However, it’s great to go out and have an ‘out meal’ occasionally. It’s also great to spend time with family. A day of rest, primarily away from the computer (rare) and off from the gym (not-so-rare; I usually train 3-4 days a week tops even in peak shape.)

Now, two things that make up the “CEPT…” bit in my headline. If you read this far, you’ll be happy you did. I’m testing you. I have my No.2 pencil ready and it’s a red one. Beware, and don’t give me an apple unless it’s a Granny Smith.

First, everyone check their email on, hmmm…Monday night? Tuesday morning? Haven’t decided. I’m sending everyone a bit of encouragement to keep going…with a twist. Nothing to buy, nothing to click on, just a friendly email from me…so make sure “Jon Benson” is on your white list. By the way, a ‘white list’ is the “nice” rather than “naughty” list of email senders you will accept mail from. This prevents me getting messages like, “Joe is now using MurderEvilSpam,Die,DIE!!.com to filter out junk like this…er, we mean like this “could be”. Yeah. That’s the ticket. If you’re a human being, press 1…”

I don’t need the hassles from folks like:

• Earthlink.com
• Hotmail.com (known to blacklist you for burping into a strong wind)
• SpamBlocker.com
• SpamAssassin.com
• SpamSniper.com
• Spam-In-A-Can-That-We-Bury-In-The-Sand.com
• Spam-Sucks-And-Then-You-Die.com (stolen from MY T-SHIRT!)
• This-Looks-Like-Good-Email…NO-NO-PSYCHE!-SPAM-IT-IS!.com
• Holy-Jihad-On-You-American-Spam-Devils!.com
• Etc. etc. ad infinitum

So help me help YOU. Just like Jerry Maquire…remember? The other famous line from that flick? (Well, you had, “Show me the MOOONNEEEYYYY!!!”, and then the sappy but effective, “You had me at hello,” so I guess this is the ‘third’ most famous line from that flick. Damn if this isn’t a long-winded parenthetical comment…I think I’ll stop now.)

Second, I have a few more…daDA!…Cheap Tricks. These are oldies but goodies. Try ‘em.

Smaller Plates

Sounds silly, but it works. Simply put the same portion of food on a smaller plate. Seriously, you feel like you’ve eaten more. I re-learned this by accident when I ran out of clean plates and was forced to use a cross between a plate and a saucer. A plaucer? A slate? Whatever…it works.

Bite-size Morsels

Another silly Cheap Trick…cut your food up into smaller pieces. More pieces tells the brain “more food.” I remember when I worked at a pizza joint in high school. The running joke would be, “How many slices do you want on that large pizza?” You know…as if more would equal more? No? Had to have been there. We also put jalepeno juice under the cheese on the customers who treated us poorly on the phone. Revenge of the acne nerds.

Pre-plan Your Day

Oh, if I could only get people to do this. I’d almost be out of a job…it’s that powerful. Too powerful to call “cheap”, but I’m in a hurry. The bed is singing to me. No joke: writing out what you plan to eat before you eat it is one of the best ways to ensure satiation and consistency. Just try this for a week and see if it doesn’t work like near magic. The same principle works just as well for workouts. When journaling my workouts prior to the session, I would complete the workout, with personal bests, 9 out of 10 times; mostly going over.

That’s all from the Dallas front. Let me know how you’re doing…and for that matter, how I’m doing.

For all those who haven’t noticed, 10 in 10 is more than a blog. It’ a bit of an adventure into blending humor with fitness. Perhaps you think I’m just a ham, but there’s method behind the wackiness. Yeah, it’s fun…and it comes naturally. However, I really believe that half the battle is making this a fun experience.

Laughing at something, or even at yourself, is a great way to get your mind away from the negativity that can come with most “diets” (ugh, never use that word again) and training programs. By that I mean how you can tend to look at yourself. If you can laugh, you reduce the stress. If you do that, you can see yourself more clearly; and that means with less undue emotional reaction.

Rather than simply talking shop, I suppose you could say I’m remodeling the place.

Such feats are occasionally bumpy, but this one seems to be sailing along on calm and productive waters. Just know this: the focus is on YOU and your results, not how pretty, nifty or witty my blog can be. So hey…feedback is welcome. We are truly in this together…cool?

D-Man out. {10}