I'm the first to admit that my sense of humor can be sophomoric (juvenile, silly, ribald, and so forth and so on), but any list fo the funniest movies ever that doesn't include 'Airplane' is misguided at best. When I had my surgery I weighed just under 170#, and now some 14 weeks later I'm (on a good day) hitting 175, but closer to the 176 - 178. I blame it on the 'forced' inactivity of the first 5 weeks and the fact that I'm just now getting my weekly miles back. Still I feel mushy and sluggish when I run, I'm feeling myself carry each of those pounds. Used to be I didn't care, I'd modify my diet, run a little extra and Presto! The pounds would be gone...no more. What's worse is that I'm getting kinda OC about them....I mean I'm turning into a girl! Ye gods! So, I can either pretend they aren't there (yeah...fat chance, and yes I mean FAT) or I can get busy - to paraphrase Clint Eastwood I can "either get busy living or get busy being fat." I understand 'body image' and the like, but I have extra incentive. Pretty sure nobody wants Butterbean (you know the fat guy boxer in Jasper) as a Personal Trainer or Coach, just guessing; so I have to step my game up. Here's the plan - I'm going to do what I'm supposed to do with one caveat....beer. My friend Sandra Koulourides who is a (www.fuelplusfitness.com) kick butt instructor (check out her video's or class at the Mt. Brook YMCA) and a runner. She tells her clients to eat 'good' (I'm paraphrasing) 80% of the time. Well good (this is Danny, not Sandra) is 2 things to me...one 'smart/healthy' and the other is PORTION SIZE! I could go on, but here's the gist....10#. I'm going to weigh myself 3 days in a row and average it, then (and I started today) I'm going to 'fuel' myself smartly and watch my portions. For every 72 hours (3 days) that I do well, I get a 'cheat' meal. I don't have to take it and I can't save them like 'Get Out of Jail Free' cards, but the 'reward' is out there. That should allow me to 'fuel' myself properly with 'quality' food, while not depriving myself of calories. Big difference for athletes - we can't really go into calorie deprivation and expect to perform. However, when you fuel properly, you don't need a massive amounts of calories. For the foreseeable future I'm going to put 'premium' gas in my tank and not regular. The good thing is, when you use 'premium' you don't need as much (quantity-wise) gas as when you use 'regular'. I'll get my miles back to the 40 - 50 miles weekly (almost there), get in the gym twice weekly (for me, not my boot camps or trainee's) and follow a scripted workout each time. So I'm modifying my intake (reduced calories) and increasing my 'out go' (burning more calories) and I'm gonna buy TWO shake weights...one for each arm! (Joke!). It's not rocket surgery (I said that on purpose), actually it's the only way to lose weight, look how I want to look (Like Jackie Warner with a few, um, anatomical changes...the rest is cool, I mean we both like girls), and feel like I want to feel. "Elaine, you're a member of the crew, can you face some unpleasant facts?" Elaine: "No." It may interest some, bore others, and if you want to share in the experience or share YOUR experience, then post it in the comment section and I'll include your posts (unless you say 'don't') in the blog until I hit my target weight. In the movie Kung Fu Panda, Shifu (his master) trains him using food, denial until he achieves - but when he DOES achieve and Shifu tells Po he's free to eat, Po says, "Nah, I'm not hungry." He's conquered himself and the 'cheat meal' though available was no longer desired. Habits are hard to break, bad eating is just a habit, I got lazy.."I picked a bad day to give up glue sniffing", but I picked a good day to re-set my chain of thought. By the way, this is NOT a resolution. It's a change...big difference. I prefer 'goal-setting' to resolution anyway...but you'll have to read my newsletter to get my thoughts on that. It was cold on the run today - 21 degrees, but, I wore a compression shirt (man, I love those) as my base layer and a looser regular long sleeve running shirt on over it. Combined with my tights (yep <30 I wear tights) and gloves after about 2 miles I was 'toasty'. Those compression shirts are great for keeping body heat IN, then cover it with another layer. It's still light weight and you have 2 layers, not bulky on and you're quite comfortable. I hate being cold, so most anyone should be comfortable dressed that way - but we're all a little different...I mean Shana took her gloves off!!!! Just try it the compression shirt/layering thing. The 5 Sun Rise Run was simply magnificent! There's something about the pre-dawn sky when it's that cold. The air is almost shiney it's so clear; the stars are just disappearing. The moon is still in the sky and along the crest is a crayon line of dull yellow telling us the rest of the world is beginning to stir. "Joey, do you like movies about gladiators?"