Oh God, What Have I Done (Part II)?

As promised a few posts ago, it is time for the public embarrassment.

But before we get to that, a little background.

Of the many remarkable things about me as a person, two of the standouts are my oddly broad shoulders and my ability to eat. These two features have been kind to me over the years. My ability to eat (think marathon, not sprint) helped me fill out my broad-shouldered frame during those formative years. As I left puberty behind, I continued to eat with a trough and shovel. I was good at eating, and I enjoyed it, too. With broad shoulders, my weight was spread around a bit further, keeping me (so I convinced myself), from getting too overweight.

Fast-forward to the present time, and my appetite has hardly diminished but my metabolism sure has. And it began to catch up with me. Once comfortable 10-15 pounds heavier than I "should" be, my weight crept up to about 20-25 pounds heaver than I "should" be. My most recent doctor's appointment confirmed this. My doctor's simple advice: lose some weight and your vitals will come into an acceptable range.

It was during a particularly low moment following that visit I spied an ad for a "Healthy Challenge" sponsored by the local newspaper. Cutting to the point - I've been a participant in this Healthy Challenge for about ten days now. You can follow my progress through the Web site, I'm sure (no direct link, go work for it!), or you can just listen to me bitch.

Since my first weigh-in 12 days ago I have been subject to personal training sessions three times a week, with personal training sessions two additional days a week, I have joined Weight Watchers and been hungry since the first day. I have been to the gym more times in the past two weeks than all of 2007 prior to this month. I have sore muscles in places I didn't know muscles existed. But, I feel great and have left eight pounds by the wayside.

I like to think that I signed up for this exercise in masochism because of a particularly down moment. I took advantage of myself at a vulnerable time and got myself wrapped up in something new. But really, I needed this. I am part of a team, in competition with another team, to lose weight and get into better shape. My name, age, weight and personal details are listed weekly in the newspaper. My co-workers know about this. As narcissistic as I am, this isn't just about me.

This is about my child and my child's father. I don't want my body to ache after carrying my child home. I don't want to lose my breath playing with my child on a playground. I don't want my child to look elsewhere when learning or practicing new games or sports. And, selfishly, I don't want to miss "the payoff." As I said when I was introduced as a participant in this challenge, my father died before he got to meet my wife, before he got to meet his grandchild. I want to do as much as I can to guarantee that, if my child agrees to something so publicly embarrassing, that I will be there cheering him or her on.

Updates on this will come sporadically and you can check www.gazette.net each Wednesday for formal updates. Now, however, I have to go eat a 2-point yogurt.