NIAGARA FALLS — When the cat's away the mouse will play. Truer words have never been spoken, as proven by a recent, um, setback I had while my ChrisFit trainer Chris Tybor and his wife went on vacation to Aruba.

The reality of skipping a week’s weigh in — and living without fear — left the burden to eat healthy over the initial weekend entirely up to my own willpower.

Uh oh.

So I ate more than I should have. But the next 10 days until weigh-in would be spent on target and working hard enough to still lose weight. Or at least that’s what I told myself while going for three extra cheese steak slices from Just Pizza.

By the time I “sobered” up on Monday, I was feeling pretty bad. Not only had I proven again I can’t be left to my own devices but I had gained close to five pounds and had to figure out how to lose that and more without my personal trainer.

Luckily, “Buttercup” was up to the task.

Buttercup is the nickname that everyone calls ChrisFit trainer Chris Ellingson. Like all of ChrisFit’s nicknames, I am sure there’s a humorous (or scandalous) origin story, but I don’t know it so I always call him Chris out of respect.

What I do know about Chris, er, Buttercup is he is a well-respected trainer and like the other trainers at ChrisFit I’ve met, he has the uncanny ability to destroy clients physically but still have them genuinely thanking him for doing so.

Oh, he’s also a veteran U.S. Marine.

That thought was heavy on my mind when Chris No. 1 told me Buttercup would be filling in for him while on vacation. I imagined not only taking on the Prowler but doing so in the mud and rain with a shaved head.

Nah, actually I wasn’t that worried. Marine or not, everything I’ve seen of Buttercup pointed to him being an easy-going and experienced professional who loved training, not destroying, people. Plus that nickname had to count for something, right?

I was doing my normal warm-up routine when Buttercup approached me to begin our first session together.

Gullibly, I waved and smiled to him like I was an elementary student seeing his friends again on the first day of school.

He didn’t wave back.

Instead, he had a wild look in his eyes, rubbed his hands and made possibly the most evil laugh I’ve ever heard.

Oh no.

“I’ve got you today,” he said.

Oh no, no, no. Maybe Buttercup was some sort of reverse nickname meant to give clients a false sense of security right before they are creamed.

I got off the treadmill and prepared myself for a boot camp butt-kicking.

It started on the leg press, where after a few warm up sets, Buttercup started adding on the weight. A few sets and two Jell-O legs later, it ended with a personal record of close to 500 pounds lifted.

I looked over at Buttercup and he still had the evil grin, but it wasn’t scary. In fact, it appeared he was sharing my triumph and was proud to be a part of it.

The rest of my workout followed that trend. It was tough but I never felt overwhelmed or on the brink of failure. Buttercup had followed a list of exercises that Chris No. 1 left and added a few twists to push me.

My second day of training started with a tough choice. Either go back on leg lifts or challenge myself with dead lifts, an exercise where the victim lifts a loaded trapbar off the ground from a stabilized, bent-over position.

I’ve only done dead lifts once in my five months at ChrisFit so I took a step toward the leg machine.

But “Just Pizza, Just Pizza, Just Pizza” echoed in my conscience.

Fine, bring on the dead lifts. Buttercup appeared to be impressed and got me through the three tough sets with plenty of encouraging words and tips. The rest of the session was spent on upper body machines. Some I crushed, others I barely hit the minimum reps. But after each one, Buttercup had my back.

At the end, I was beat down but sincerely thanked him for his help and encouragement.

Once again he surprised me.

“Thank you for the pleasure of letting me train you this week,” he said, not a glint of evil in his eye.

When Chris No. 1 returned a few days later, I told him I was confident the scale would show a loss at my next weigh in.

And it did.

Not as big of a loss as it could’ve been if I hadn’t messed up the first three days, but one good enough to be within striking distance of my next big milestone.

Meanwhile, Buttercup the veteran Marine continues with his usual clients, who from what I can see are all making great strides under his watch.

I owe him a big thank you. But, I think I’ll keep calling him Chris.

Rick Forgione is city editor of the Niagara Gazette. Contact him at 282-2311, Ext. 2257.