I’ve Never Been Prouder of a Weight Gain

Weekly weigh-in: 216.1
Loss: +1.7
Total loss: -75.9
Emotion: On the rise... in more than one way.

First off… an apology.

There have been times when I’ve been less than understanding about folks’ failure to get the job done on this weight-loss journey.

In my mind, it was always just a matter of doing it or not doing it. I never had time to listen to excuses.

In case you haven’t checked in in a bit (and just where the hell do you think you’ve been?), my wife Anita suffered a detached retina on her only functional eyeball and had to undergo emergency surgery. After that, she’s been blind and bedridden for a couple of weeks, with a couple of doctor appointments (and some additional laser surgery) thrown into the mix.

Anyway, I discovered what single parents and people nursing an ill family member already know: life is tough! (I also learned that you can’t do a week’s worth of laundry in one load, even though all the clothes will “technically” fit into the machine).

Truthfully, I don’t know how some of you do it. By the time I got home from work, got everyone fed and got everything that needed done done, I barely had enough left in the tank to brush my teeth, much less contemplate a workout.

What’s worse, as my activity waned, my appetite seemed to swell. I felt the tug of old bad habits, and relearned what a miserable dining partner stress tends to be.

And to top it all off, my little activity monitor went missing. I underestimated how much logging my caloric burn kept me moving over the course of a day.

I peeked at the scale one morning and cringed when I saw that I was over 220. Clearly, things were going in the wrong direction…

Then one day, Anita called the office and told me that a friend was stopping by for lunch. She encouraged me to go get a lunchtime workout in.

I went in, even though my heart wasn’t much in it.

But a funny thing happens when the sweat starts to pour:  the headaches that may be stressing you out may still be around, but somehow managing them don’t seem so… unmanageable.

My activity monitor turned up in the dryer that night. It had survived who-knows-how-long in heavy-duty heat and spinning out of control, yet it was still okay, still working.

Same goes for me.


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