The Return of HBO's The Sopranos: Fans Were Away from Doctor Melfi's Couch for 24 Months

The sixth season of the Sopranos has begun, 12 episodes of intrafamilial conflicts and business related dramatics.
Our favorite Soprano "Hit Man" Vito Spatafore has lost a lot of weight over the seasons we have come to know and love him. In our everyday non-media lives he is monickered Joseph R. Gannascoli who has lost 150 pounds. How did he do this in a relatively short period of time? I know the answer to that question and I am going to sell it to you right now! A Meal to Die For: A Culinary Novel of Crime Told in 10 Courses. Clever title, I was kidding about the selling part. Joe is the author of that book and he knows about eating Italian food which has received a bad reputation over the mediayears for causing excessive weight gains. It's not Italian food (or McDonald's food) that causes people to become overweight, it is an Input/Output relationship that is not balanced between intake of calories and physical activity: burning up the excess fuel.

Joe also plays a role in another television series, VH-1's Celebrity Fit Club mini-series which has benefited him as he uses competition with other the other players to keep him motivated in his weight loss program and encourage him to meet his realistic goals.

Running a marathon is not for everybody. People have been known to jerk awake on their couches, click-off the television and decide to prepare for the marathon at the end of the month that the TV station is promoting by running advertisements by the other sponsors and news segments on the race; raising the viewers interest in the event.

Now inspired to lose weight for the upcoming "bathingsuit season", aspiring to run in a 26 mile marathon might be a realistic goal for a beginning runner in very good shape to start with, shorter events are also held in conjunction with the main event. These races are called 10 Ks (K is for kilometer: 10 K=6 Miles). Pick a Starbucks four miles from where you live and walk there. People who have not engaged in any sustained physical activity since they finished school lose touch with what they think their bodies are capable of and the reality. Walking to another neigborhood's Starbucks will give you a chance to see how you feel at the half-way point of a 10K and give you someplace to rest and refuel for the walk home. If you go out and start running as hard as you can (like the 60 feet to first base in that long-forgotten Little League game) your chances of injury and being discouraged from continuing to exercise are greatly increased.

Starting-up is the hardest part of developing an exercize habit that you can continue for the long run. Resting after working out is important also. The leg muscles are the largest in your body, the knee and ankle joints are under a lot of stress during running and days off are important so they do not become overused and more prone to injury. Plan out the safest routes (dogs and cars are the main hazards) and gradually extend the distance you cover. Don't weigh yourself before and after runs.
Warming up by walking and stretching for several minutes is the best way to start the day's workout, increasing the pace as you go along.

I was in a Whole Foods Market picking up some different Odwalla nutrition drink flavors that I hadn't tried and a couple asked me about my Rebok Premier Cushioning II DMX shoes. Were they considered "serious competition shoes"? They are serious enough for me! They were in Los Angeles to watch the finish of the Tour of California European-style bicycle race and were picking up some of the dinners that the market prepares. They told me they spend their vacations running marathons and they would be coming back to California for San Diego's Rock 'N' Roll Marathon in the first week of June. www.rnrmarathon.com In the fall they would be in Chicago for a convention and would run in the La Salle Bank Chicago Marathon on October 22nd. www.chicagomarathon.com They would finish-up their marathon season at the ING New York City Marathon on November 5th. That's the one were you see the Goodyear Blimp's view of thousands of runner's crossing the bridge over the Hudson River. www.ingnymarathon.org They said their neighbors go on cruises for their vacations and are always complaining how hard it is for them to maintain their weight.

Running for exercise and to lose weight is an activity anybody can take up and achieve a greater level of physical fitness. Running and racing against other runners in a 10 Kilometer Race takes a higher degree of commitment and discipline to achieve the personal sastifaction of completing the course. Not finishing can hurt your pride and set back your training by causing a dozen-donut relapse, setting you back several weeks on your weight loss training program.

Walking to the farther Starbucks at 3 miles per hour uses 81 calories per hour. Jogging 5 miles per hour uses 167 and running uses 231 calories per hour. ( The National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute published these results calculated on a 150 pound person. Everybody is different, this is just to give you an idea of the calories burnt exercising.)

A pound of fat is 3,500 calories. That may sound like a lot, especially if the person concerned with how much weight they have gained had it happen over a short period of time. The average person uses 2,000 calories per day. If you eat 250 less calories per day and use up 250 more through exercising regularly, at the end of seven days you will have used up 3,500 more calories than you consumed resulting in a one pound weight loss in a week's time. This is just to give you an idea of how our bodies Input/Output of calories/exercise can be estimated.

Running in a marathon race involves a lot of practice miles to get prepared for and a measure of pain while running 26 miles. You can get the benefits of running by taking-in a few hundred less calories everyday and exercising regularly. Tony Soprano could do both without neglecting his business and social relationships or missing a doctors' appointment.