The Harder You Work, the Luckier You’ll Get
My brother and his girlfriend are visiting in town visiting.
We all went out to breakfast this morning and on the way back, stopped at a local coffee shop.
As we’re walking in, a woman stopped us and said to his girlfriend — “wow, Ma’am … you have amazing arms. You are SO lucky!”
Coincidentally, she was eating a muffin and had some type of large frozen, coffeeish drink while suggesting that luck has something to do with the shape and muscle in her arms.
It reminded me of a quote I saw recently from Paula Dean “The harder you work, the luckier you’ll get.”
Luck actually has nothing to do with the shape you’re in. Hard work, dedication, and effort do. They are here through this evening and rather than sleeping in this morning, she decided to come to our boot camp this morning. She also trains regularly at home and eats pretty well most of the time.
Does she too occasionally have her fair share of “splurge” items? Of course.
But to immediately suggest luck has something to do with body shape is an interesting mindset and outlook on life.
Work hard. Stay dedicated. And, like Paula Dean suggested, you’ll get “luckier and luckier” the harder you continue to work.
November 16th, 2010 at 6:44 am
Chris and Kara,
my comments are regarding todays poll and the different option. I am interested in all but prefer to most of all, “well”. I maybe splitting hairs here but would not fat loss come with wellness or is it the other way around?
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Chris and Kara Mohr Reply:
November 17th, 2010 at 8:27 am
It doesn’t always, but often. Thin people can be very unhealthy.
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April 4th, 2012 at 9:15 am
Let me start by saying that, for the most part, I have found this site to be hugely informative and positive. Which is why I was so shocked to find something as offensive as this post. The message seems to be that if you are fat, you must be lazy or have a poor diet is nothing more than insensative bigotry. I am certain that if I had paid your wife a compliment about her arms, you would have had one look at me and pictured me sitting around eating bon-bons and ice cream all day. I am 50 pounds overweight. I assume that you will think I am lying, but here are the facts of my diet. I eat 2 hard-boiled eggs each morning. If I am hungry (I usually am not) I will eat about 8 natural, unsalted raw almonds mid-morning. I find that I usually skip this snack, but conservatively I’d say I have it 2-3 times per week. At lunch, I will eat 6 oz. of lean protien and either spinach, squash, brussels sprouts or broccoli. Dinner is the same unless, like last night, I’m not hungry enough in which case I will have an Atkin’s protien shake and a few almonds. I have strictly followed this diet for over a year. I drink virtually nothing but water (occasionally I’ll have a cup of coffee or tea). I walk on my treadmill and do light, high-rep weight training 5 days a week. Although I have had great success losing weight initially (I have lost 60 pounds since February 2011) I have not lost any additional weight in about 5 months. That’s it; my body seems to be done. And the very idea that maybe I’m just not “working hard” or “dedicated” enough is just infuritating to me.
And now all the health nuts are nodding their heads and thinking “ah-ha!”. She was severely overweight before. Maybe she isn’t eating eating muffins and drinking large frozen coffee drinks now, but she obviously was before, and that’s why she’s fat. The fact of the matter is that before I ate less than most people, ate lean meats and vegetables, always passed on the bread and very, very rarely had any kind of dessert. When I was diagnosed with diabetes in 2008, the doctor told me to “eat half” of whatever I was eating then. My 5’9, 150 lb. husband said, “but she eats less than me; she’ll starve!”. The doctor didn’t believe either of us when we told him how little I ate and that I generally made healthy choices. It is only by keeping my carb intake to between 20-30 net carbs per day that I’ve been able to maintain being 50 pounds overweight.
Back to my 5’9, 150 lb. husband. He eats crap all day long, never drinks any water and gets all his hydration in the form of roughly 6 cans of Coke and numerous cups of coffee all day long. He works in a lab with a bunch of food addicts who bring in a buffet of cookies, kolaches and donuts every day, which he gleefully eats (since I don’t buy that stuff at the grocery store). He eats fast-food junk for lunch 5 days a week. He doesn’t exercise at all. He is thin, fit and has muscle definition. Are you seriously suggesting that he isn’t lucky? I can tell you, he thinks he is.
In another post, you mocked the idea that someone can have a “slow metabolism”. I have done everything I can think of to boost mine, but it doesn’t seem to have much effect. But I guess it is all in my head? I am very careful to eat protein at every meal, exercise, split my intake into small, more frequent meals. Nothing helps. When we go to family gatherings or out to eat (rarely) I watch as thin, attractive people are slurping down frozen drinks, eating cheese laden lasagna and giant pieces of bread and cheesecake for dessert which I sit and slowly chew my chicken breast and steamed vegetables. I really don’t begrudge them that; I’ve never been one for sweets and bread anyway. But please don’t tell me that they aren’t “lucky”. They absolutely are.
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