Managing Editor Dale Hogg and his wife, Volunteers in Action Volunteer Coordinator Linn Hogg, have embarked on this two-month lifestyle change experiment as a couple.

Linn

emptations are the name of the game, or at least avoiding temptations. And they are everywhere.  How do you avoid temptation? I was told to plan ahead. Have the good choices around you so you have the option to choose what you should eat. Hopefully you will choose good over bad more often.

With this great advice in mind, I put in a supply of apples, cheese sticks, no sugar added fruit cups, and popcorn. Yes, popcorn. I have always loved popcorn but didn’t want the bad fat from microwave brands. My dad taught me to air pop it, then use some butter spray and a little bit of salt. It tastes yummy, so much better eating this at night watching TV or snacking on as you curl up reading a book. I pop several batches and store in an air tight container. This way it is always there to grab.

Weekends in Manhattan don’t help the situation. I am off my schedule, not drinking enough water, not getting enough protein. But this week, I am going to have that figured out before I go back to the next game.

I will say that my rings fit better, my jeans fit better and I walked over a mile to the stadium, walked up and down a huge flight of steps, stood during most of the game and then walked back. I survived, was not out of breath and never complained. Okay, if you asked Dale I complained a little. Don’t want to make this too easy on him.

Dale

f you had asked me early in the past week how my lifestyle change has been going, I would have told you I was finding it easier. In fact, I would have said I was beginning to get the hang of this and thinking I could make it work.

My journal was going fine. I was limiting my snacking (not eliminating as was the plan, but curtailing it) and I felt good about how things were progressing.

Then this weekend hit like a saturated fat-laden hydrogen bomb. We went to Manhattan to see our son at K-State, go to the Wildcat football game and spend a few days out of town.

Well, to sum it up, it did not go well for the "big change." Popcorn, brownies, International House of Pancakes and craft beers in Aggieville.

But, after the gluttonous binge instead of feeling sorry for myself, I felt my resolve strengthen as Monday dawned. I realized there is a steep learning curve here and nothing will happen overnight.

This is, after all, a lifestyle change. We take several steps forward, and fall a few steps back. Then, more steps forward, etc. As long as the trend is to advance.

I can still find solace on the exercise front. Whether on a bicycle, out for a run or in the gym, I can reenergize.

I have changed my workout regimen. I have switched to rotating what muscle groups I work each time I am in the gym – chest and arms one day, legs another, etc.

Each involves ab work and cardio.

The idea of this is to shorten each workout, but maximize what it accomplishes. It focuses more intently on each area, burns more fat and tones more muscle – in theory.

Is this working? I don’t know. I do know this aging body aches, so something must be happening.

This week, I hope to get some sort of a baseline by having my body mass index checked and body fat percentage calculated. Maybe this will give me something of a target.

All we can hope to do is keep plugging along and remember the big, long-term picture.