Living Strictly Mostly

2026-05-16

This comes from a conversation I had with a coworker a long time ago now which was based on a quote. I do not remember the quote so I will make it up, something like:

I must be boring at home so I can live on vacation. -Gary Button

And what my style is, and what both of my parents style is, is to eat pretty plainly at home. I try to eat healthy, a slight calorie deficit (if I can), full of nuts, protein, fruits, and vegetables. I remember at a young age my mom would allow us to leave rice on our plate: ‘eat everything else but you can leave the rice’. I assume this is because she wanted to make sure we had more of the good nutrition and less of the filler. My dad was similar, his diet is mostly meat based but it was always pretty healthy and nutritious. We didn’t eat a ton (we ate some) of fast food and I try to eat even less now. We didn’t make the most elaborate meals and always cooked at home.

And this has all translated to the present, I try to eat really boring at home. I dont go to a lot of restaurants nearby, I dont eat fast food, if I do eat out I try to eat healthy. And most of this is so that when I do get to travel, I get to eat well. If I go to New Orleans I want to be able to tried a bunch of different fried chicken places, gumbo places, Vietnamese fusion restaurants, and not worry about the calories or nutrition. And part of this is making sure my body is in pretty good shape before the trip so I can pack on the extra food and not feel terrible about myself when I come home.

I feel this is the same for exercise, I try to have a nice boring workout routine, right now it is walking and a few pull ups a day mostly. I do need to get better on this front but go with me, if I keep my body in good shape I can be a couch potato when I see my guy friends on our annual trip or when I go to a family wedding.

I do know that some people plan their vacations around really outdoorsy things. We have a set of friends who like mountain climbing and their vacation are centered around mountain climbing, I assume that they probably lose weight on their trips. They probably eat a lot of bars and trail mix. I enjoy being out in nature and my trips will often include a lot of hiking or walking. But usually the center of the trip for me is meeting people, seeing historical stuff, and eating different food. So usually I gain weight on my trips. So to prep for these trips I gotta take care of my body at home.

-Gary