[Mike Simonds]

AB, that was a good one! But you bring up a very good point... I'm not a big consumer of fermented beverages but perhaps I need to watch my intake of these fluids after 6pm...

My biggest problem areas is diet. I need to drink more water. So I started keeping a 32 oz. bottle of water on my desk. I drink 32 oz. in the a.m. and 32 oz. in the p.m. And I started bringing this water bottle with me when I exercise. In the NFHS football rule book under points of emphasis there is a good discussion of how much water to drink before, during and after exercise. So I'm making the effort to drink 96 oz. of water per day.

As for exercise, I'm doing enough but my question is timing... Somebody told me that exercise in the morning is more efficient because it increases your metabolism for the rest of the day. The reason this is important is because a higher metabolism is like adding wood to your fire: your body will burn more calories throughout the rest of the day even when you are just sitting around.

Last thing somebody told me was that you should curtail all food intake after 6pm. Sometimes I'm not done with dinner until 7 or 8pm. How much is this affecting my weight?

Ed, how do I go about measuring body fat? Let me know if I can do my own home testing or if I should seek the advice of a health care professional.

Does anyone have any other books or articles to suggest on these subjects?