So it's Sunday morning and the official end of my first week of re-commitment to GETTING ABS. And, well. I'm the same. 147.5 pounds and 14.5% body fat. The same percentage that I once read our president has. So I did just enough to maintain the STATUS QUO. With that in mind, what do I do about today? I was going to give myself free rein to eat whatever I wanted. But now ---
So I am compromising. I had lots of cereal this morning and rice crackers but I am going to eat my normal healthy meals until dinner when we go to the Italian restaurant.

*INSPIRATIONS : the following is a quick run down of people who inspire me.
My wife - she is not a fitness junky and has a hard time turning down cake, ice cream and McDonalds. She stays at a good weight because I guess she has a decent metabolism and because she eats small portions. Unreal small portions. But she wants to commit to fitness and eating healthy because she wants to have more energy and feel better and she knows eventually the metabolism slows down so the sooner she starts healthy habits the better. And this week she was 100% commited to her plan. While I was battling my late night snacking habit, she nailed her program perfectly.

Andy Warhol - I read his diaries all the time and I think "How amazing to be in your 50s and still so vibrant and so creative and be so clever." It inspires me to remember age is irrelevant but that you shouldn't eat sugar or you'll have medical problems later on.

Calvin Klein - His biography was nothing short of outstanding, for me. The way he built his empire from the ground up by sticking to his principles and demanding nothing less than perfection. He did have some excellent help on the way but it seems like 95% of it was just tenacity on his part. It also helps that where I shop the only line of clothing they carry that look good on me with my build is Calvin Klein. Everthing else suffers from the "Southern Wal-Mart syndrome" where a supposedly SMALL T shirt looks like it should fit SHaquille O'Neal.

Fat People - fat people in the gym inspire me for two reasons. One, they are there to make a change and I always feel good about people who take their lives into their own hands. Make their own fate. TWO, of course it makes me think, "well at least the worst I got was 14 percent fat. I don't even LOOK fat and I even do kind of have abs as long as I am standing UP." You know? How do you get to 250 pounds with a gut THAT BIG? But, like I said if you want to lose it you have to start somewhere. So I like big people in the gym. I want them to acheive all their dreams so they can tell me how they did it.

Thin people - I admit it. I love looking at the models in GQ and Details and Interview and I even cut them out sometimes and paste them around to help me with my mental imaging. They are thin thin thin. With abs. That could be airbrushed yes it's true. nevertheless.

Oprah Winfrey - There was a time in my life I really subscribed to the "Oprah is for fat housewives" kind of mentality. But lately I've come around to realize that Oprah, through hard work and being a genuinely good person, has done a lot for herself and others. She is a billionaire, she owns several companies, her charity work is unbelievably generous and I believe MOST of it is probably unpublicized.

Skip La Cour - He is a body builder of shorter dimensions and even though he is HUGE he is supposedly steroid-free. I want to believe he is. I would like to maybe get more into pure bodybuilding later on. If I could just get my abs a-poppin for now that'll satisfy me. Gotta admire Skip's dedication though.


*Last night was my company's Christmas party and they did a decent job this year, but they had SO MANY prizes to give away that between 8 and 9 they literally had to hustle and call out names one after another to get it all done. Was very good at the buffet line. Had roast beef, chicken, green beans and cranberry sauce and not in heaping portions. Hate eating out because you can't control everything. Just make good choices and eat small portions. Like the beans were probably buttered. And of course took the skin off the chicken. But at least, unlike some, I don't like the skin. It's gross. SOme people will say "that's the best part." Hmmmm. My wife and I passed on the cake.

*Defeating the Zombie - came up with a simple idea to snap myself back to Mr I-Want-Abs at night and put away the Zombie. Made a sign for my kitchen door that reads in big bold print "KITCHEN IS CLOSED. Now drink some water and go back to bed" Used it last night and I did get up at about 11pm and I remember I fully had the intention of eating a Protein bar. Which, okay isn;t so bad but late night eating is a bad habit and calories are calories. I give myself good meals during the day there is no reason why The Zombie should get food and cheat me out of abs! Well, the sign worked completely! SOmething in my head just "clicked" and it was like "oh yeah! I'm done, there are no more meals." I was IN CONTROL. So I drank some water, was not even hungry and I even stayed up and watched some TV without snacking. Unheard of for me. This is going to work! The Zombie is going down. I'm bringing him down to China Town.

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