Mixed Tape Monday: Happiness, calorie counting, and college athletics

I'm always tempted to say happy Monday when I start my mixed tape posts, but I don't ever mean it. I tend to greet Monday with more of a sideways nod, Arthur Fonzerelli-like. 

Yo, Monday. Hey. 

Turning down scholarships

First thing's first today, I'd like to thank everyone who shared my most recent post about my experience playing collegiate athletics. It was my most popular post ever and I'm really not sure why. Maybe that many people were surprised that I didn't play softball in college. Or maybe my hairstyle from 1995 provided with some amazing clickbait. Either way, thank you so very much for reading and sharing.

I was inspired to write about the topic by Tony Gentilcore, who addressed the subject awhile back in one of his posts. His take on it was slightly different and equally important. Tony's post focuses more about the fact that you can have an awesome athletic experience at an NCAA DI or DII school.

Funny enough, Tony was actually across town playing baseball at Mercyhurst University while I was at Gannon. 

Stop trying to be happy

That's right. I said it. Actually, Mark Manson says it in an excellent post about the constant battle we have with ourselves to achieve happiness. Especially in the fitness and fat loss process, we assume that we will be happier when we lose five pounds, deadlift 300 pounds, or go four weeks in a row eating less than 10 carbs a day. 

No. 

Happiness is as much a part of the journey as it is the destination. 

Forget calorie counting

I've eluded recently about how much I dislike math. I don't just dislike it. I'm bad at it. As in I pretty much failed Trigonometry in high school, but my teacher Al Solomon passed me just so I could have him again for Algebra II. Or vice versa. I hate math. And I really hate having to use math to calculate my food. 30 grams of protein plus 10 grams of fat plus 14.5 grams of carbs...no. There has to be a better way. 

The concept is simple; you need to burn more calories than you consume. And a few weeks ago, I wrote a bit of a rant post about how many calories you're really burning.  The short version was to stop obsessing, because what you're really going for is behavior change. So what's the best solution? Forget calorie counting. That's right. 

Forget it. 

The folks at Precision Nutrition recommend using your hands to figure out your portions. Give this article a read and see what you think.