New Year, Same Resolution

 

These little bastards are straight up evil. They're my mom's Christmas sugar cookies and they are worse than potato chips. I spent a week in Minnesota eating them and laying around the house watching football and I gained 8 lbs. That's right. Eight pounds so now my New Years Resolution is the same as every year...to lose those 8 lbs.

 

Actually, I do go through this just about every year because I spend the summer rowing and then the fall and part of the winter hiking around the mountains or dragging a sled of decoys to the duck blind and that keeps me in reasonable shape. However, Christmas comes and I go see family and for a couple weeks, the bod goes into hibernation mode. With the added caloric intake of those damn cookies, things get a little sloppy...or lumpy.

 

I think it was five years ago I decided to do my own version of P-90Trex. I used the P-90X philosophy and curtailed it to my circumstances, which meant I used whatever I had up in my little cottage in Wolf Creek for a hard-core, hour-long workout. I hiked through snow, post-holing with a fifty pound pack. I hauled rocks up a ridge and piled up my own little edifice to the gods. I lifted logs and other random things I could find on the trail. I skied. The only thing I really spent money on was a single kettle bell and I watched YouTube videos for work-outs that totally kicked my ass. In the end, I lost about 20 or 25 pounds.

 

The next few years, I had a gym membership in Bozeman. It worked pretty well but not as well as my P-90Trex program. It very well might have had something to do with motivation though and quite frankly, my age. Reaching further into the 40's, those days of rocking the six-pack are probably over. Right? I mean, what's the point?

 

Here's the deal. It's more than just looking good. Every year, up until five years ago, I went into the season out of shape and it took its toll for the first month or so. It wasn't just being tired or the obvious pains one would think to have like a stiff back or sore muscles but it was also in the hands and wrists and even the knees. Arthritis is a bitch and the one thing we all can do to combat it is be active and get into shape. Last year, with the new house and all the adjusting to it, I neglected the winter work-outs and paid for it. This year is going to be different and when the season comes up, I'll be ready.

 

The goal is to lose about 15 lbs. That would put me at a buck-ninety. I have a membership at a gym hear in Helena that has a pretty cool cross training room with heavy bags and gloves. Along with a boxing regimen, (given all the snow we've got,) I'll probably bust out the snow-shoes as well. And skiing is always in play.  

 

Diet is also important. When I've been the most successful at the weight training I've got into the routine of eating a packet of oatmeal every morning; soup and a sandwich for lunch using venison summer sausage or smoked duck, and then a healthy dinner usually consisting of some other wild meat. The one thing I never did eliminate though was beer and coffee. (My doc says I'd lose 15 lbs. in a month without those two things but then what is the point of living? Right?) The other thing is there's still a bucket of those damn cookies on the counter.

 

Keep 'em where they live...

 

P.S. Last week I wrote a blog post about the proposed rule changes for some of the rivers out here in Montana; specifically, the Missouri. I received a LOT of feedback and the hits on my blog quadrupled. That's a good thing. What I didn't get however, was any clarification or even a response for the letter I wrote to the site dedicated to this bill. I do hope there is a strong showing at the hearings for this bill as it does affect a lot of us that work and play on the Missouri. That doesn't mean we all have the same idea of what is right or wrong about these rules that are being proposed but with the dialog, I think we can come up with something that's best for the fishery and the community that uses it. I hope I see you all there.