Constrained Bliss Point

As hard as it is to do science on one’s self, I’m confident in the hypothesis that my weight and meat consumption are inversely proportional. I was pescetarian for around fifteen months back in college — or as I described it, I just didn’t eat meat. Though I constantly changed my reasons behind my pescetarianism, I was intent on the conclusion that I should not eat meat, and I enjoyed the lifestyle. It was certainly difficult, both at first and throughout. I gave it up for no apparent reason, and then went pescetarian again for the summer I spent in San Francisco.

I do miss not eating meat. There is some amount of deep contentment through self-control and self-denial. The community is nice, too; you become part of a special group where the only shibboleth is your diet. And there are a lot of really strong reasons not to eat meat. My favorites were the inefficiency of converting calories up the food chain, the various sorts of environmental damage that factory meat production entails, and an argument that a society which treat its animals better is also one which treats its people better.

But right now I’m focusing on the dieting aspect. I decided I need to lose some weight. I’m also pretty lazy, and have been struggling with enacting a consistent exercise regimen for months. And since the easiest way to lose weight is to restrict your caloric intake, it’s pretty much win-win. Now I just need to get to the point where I can make that commitment not to eat meat anymore.

Or I guess I could just not eat meat as much, but that’s actually just as hard. I’m pretty bad at self control when I don’t have clearly-delineated monolithic rules for my own decision making.