2004-12-20 - 5:43 p.m.

So what is the best way to enjoy the holidays and still stay in shape?

Barricade yourself at home and don't come out until January 3.

This is the story of my life, and I think that I am in very good company.

But how can you say no to such yummy goodness surrounding you at every corner? (Plus, if you say No thanks, I am trying to keep my figure, people will think that you are being antisocial.)

This is of course wreaking havoc with my usual diet and exercise plan. I don't even want to look at the scale, at least not until January 3. Argh!

But in the meantime, I do plan to continue exercising as much as I can, and eating healthy when I am not eating Marcellus' pecan tarts and other goodies.

Mmmmm . . . pecan tarts . . .

And speaking of exercise. I have found a new workout that I intend to try come January 3. And I do plan to drag my long-suffering sweetie into the experiment.

We have been doing the Body-For-Life for the past 3 years, and it has worked wonders for us. The plan pretty much follows BFL, but there is a twist in boosting the exercise part. Yup, I just got the first issue of my new Muscle and Fitness HERS magazine, and I intend to experiment with it.

I picked HERS because it is published by the same people that do BFL, so I imagined that it would be more compatible with it than any other publication. I have heard that for women's fitness there is another mag that is even better, Oxygen, geared more to professional body builders. However, although body building is my other passion, I will try HERS first and see what happens, before trying the competition-oriented one.

One of the things that I like about magazines such as HERS or Oxygen, is that they do not feature anorexic models in their pages and/or covers. You cannot look like Tyra Banks if you are *really* working out. For one thing, you will have curves and you won't need to lose weight until you look like a stick and then get plastic surgery in order to have boobs.

That's the beauty of body building. It builds your body. It makes you look like a healthier version of yourself instead of some unrealistic, plasticized Barbie doll.

And because it also combines aerobic exercising, it does help you achieve better results in whatever other activity you are doing.

Such as fencing.

But for now, I will eat those pecan tarts and defer the guilt until January 3.

Yeah.

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