2020 was a bad year for innumerable reasons, the least of which led to expansion. My expansion. I got fat. Again. I’m pretty sure this is something I’ll have to pay attention to for the rest of my life. 7 years ago I got up to my biggest at 235 lbs and spent half a year getting it under control and getting down to 175. This time I had snuck up to 218 when I’d had enough.
The two red flags that usually push me over the edge from “not caring” to “holy crap, how did I end up here?!?!” is when my pants break up with me and when tying my shoes isn’t just one of many steps to get out of the house but instead the main event. Back in December, both occurred.
So on January 3, I weighed in at 218.7 and decided to start getting healthier. I’m a decent tennis player (a high 4.0 rank) and get around the court pretty easily. My days of soccer made quickness one of my boons. But instead of exchanging “racket-fives” and lackluster congratulations at the end of a match, my opponents would ponder aloud; “how does a guy your size get to those shots?” And while I do appreciate a backhanded compliment as much as the next guy, I picked up what they were putting down.
I’ve had success keeping track of calories, and being a math guy with a love of logic, the idea makes a lot of sense. If you eat fewer calories than your body needs to run, you will end up losing weight. So I use a free app called Lose It! that makes tracking the calories I eat and the calories I burn easy (especially in conjunction with my Apple Watch). I’d like to be at my target weight (175 lbs) by the end of the school year, so if I lose around 2 lbs a week, I should be there in time. Enter all my vital information to the app, and it recommends eating 1600 calories a day (more if you exercise). So I’ve been eating small snack bars (often Luna bars or granola bars – 200 calories each) for breakfast, lunch, and snack, and then eat a good size dinner. I’m usually feeling pretty good by the end of the day.
But when you work in a school, there are days that you have to choose to avoid the faculty lounge. And who knew that St. Patrick’s Day was one of those days. Three large trays of cupcakes, two large boxes of even better-looking cupcakes, and a box of Krispy Kreme donuts to complete the trifecta of temptation can be tough to resist. But I did my best Odysseus impression and resisted the call of the sugary sirens. Sure, I could have eaten one, and it would have been fine, but I prefer to stick to my decision to eat healthier and live a healthier lifestyle right now.