I was agonizing over what to write about when lo and behold I was tagged by Misty.  I am supposed to list 5 things I’m addicted to. Addiction is too strong a word (for a recovered co-dependent person like me) but using the word lightly we have:

1)  FaceCrack aka FaceBook – I feel quite compelled to keep up now.

2).  Word games on FB – particularly Scrabble. I love it

3).  My Garmin.  It is totally unreliable while running (my pace will change by 2 minutes/mile every 15 seconds) but I must have it.  The over all picture is always pretty accurate.

4).  My cell phone – I feel very insecure if I realize I have left it at home. As phone booths disappear the anxiety gets worse.

5). Men.  Apparently I can’t learn to live without them and I’m quite determined to find one to call my own in  spite of a lot of empirical evidence to suggest that will never again happen.

So now I tag 5 other people:

Julie, Jeanne, Donald (as punishment for never writing up the Calvin and Hobbes story), Don,  Katy

  I’m doing something ‘for cause’.  The cause is fighting ALS.  ALS is a very nasty disease that takes its victims lives slowly – one digit, one limb, one body part at a time.   Life goes on for months and months but gets harder and harder as the afflicted marches inexorably to his or her death.

I know fundraising is sort of tedious.  I know we all get asked to donate to something over and over and over again and it’s hard –  money is tight.

I am asking for $16.50  in honor of Jon Blais’ 16.5 hour Ironman race, undertaken after he was diagnosed with ALS.

If you’d like to help out just go here  This is a different link than the one I posted yesterday.  Thanks to Bret Buckner for both pointing that out and for contributing to the cause.

I’ve been thinking about food a lot lately.  First I was thinking about how to get rid of the Christmas weight (which was only about 2.5 pounds – yay!) and then I was thinking about how food will soon become the thing I can’t get enough of as my training ramps up. And I was thinking about how I really hope that this year’s training lets me lose another 5 pounds over where I was at Vineman because that would be bliss.  So here’s what I know about food and eating

1). We eat to live, we do not live to eat – except during the holidays and at really great BBQs and parties and expensive restaurants when all bets are off.

2).  Twice as much food does not taste twice as good.  It’s better to get a small first helping and then another small second helping to get that “oooo… I loved this stuff and could eat it all night” feeling.  Two giant helpings just makes your tummy hurt.

3). Everyone has a food group that is poison for them.  For me it is what used to be known as carbs (rice, pasta, bread, potatoes).  I say used to because now certain fruits are considered carbs by some as is sugar.  Sugar is  another group as far as I’m concerned and not a group I have problems with. I also think all fruit is good fruit.  But getting back to the point – I LOVE carbs as I define them and they stick to me so if I cut way back on them I lose weight.  Other people just need to stop drinking soda or give up ice cream and cream cheese.  Identify your poison and cut back but don’t give it up.  That alone will help you drop a few pounds.

4).  Diets with names have interesting information but they also contain a lot of bad information so you have to be careful.

5).  Your body does not harbor toxins.  Your liver and kidneys do a nice job of eliminating bad things and if you are exposed to or consume fat soluable toxins, starving yourself, using enemas and drinking hot lemon water laced with cayenne will not make the stuff leech out.  Turn a deaf ear and a blind eye to any eating plan that claims to cleanse your body of toxins – it is bunk.

6).  Rapid weight loss due to extreme deprivation  is well known to result in the weight finding its way home and bringing some friends. It isn’t a horrible idea to jump start weight loss but  the only known long term solution to excess weight is to figure out an eating plan that works for you day after day, week after week, month after month.  The notion that  you can cut out all of this and that and slowly add it back until you get to maintenance is kind of daft.  You are far more likely to add it back until you have regained all your weight and, as I said, some fat cell friends have joined the party.

7).  Exercise makes a huge difference but you can’t just declare “I went to the gym so I deserve this bowl of ice cream!”  That way lies madness  – but you knew that already.  You actually have to run an over all caloric deficit to lose weight.  I don’t believe that it is a simple formula (3500 cal/pound) and it depends on a lot of subtle realities about your particular chemistry (see point 3) but you do need to run a deficit.  That part is for sure.

Disclaimer – I’m not a nutritionist nor do I play one on TV but I have been dealing with weight loss and body image issues for  over 40 years and these tips are what now guide me.  Your milage may vary and you may have some good ideas of your own.  If so please feel free to share.