[Q.]

Originally Posted by James Newman

• What is in your mental arsenal? What kinds of thoughts or questions do you ask yourself that has helped you to succeed in your quest toward health and wellness?

Gawd, I hate that I'm going to paraphrase OPRAH but no food tastes as good as being thin (-er and healthier) feels!

Also, in terms of general health, I've been unhealthy and it was a wake up call. You can get by with pretending that you can continue doing what you want and eating what you want for only so long... and then you wake up and find that it's already caught up with you.

Originally Posted by James Newman

• What/Who is your secret weapon in this battle? Yeah, I know it won't be a secret then...but go ahead and tell us anyway. Maybe it is a coach, a friend, a relative, significant other. How about a training program, a collection of training programs, or just the matter of sticking with any program...

Just changing habits. I'm often NOT this way but, when I decided to do something, I can be very focused. When I quit smoking, I just quit and never looked back (after 10 years of pack a day). When I lost weight, I lost 40 lbs in two mos. When I decided to finally give up basketball to preserve joints, I looked for an engaging alternative and found weight training. Now I'm transitioning to more swimming and less weight training. That's not exactly comparable to the other two but I didn't just stop being active, I actively looked for something to take its place.

One of the biggest secret weapons for me is actually my strong desire to NOT age any faster than necessary... not vanity but more the desire to avoid all the things that typically go along with aging. My wife and I both are Rx med free and medical people seemed shocked when we tell them we aren't taking anything regularly.

Originally Posted by James Newman

• What/who is your nemesis, your arch-enemy? We all have our enemies be it thoughts of inferiority (ourselves), inability to perform this or that exercise (our circumstances), or it could be something as simple as not knowing how to perform an exercise (our knowledge) because you think you might look like an idiot. Note: The guy curling in the squat rack is not as knowledgeable as he looks. Let us know what you're up against. My hallucination is that we all fight many of the same battles...

COOKIES!!! I don't have enough self-control when it comes to some sweets so I try to stay away from them. Just hard this time of year!