Fitness

I hate gyms. They are a waste of money and a waste of time. You won't find the fittest people in gyms. You will either find the overweight people who think they will miraculously lose weight by joining a gym, the vein weightlifters who disregard cardio for pumping iron in front of mirrors, and the stay at home mom's, who are sick of staying at home and use the gym as a social space while secretly competing with their "gym buddy" to see who can look less human first.

With gyms come false hope, wasted money and athletes foot. SO STAY AWAY.

Of course I am generalizing, but you get my drift. I would recommend walking to and from the nearest gym every other day and not setting foot in it, over joining a gym.

I would recommend aiming to do 20 pushups every morning and evening over pumping iron.

Lunges and squats over leg extensions and curls.

Once again, the simplest is the best. If you can walk for an hour every other day, do 200 metres of lunges, and forty push-ups every morning and eat my stir-fry's. You'll be set.

My Personal Best Advice

For the past semester for most of my meals I have been eating rice, vegetable stir fry with either a fried egg, cashews, tofu, or meat for 80% of my lunches and dinners. This has not only led to me saving a lot of money, but it has kept me lean and fit providing the perfect balance of nutrients for a small price. In addition to saving me money and pounds, it has also saved me time. Stir fry's are quick and easy and every time I go to the supermarket I know exactly what and how much to buy. Fussing with planning different meals is an unnecessary waste of time. Instead, I get basically every veggie in the isle- a bag of cashews, a dozen eggs, 2 packets of tofu, and a few hundred grams of whatever minced meat I feel like.

Now you might be thinking to yourself "I could never eat that every day, I would get so sick of it." Well, at least that is what everyone has told me including my roommate half a year ago. Now she eats what I eat.

The thing is, we aren't meant to have so much variety in our diets. The more you add, the more messages your mind receives, the more you crave all sorts of food. After only eating rice and veg, when my body is hungry, that is what it craves. It is funny how the mind works. It adjusts to the choices you give it. My brain looks forward to the different types of stir fry I make. I have created variety in a dish that most people think of as uniform- a stir fry is a stir fry. But not to my brain. With the different sauces, vegies, chilli's, meats, tofu's and spices I have, I have tons of varieties that are so healthy and simple to prepare.

My advice to you would be to do what I do. No unsustainable diets, no unrealistic goals. And like I said, it is 80% of the time. The other times I can't be bothered to cook I go out and get Chicken Teryaki, Sushi, gourmet Pizza, or my roommate makes her famous Chili con carne.

This is what I eat on most days:

Breakfast:

2 slices of wholemeal toast- spread with crunchy peanut butter and jam and a cup of coffee.

Mid-morning snack: Apple or a banana (or some other kind of fruit)

Lunch: Half a cup of rice (uncooked), A pile of veggies (stirfried)topped with an omellete (made with 1 egg).

Snack: handful of mixed roasted nuts

Dinner: Same as lunch but usually with tofu or meat instead of the egg.

And just because you have work, does not mean you can't have the same for lunch. Buy one of those asian lunch boxes, or a tiffin-like thing and fill it with left-overs.

People always wonder why asians are so skinny. It's because they don't have as much variety as western countries have. In the west you have so much choice for meals: pizza, potato's and meat, pasta, asian, indian, thai, lebanese, tapas, sushi, chicken wings, burgers, hot dogs. East Asians stick with the basics and add a dash of variety- rice or noodles+veg+meat. Most of them go to the West and STILL EAT THIS. It's what they crave.

My philosophy is, keep it simple and your stomach will too. I don't think I could convince dad to eat like this, and I don't know if I have convinced you but I think it is worth a try. You would obviously have to get your family on board as well. But it is my honest and best advice.

If you are interested, I have a list of my favorite stir fry recipes I can provide. If not, follow dad's food blog.