January 11, 2008

  • The Terribly Sad Scales of Justice

    I've pretty much always been overweight, even as a kid I was developing a bit of a belly.  But I must admit that it has gotten increasingly worse over the last 20 years.  That was around when I started at the hospital, and perhaps getting a job where I sit for 12+ hours at a time led to the ever increasing me.  I used to look at people as I walk down the street, see what most would at least privately say was a "fat" guy, and know that I was nowhere near that size.  And I'd see a fit guy and think, "I'm pretty much a few pounds from that".  Well, in the last year or so I have begun to realize that perhaps when people see me walking down the street, they see the fat guy.  So yet another one of my resolutions this year is to lose weight.  And using The Rule of One (trademark pending), I decided to lose (at least) one pound per month.

    So to prepare for this exercise (no pun intended actually), I needed to weigh myself.  Luckily, I have a scale in my bathroom.  I've been weighing myself fairly regularly for years, since it is right there after all.  I've always had this dream of someday getting back down under 200.  I'd be deliriously happy to get to 199.99 even.  I've been over 200 since college, and as high as 240.

    However, for the last 12 months or so, I have been a remarkable model of consistency.  I have weighed 220 or so every single time I step on the scale.  Of course, weight varies by a pound or more throughout the day, and the scale is not a digital one, so the 220 can be read as 218ish or 222ish.  But I was right at that range, solid as a rock, a rock made of pudding though.  So even though that is well above my desired or healthy weight, I've been quite proud of myself actually.  It was well below my all-time high, it was within a good year's diet and exercise of my 199.99 goal perhaps, and there had to be something really good about being so consistent.

    The more I thought about it though, it was strange to be so consistent, especially when I knew that the previous six months had been full of lots of fast food and almost no exercise.  And I could look in a mirror and not see "a fit guy just waiting to emerge", but almost see someone anyone would have to call "a large individual".  Perhaps I had a tape worm?  Perhaps I could get it to multiply and help me meet my magic weight!

    Well, it was nothing as interesting as a tape worm, or a malfunctioning mirror.  There was a simple reason for my confusion.  My scale was broken.  Yep, I'm not sure when it happened, but it is most assuredly broken. 

    I almost don't want to say the real number.  I will of course, but it hurts.  It is not my all-time high at least, so I have some consolation, but it still so high that I am not realistically looking to see my 199.99 anytime soon.

    I weighed myself at two "independent weighing stations", and both confirm that I weigh 237 pounds.  It was very disappointing to hear that after being so happy with my supposed weight all last year.

    I basically gained 17 pounds in one minute.  Hey, that could have been the blog entry title.....

    So here goes.  I'm giving up double cheeseburgers at McDonalds this year, and exercising daily, be it ever so slightly.  Hopefully that will make a bit a difference each month.

    I'll try to remember to update that number each month.