Just rading through Mr X's site - awesome btw! and found this motivational article:
Thanks Mr X
Dieting…Action/Product/End.
What is an action? Is there an end to all actions? What does it all mean?
Every art and every inquiry, and similarly every action and pursuit is thought to aim at some good, and for this reason the good has rightly been declared to be that at which all things aim. But a certain difference is found among ends; some are activities, others are products apart from the activities that produce them. Where there are ends apart from the actions, it is the nature of the products to be better than the activities. So, what does a “stupid” bodybuilder know about products of activities and their ends? Well, as Plato once said, “Judge not by see, do Judge by inquiry into the soul.” You see the concept of products of actions and their ends can be applied very easily to dieting. Let’s compare: action will stand for the dieting itself, product is the achievement of (goal) fat-loss, or muscle gain (or both), and finally the end would be the ultimate achievement of the objective or in other words the end of the diet.
How is this going to help me diet? You might ask. Well, let’s look at what every proper diet needs: the diet itself or the action, the achievement of a goal or product of action, and conclusively the end, which is the ultimate accomplishment of the objective. When these three things are put together they spell out certain success to you diet. As with anything else in life, the application of these is not a mind-boggling thing to do, but more of a concept that needs to be grasped.
Similarly, if dieting to reach a certain ultimate goal (end), then we can say the action of dieting has aim to accomplish supreme merit. Whether that merit is for boasting or for a personal feeling of success, it all boils down to nature of the product. As we all know and can comprehend, dieting (action) is not the most pleasurable experience but the product (achievement of goal) is most certainly gratifying. Thus, we must understand that behind every door there is a way out; therefore, in the end of each action there is a product that is always better then the action itself. In turn, after every grueling day at the gym, we know that the product of hard work will be the ultimate achievement of our positive goal (end). Everyday you wake up and think to yourself: I am going to quit, that’s it, it’s not worth it. You need to put in prospective the action you are doing, which is quitting before reaching the ultimate goal. For some this, ultimate goal, might be the perfect body, for others it might be perfect health, but for everyone it would be something positive. Never have I seen the product of positively charged action be negative. Every action has a re-action, likewise every action has a product and an end to it. Thus, every positive action will have a positive product and positive ending, like dieting for a contest or striving for better health, and, at the same time, every negative action will have a negative product and a negative ending, like stuffing your face with pizza and burgers in order to overcome stress.
In closing, I would like to say that if you come out of reading my article with nothing but one thought, such a thought should be: for every positive action there is a positive outcome, and ultimately if you try hard enough you will achieve the product and the end to the action you are pursuing.
http://www.elitefitness.com/articles/mot.html