’t try. Maybe they are. I will too.