Weighty Issues

First, call your mother. That’s always good advice. She loves hearing from you and you know you don’t talk to her nearly enough. Of all my failings, that’s the one that actually bothers me. If you checked out the comments from my last post, you’ll know that I didn’t call Mom after I had my bicycle wipeout a couple of weeks ago. Of course, I didn’t want her to worry, which she would have done if I had called, so I was trying to wait until I had healed up a bit. Plus, it was all over my Facebook page. However, she didn’t have her FB page bookmarked, so she hadn’t seen that. Anyway, if you’re lucky enough to have living parents, pick up the phone.

We all scream...

Now, the other thing. Back in July, we started a weight-loss contest at the office. Our bosses made arrangements for an ice cream truck to swing by the building just before the contest began.  It was a nice touch. I’ve been in a bunch of these contests over the years, which tells me that I do a lousy job of staying in shape. You could find that out by checking with my doctor, or looking at my midsection. Last year, I dropped 35 pounds in the contest, which was pretty good. By the time this year’s contest rolled around, I had picked up every one of those pounds and 5 more.

The author hovering in the 220s

Experience matters. Even though I apparently suck at keeping weight off, I can still lose it in the first place. I didn’t push quite as hard this time, and I lost a week of exercise after trying to become one with the pavement a couple of weeks ago – but over the course of this year’s effort, I’ve taken off 36.5 pounds – good enough for first prize in the total weight lost category. I came in second in the highest percentage of original weight lost (15.48%).

A little tight...

I made a move this year that I had wanted to make last year, in getting a pair of 5-finger shoes. They’re really light and are supposed to make running much easier. I waited until someone else in the office made that move first (he won the highest percentage lost this year – 17.02%). My first pair were too tight, but I still felt better running in them than in conventional running shoes, and my knee pain vanished.  I never thought that would happen. I’ve since gotten a second pair that fit much better, so I think I’ll be able to keep running.

Honestly, my shoulder is still jacked up from my bike accident, so I haven’t been back on it yet, although I did pick up a new helmet. My old one only has a couple of dents from the accident, but they say always replace a helmet that’s been in an accident, so okay. It’s getting a little chilly outside for biking anyway, so maybe I’ll wait ’til spring before doing the bike thing again.

Besides the exercise, I made some adjustments to the way I eat. Cut out most of the meat, no fried foods, had a lot of soup and salads for lunch and dinner. Very few sweets. For a gourmand, it’s a tough life. Still, I’ll have to be more careful about complete abandoning the diet now that the contest is over. It’s always tricky because these things tend to end right about the time it gets cold and going outside for exercise gets more difficult.

There’s a chance that we’ll have another one of these next year, but I’m going to do my best not to be involved. There is a spring follow-up, where the person who keeps the most off gets another prize… which is a good inducement. The best part about winning a prize in the contest right now is that it’ll give me a couple of bucks to buy some clothes that fit!