The Football Fan’s Diet

By Matt DeReno
On The FFD

PITTSBURGH – So Thanksgiving week came and went. The Steelers seem to be heading in the most opposite direction, just when I they would would start turning it around.

It was a bizarre game to say the least. The Steelers were confronted with Roethlisberger sitting the Sunday night game against their hated rivals, The Baltimore Ravens. This was on doctors orders and receiver Heinz Wad expressed some displeasure to the media about Big Ben’s decision. They played valiantly but in the end they lost.

Rookie QB Dennis Dixon was actually more than serviceable even though he threw a game killer in OT. Hey, his a rookie and gave the Steelers a lead in the 4th. What more could you ask?

In the end, The Steelers went down 20-17. This is the Steelers 3rd loss in a row, after having won 5 consecutive games. They are a very mediocre football team sitting at 6-5 despite having virtually most of the talent they had when they won the Super Bowl last season. Still, they are in the hunt for a wild card.

Me, I am back to 2-2, which is respectable I suppose. After an 0-2 start, I’ll take it. Furthermore, considering that it was Thanksgiving last week, I can surely live with the results. Time to move on to December. Now then, the modest goal is to lose some weight in December. If we can do that, that is something I can hang my fat, eh, hat on. Hopefully I and the Steelers will have something play for come the end of December.

By Matt DeReno
On The FFD
PITTSBURGH – I know Preseason doesn’t count but true champions never want to lose any game, no matter what the stakes are, to say nothing of my favorite team The Pittsburgh Steelers. In fact, I think it is only obvious that true champions play all games as if the Super Bowl were riding on it. Even that theory goes back to practice. If you practice hard and right, you will win ball games. If you don’t. You will lose them.

I have lost ball games for 7 straight weeks, which do include 5 weeks of preseason. Finally, I won a game on the FFD this past week, whereas my Pittsburgh Steelers lost against the woefully inept Kansas City Chiefs. Let’s talk about what I did right for a change. This past week I chalked up 53 points and gave up 26.

Thursday was the linchpin. It is then I could feel the ball being given back to my Inner Fat Slob and is the point that I was on Defense.

It is funny, but there are clearly two modes which healthy-mind folk are always in: Offense or Defense. Offense is when you are exercising, eating super healthy foods and being active. Defense is when you have a beer, salivating at a party, or are tempted to reach for another slice of Pizza. A key distinction in my mind is how often to you find yourself on the field playing Defense?

Season III - First Winning Week Box Score

It has been said Defense Wins Championships? That is very much true when it comes to health. You need a good defensive unit to say no to the beer, wings and laying around all day. You need a good offensive unit to get your butt to the gym, eat right and be active. Some people may struggle more on Offense versus Defense, vice versa or both. I believe I clearly need to improve my Defense.
Offensively I can put up enough points to be healthy. I go to the gym regularly. I like to be active.

However, come Thursday, my Fat Slob seems to get the ball back and ram it down my throat. This typically happens Friday, Saturday and Sunday —I just give up. I am defending all my points until Sunday.
I can’t continue that if I want to achieve long-lasting healthy. I need to get my Defense off the field during the weekend. I need to find a way to get the ball in the hands of my Offense more often on the weekend. My Defense has to stop giving up so much on the weekends, which really is the big culprit.

Now, how to convey this message to The Pittsburgh Steelers? They are sitting at 6-4 having lost their past 2 to teams they should have crushed. I am at 1-2. It is my hope we both turn it around sooner rather than later. Offense, huddle up!

By Matt De Reno
On The FFD

PITTSBURGH – I answered the question posed in the title of my last posting with the title in this posting. As you may have guessed, I got posted myself. Again, it was the weekend beginning on Friday that got me off track. Again, it was the familiar old unhealthy ways of the weekend.

To compound matters, The Steelers lost their division lead to the Bengals. I suppose supremacy in the AFC North would not last forever. If there is one silver lining in the Steelers loss is this: they probably don’t fear playing in Cincinnati in the playoffs (providing they make the playoffs). After all, can the Bengals beat the Steelers 3 times in one season. I find that unlikely.

Mostly, this is because in neither of their wins did beat the Steelers convincingly. In fact, the Steelers played like a team coming off a Monday night hangover, which was exactly the case if you ask me. Moreover, can the Bengals be really confident that they are better than the Steelers when they failed to score a TD?

Still, the lead is theirs. The Steelers have dropped. Me? Well, I made a decent effort last week, but in the end, it was the same old same old. The silver lining for me? That is hard to say right now.
It is Monday and rather temperate for November. I am just back from the gym as of this posting. Now I am getting ready to head over to Carnegie Mellon University to my office. It is nice, because I have found a rather nice free spot to park near Pittsburgh Schenley Park. It requires an additional 30 minute walk per day, which can’t be all that bad. In couple weeks, Turkey Day will be upon us. There is no good reason to think I will turn it around now, but then again, there is still the belief that I can. I’ll hang my hat on that this Monday morning.

Editor’s Note: Season Standings and Box Scores have been updated!

By Matt DeReno
On The FFD

PITTSBURGH – I am not ready to pronounce myself “back” much like the Steelers have apparently done so in rattling off 5 consecutive victories, but it feels pretty darn good to score, make it 2 days in a row. Could this be the start of something?

Only time will tell. It is Thursday and the weekend looms.
Usually, if I get it handed to me, it begins now. However, I am off to the YMCA for a quick stint on the stepper. Maybe then time will tell a different story. After all, it doesn’t matter where you start at the beginning of the year, it is where you finish.

Along those lines, perhaps I may right the ship and go deeper into the playoffs this year than I had in Season II? Maybe the Steelers will win back to back Super Bowls? Only time will tell.

By Matt DeReno
On The FFD

PITTSBURGH – Things have not been going well and it is hard to believe that there is so little time left in the year. I suppose then my inability to put together a winning week, to say nothing of a sustainable drive, is a taste of what it is like to be a Brown’s fan.

On the FFD, a sustainable drive is one in which you put together a series of healthy days. My personal record, according to the rules I have laid out for my version of the FFD, was 17 days. Since that time frame, which happened back in February I believe, I have seldom made it past more than 7 days. Maybe that fact is interesting. Maybe not.

Nonetheless, I have to keep at it. I opened the regular season with a trip to the woodshed. I got it handed to me and last week may have been my most unhealthy week of the whole year. I will have to go back and check the records of shame in that regards. How bad was it? I won one day and that was it. I gave up 50 plus to my Inner fat slob. There was little exercise. There was not much of anything resembling health at all.

On a good note the Steelers have turned it around. Long gone are thoughts of their miserable start to the season. Now if only I can follow suit.

By Matt DeReno
On The FFD

Now it is time to review what has happened during preseason. Man, I can’t say it is a pretty thought. I don’t want to overly focus on the negative, but really not much good happened for the five weeks of preseason that showed any promise for success heading into what is going to be a really difficult beginning to the regular season.

I suppose if there was one silver lining it was that there was some good gym days, but they were, unfortunately, few and far between to be of any lasting value. Also, my weight pretty much stayed the same throughout the preseason debacle. I am not a pound heavier or lighter for that matter. So the only thing that could have really have made preseason more of a disaster is if I set out to lose weight and actually gained some.

Maybe then there is a lesson to be learned. If at least you pay attention to your health on the FFD, you might not lose weight but in that paying attention perhaps you will at least stay where you are.

Okay, no more sugar coating it (bad choice of words too). The Preseason was a train wreck. Suddenly, we are the new Cleveland Browns of weight loss. We have a lot of work to do to turn this season around. It can happen. We must believe it can happen to make it happen.

BY Matt DeReno
On The FFD

PITTSBURGH – Having a cold, having a bunch of stuff to do, having no real enthusiasm for getting into shape at this time of the year, has left me somewhat indifferent to the grim fact that my poor performance from the preseason is carrying over into the regular season with no sign of abating.

Make no mistake about it. If I can’t find a way to be healthy while battling a nasty cold, such as the one that has me under the its grips now, then my season is doomed. Later this month, we got turkey day. Then the typical onslaught of holiday trappings.

I suppose the ties to football on this post involve having a daunting schedule. After all, I was a playoff caliber team last season, having lost in the playoffs. So, I have a more difficult schedule this time around. The funny thing is too, you never hear championship teams bitch and moan like me about having this tough schedule.

So, I need to shake this cold and shake this health paralysis. It is time to get into gear – first gear at that and quite complaining about the tough schedule ahead.

By Matt DeReno
On The FFD

PITTSBURGH – I am not going to dwell on my preseason shortcomings, but it has been pretty darn awful. It shows too. No matter what I do today, I will effectively finish the preseason 0 and 5. Did you hear that? 0 and 5. I didn’t win one freaking week on this thing. On average, I won about 2 days out of 7. Not all days were extremely bad mind you, but the bottom line is, I still lost.

The silver lining is that my weight pretty much stayed the same. It wasn’t like I gained weight, but I didn’t make any progress whatsoever. I aim to turn it around this coming week when it counts for real. Yes, that is right. The real season starts Monday.

Now, I could fret and moan about how bad I did the past five weeks and how an 0 and 5 Preseason does not bode well for a good regular season, but I won’t. I have to get ready to play the games for when they count. Who knows? Maybe I might surprise myself?

I should add that I did so bad I went back and studied some game film (that is old blog postings) about how I did last year. In particular, I paid close attention to what I did during that 2 month stretch where I just killed my Inner Fat Slob. Immediately, I could see where I have veered off course. I quickly learned that a big mistake is thinking that if I make my DGO (Daily Game Day Objective) easier to achieve, then I would do better. That was almost never the case. In some ways, when I was challenged to get my calories down, I really kicked butt. I have to get back to doing that. It is my goal to do that during the regular season. If I can get close to what I finished weight wise at the end of Season II, then I will be fairly happy. Not jubilant. But, I’ll be happy nonetheless.

You see there is pride on line even for the next 8 weeks. After all, it was January 01 when I started this thing. That date is ready to swing around again. What good was any of this if an entire year later, I am back to where I started? Well, that is why these next few weeks will be critical. Is it nuts to think I will actually have success now that the Holidays are pretty much upon us? Yes, it is. But, I’ll give it a go.

So please check back later this week as the Regular season gets underway.