Thomas Edison is quoted as having said “genius is one percent inspiration, ninety nine percent perspiration.”  And I think what he meant when he said that, though I don’t have the context in which it was said, is pretty clear: you have to be ready to do the work.  As a sidebar, another of my favorite quotes from him is thematically similar: “vision without execution is hallucination.”

I’d like to think Edison and I would get along pretty well if we met today.  Or, at least we’d probably work well together.  I imagine us rolling up our sleeves and joking companionably about how we were definitely earning our cocktails by tackling the job ahead of us with such energy.  My kind of guy, that Edison.

Being ready to do the work is pretty critical to success when it comes to health and fitness.  Anyone who paints you a picture of a lean, healthy body achieved by laying on the couch and eating whatever is handy probably also wants to start a marching band in your town.  (Music Man reference) .   But even though I’m ready to do the work required, there’s another component that — for me — is just as critical to success, and that’s preparation.

As I said yesterday, it’s difficult for me to consistently deliver delicious, healthful meals in any kind of timely fashion.  I’m working on simplification, but it seems to be an iterative process, and I just introduced the additional complexity of Whole 30 restrictions.   A step backwards?  Maybe.  Maybe not.  I’m trying something new this week.

Behold, I give thee preparation!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What you see in this picture represents three individual servings of Butternut Squash “Risotto” (made with cauliflower instead of rice) and about an hour of my life.   I prepped and chopped and bagged this and one other full sized meal, each broken down into me-sized servings.  I front-loaded all the food processing I’d need to do for the whole week into one long morning, and now everything is in the freezer.

Here’s my hypothesis: by consolidating the effort into one time frame, one sink full of dishes, and one floor covered with pieces of chopped vegetables that inevitably fly off the counter (I’m kind of like that chef from the muppets), I will uncover enough efficiencies to make this level of effort sustainable.

The second part of my hypothesis is that I will be more able to eat a vegetable-based lunch during work hours instead of a fruit-based lunch, which has more sugar and more calories.  Fruit usually wins out because it’s naturally pre-packaged (thanks God!) and ready to eat immediately.   Don’t get me wrong — it’s better than chips.  But I’m trying to reduce sugars, she said as she ate another frozen grape.  So having handy meals ready to be cooked in the freezer should be a win.

I have one more round of chopping and bagging to do this evening when I make dinner, but then I should be chop-free (or at least chop-lite) for the rest of the week.  I’ll let you know if it turns out as well as I envision, or if it would have been better left as an hallucination.