Just Say No!
I mentioned about 11 weeks ago that we were getting a little weight loss contest started at the office. I had been involved in one at my previous job, but the job came to an end before the contest did. While people say unemployment is a good opportunity to stay in shape, it’s really not. You’re a little depressed, so you eat for comfort. And a lot of your friends want to take you to lunch or dinner to “cheer you up.” By the time I was in the new job, I had regained all my old weight, pushing me past 230 lbs.
Moving the Dial
From a modest 3 pound loss the first week of the current contest, I am down (officially) 30 pounds in 11 weeks. In the first week of results, I was in third place. By the following week, I had dropped to fifth place and was beginning to get depressed again. I moved into second place after the third weigh-in and stayed there for the next 6 weeks — even after gaining a pound-a-half in week 8.
Instead of judging based solely on weight lost, we’re going by percentage of beginning weight lost. That was my bright idea, and while it’s the fairest way to do it, I hurt myself, because I’ve been the leading in total weight lost for most of the contest. Darn percentages.
Joe, one of the other producers in the office, shot to the head of the line with a 6 pound drop the first week. He had a tight grip on first place even after a pair of out-of-town trips. I got tantalizingly close a couple of times, but just couldn’t catch him.
It's in Sight
That was until week 10. I finally edged into first place after a 4-and-a-half pound loss. I followed that with another 3.5 pounds this week. Not to be outdone, Joe worked off 4.2 pounds for this week, all while on an out-of-town assignment. I’m still in first, but only by a razor-thin .19%. Between the two of us, we’ve lost 56.6 pounds. If you add the guys in 3rd and 4th place, we’ve lost 95 pounds!
Now I’ve got an out of town assignment coming up — on a farm and in a food preparation area. It’s cafeteria food, which might help curb any urges. That’s kind of what happened at trivia Monday night… when the smell of cigarette smoke from the bar overwhelmed any desire I had for my table-mate’s chicken fingers.
Who Will Win??
We’ve got one more weigh-in, and the contest is coming down to the wire. Instead of a blowout, you’ve got a tight race, with no clear idea just who will come out on top. Number two posted a link of area restaurants in the city I’ll be traveling to, which to me, is creative competition and additional motivation. This is all adding up to be an exciting finish.
The extra benefit is that my 35th high school reunion is at the end of the same week the contest ends. So, I’ll actually be around the same size (or slightly smaller) then I was when I went back to Ohio for my 20th.
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