One of life's never-ending joys for me is the seemingly random leaps my mind makes that if I take a moment to consider them are solutions to problems crammed away in my subconscious.

Just moments ago, for instance, I was searching for famous quotations to use in the language arts' classes I teach to engender abstract thinking and generate discussion. During that process, I learned that there was more to the oft-quoted Oscar Wilde quip: "Life imitates art." What Wilde really wrote in 1889 was "Life imitates art far more than art imitates life."So what, you say? So here's where my mind made one of those previously mentioned leaps that caused me to stop searching for quotations and start working on a stored-away problem: the topic of today's "Fitness Master" article. What pushed its way into my brain was this thought: Philosophy affects diet far more than diet affects philosophy.And that it's my diet philosophy that keeps me from worrying about my body weight.I don't want to be too esoteric here, so let me be clear about how my seemingly random thought applies to your diet by explaining my diet. Like Aristotle, I believe that excellence is not a singular act and that you are what you continually do which is why I'm a big proponent of structure and repetition.Both play a big part in all the parts of my life: how I teach, write, research, rest, work out, recover and possibly most importantly how I choose my foods.Or shall I say my lack of choosing them.Like just about anyone else, I find comfort in control. And since I profess to be "The Fitness Master" and take great pleasure in climbing hills quickly on my bicycle, I need to control my weight. I also believe that lost in insane pace of what we now call a typical day is the comfort of simplicity.As a result of all this, I eat what you would probably consider a rather limited number of foods each week.How limited? Four out of five school days (I consume a higher percentage of carbohydrates on the weekday I plan to ride long and hard after school), I eat the same foods in the same amounts at roughly the same times.For breakfast, it's 16 ounces of Greek yogurt with one quarter of a cup of high-protein cereal a half cup of high-fiber cereal. The mid-morning snack: a protein shake. Lunch: one cup of a dry soy-based meat substitute reconstituted and 12 ounces of Brussels sprouts. After school: a pudding-like snack featuring six ounces of fat free cottage cheese, two ounces of cocoa, and fat-free, calorie-free flavorings.Supper is 12 egg whites as an omelet, a huge salad featuring leafy greens with a non-caloric dressing, and a fibrous vegetable most likely a can of asparagus or green beans. My nighttime snack: a few cups of a puffed whole-grain cereal mixed with a high-fiber cereal along with two to four cups of decaffeinated green tea (to help fill me up) and a double serving of the aforementioned cottage cheese mixture.Generally, I eat two more times after I've gone to bed something I've written about before and something I wish I wouldn't do. Those snacks are 16 ounces of Greek yogurt with a half cup of high-fiber cereal, though sometimes I'll eat a protein bar instead.Yes, I know I'm consuming a far higher percentage of calories than I should after 3 p.m., but the regiment seems to works for me. I remain within a pound or two of my desired weight all year even during the darkest dreariest parts of winter. Maybe that's because one thing I don't do that's so popular in so many diets is have a "cheat" day or two during the weekend.Weekend meals are nearly as regimented, but the types of foods rotate, and the amounts vacillate depending on whether that day's ride was three hours, four hours, or maybe even five. The concept, however, remains the same: to avoid the problem that may plague you that many experts call "decision fatigue."In an article published in the May 2015 issue of Health, Judith Back, PhD, author of The Diet Trap Solution, offers a solution to decision fatigue by suggesting that you make diet choices in advance. "[That] helps you stay on track because it eliminates the 'Should I? Shouldn't I?' struggle . . . ."So if you have been struggling to keep your body at a desired weight, why not see if eating predetermined foods in a certain rotation works for you? I've followed this pattern for about 20 years, and although the foods in the rotation have changed throughout, my weight hasn't.The key in getting the concept to work for you is to find a few healthy foods your really like, a way of preparing them that doesn't add too many extra calories, and determining the general amounts that will keep your weight where you want. While it may not be the most exciting way to eat, it certainly can be the most comforting.And effective.