Last time we discussed how nutritional supplementation could enhance your hunting experience. Being physically prepared for hunting season can dramatically improve your hunting enjoyment and maybe even your harvest.

There's no time like the present to begin getting fit. We recognize that many of you are already in good physical condition however, a majority could use some help. We're going to refrain from the typical doctor nagging, but instead present some basic facts (and myths) on physical conditioning.

The most memorable line from the movie "A Few Good Men," is when Jack Nicholson blurts out “YOU CAN’T HANDLE THE TRUTH!” We've found that some of our patients must believe they can’t handle the truth about physical conditioning and weight loss as many cave into pseudo-science Madison Avenue manure. That said, we feel our readers can handle the truth.

Ready...

There are no fast acting schemes to lose weight, nor a super-pill that just melts the fat right off us while sitting on the couch watching hunting shows and eating Twinkies.

Read the fine print on these gimmick diets: they all say to lose weight you must use this product, drastically reduce your caloric intake, and exercise a lot. The worst offenders are powerful laxatives that promise weight loss over the weekend, which assuredly will be right back by the time you re-hydrate Monday afternoon.

We want to share with the truth about weight loss and metabolism and hopefully put all these myths to rest forever. So put the Twinkie down and back away from the kitchen table slowly and let’s start with the basics.

LESSON ONE - Calorie 101 A calorie is a measure of energy. Technically it's the amount of energy needed to raise 1cc of water one degree Celsius. We oxidize or burn energy in everything we do -- from thinking, to lifting weights, to digesting food. Our body weight is an energy spreadsheet of input and output. There are approximately 4 calories per gram of protein or carbohydrate and approximately 9 calories per gram of fat. Fat has 225 percent more calories by weight than protein or carbohydrate.

Make sure to check the nutritional food labels on products and compare the fat calories to the total calories for an accurate measure of the foods caloric fat content. There are 3500 calories in a pound of fat in the human body.