Two Guys Lose Weight: Sylvester Stallone is the ultimate motivator

The following is a blog documenting two Los Angeles Times editors’ attempts to lose weight. It all began on Jan. 10.

I knew I was doomed. I’m not a big TV guy at all. I’ll pop on ESPN when I come home from work, sure. But outside of “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia” and “Sons of Anarchy,” I’m usually not interested. I only have DirecTV for one thing: “Full House” reruns “NFL’s Sunday Ticket.”

But after leaving the gym on Tuesday night, I popped in a Nutrisystem entrée into the microwave, loaded up a huge salad, grabbed a Powerade Zero drink and flipped on the big screen.

It was AMC. I heard words that stopped me cold: “I feel like a Kentucky fried idiot.”

I wasn’t going anywhere. The TV wasn’t turning off. I wasn’t answering the phone. E-mail didn’t exist.

There are only a few movies that I’ll watch every time they’re on. “Rocky II” is one of them.

I met Sylvester Stallone four years ago. When introduced, I told him that the greatest moment in cinematic history was when Adrian awakened from a coma and whispered ‘win’ to Rocky.

“You think that’s the greatest moment in cinematic history,” he repeated back to me.

“Absolutely,” I nodded.

“I like this guy,” Stallone said to my friend.

It’s the undisputed heavyweight champion of movie moments. Are you kidding me? After Adrian extols Balboa to win, that epic fight bell rings out and then Mick yells, “What are we waitin’ fer?”

Cut to a silhouetted Rocky doing one-handed pushups at sunrise. Only outdone by a sledgehammer-wielding Rocky at, where else? A junkyard. All leading up to the most motivational training scene ever recorded.

“If this does not motivate you, you are not a man,” concurred one YouTube viewer commenting on the video of the scene.

What else can be said? I stuck to Nutrisystem on Tuesday without a problem. Workout with my trainer was fantastic. End of story.

Anyone who is thinking of not working out today or cheating on their diet should watch this video a few thousand times: