When I started to train with the Navy SEALs, there were, apparently, about 30 extra pounds on my body. It’s excess weight that has crept up on me thanks to a diet of too many chocolate chip cookies and not enough vegetables. In addition, when you live in a cold place like Pittsburgh, it’s easy to make excuses for not going on a routine run in the middle of winter. Hence, I’m now battling the bulge in a most rigorous way. The SEALs have taken to strapping a reinforced rucksack to my back, filled with weights to further burden my already taxed strength. In an effort to stop me from complaining about this impediment on my mobility, they themselves carry rucksacks filled with fifty or more pounds. We then hike through the steep hills outside San Diego, rain or shine. Talk about not making excuses due to poor weather! The thirty pounds in my rucksack will hopefully not only increase my ability to navigate up the Khumbu Valley on my way to Everest base camp. With consistency and time, I should also lose the thirty gratuitous pounds on my body.