Whew! Still in the 100s club News Utah Jazz

Two weeks ago, I excitedly wrote ? OK, bragged ? about how my weight had dipped below the 200-pound mark for the first time since 1988. Many people kindly congratulated me for reaching that milestone ?

"onederland" as they call it in some weight-loss circles ? and for upping the number on my overall pounds lost tote board to 172. It was fun. I enjoyed it immensely. I even celebrated by ? and this goes against all sane advice of nutritionists and health experts ? eating extra ice cream and going out to an all-you-can-gorge buffet. Go ahead, call the diet police on me. After the back-slaps and kudos, though, I heard the whispers. "Will he keep it off?" "I bet he's over 200 pounds again by his next column." "Man, the way he eats he may be closer to 300 in two weeks." "Shhhh ? here he comes." I learned from those overheard conversations that I need to ignore ridiculous remarks rattling inside my head ? not from others, from myselves. "Me? I'd NEVER say something like that!" "He was blaming me, not you ? and I would!" "Anyone know if there's anything good to eat in the fridge?" See what I deal with? So while I'm closing in on no longer officially being obese, I've worried about being able to maintain my stay in the 190s. Part of that came from my recent extra-busy workload with the Utah Jazz's short-lived playoff run. Where I'd been faithful at exercising before, suddenly entire days slipped away sans sweat. My running regimen? The biking? Swimming? Ha! Chasing down stories was the majority of my exercising. Poor planning, crazy hours by me and a little thing called a family took its toll on my training. I think I even heard my running shoes singing the Neil Diamond-Barbra Streisand "You don't bring me flowers anymore" duet. (Barbra was the left shoe, of course.) That's not to say I was a complete sloth. I didn't make it to the pool once and only rode the stationary a few times, which is a bummer and way less than I was supposed to for my triathlon plan. But I made time for a few runs (the singing finally got to me). I even ran around L.A. for three miles before Monday's Jazz-Lakers game, though I ended up running through LAX terminals instead of to the beach due to faulty directions. I did somehow conjure up the willpower to eat arugula and asparagus but no cheesecake during a dangerous-but-successful visit to the Cheesecake Factory. Other than that, my eating was decent but not perfect. All of which made me nervous to step on the scale. To end the suspense and answer questions from my various voices, I went from weighing 199.6 last time to 199.8. Whew! Up, but still under 200. I'll take that and run with it, literally even. e-mail: jody@desnews.com