Biggest Loser 1-month Weigh-in
To recap if you’re just joining me already in progress, I’m participating in a Biggest Loser contest being held by our local gym. The contest is three months long, and the person who loses the most (by percentage) gets a free one year membership. A great prize, but that’s not my motivation.
My siblings can all attest to the fact that there was some kind of conspiracy early on between genes and environment to make us all balloon-shaped, and most of us have fought this our whole lives. Now in my forties, I’m keenly aware of the heart disease that claimed my mother and her father, both in their early sixties, and the myriad of problems that brought down my dad at an age only ten years older than I am now. But as compelling as avoiding hospitalization and death might be, this is not my motivation.
My motivation is vanity, pure and simple. On June 18, I will step onto the stage dressed only in a towel, the size of which will be at the discretion and temperament of the director, to whom I have already started being very nice. Now, if I were an artistic purist, focused only on character and storytelling, then my current doughy visage is a perfect fit for the disagreeable coot I’ll be portraying. It would be a much funnier and satisfying moment if he’s as lumpy and sedentary on the outside as his stodgy soul is on the inside. It would provide some justice for his earlier behavior and anchor his arc toward enlightenment in later scenes.
But when it comes to my nakedidity, I don’t care about art, I care about looking good. Or at least inoffensive. You already know this about me if you know how much I think about my hair and how it should look for any given activity. In fact, this will be the first time my hair is not at the top of my list in how I build a character for the stage. (my hair, is of course, second in this case, followed closely by what pitch I should place my voice in to get the most mileage out of my British accent). Vanity, I declare unapologetically, is my motivation for losing weight.
So all that said, I’m hoping to clear 30-40 pounds off the slab by June, which would roughly be 8 pounds a month from where I started in January. I do want to exceed that if I can, since I know that somewhere in the process will be at least one frustrating plateau. So I’ve set my goal for the contest itself, which ends in April, at 25 pounds. My weigh-in result after the first month is 7.2 pounds. (I’m embracing that .2) Not bad.
I’m encouraged by the result, though I know I could have done better. I was a bit naughty from time to time, especially last week when I visited Minneapolis and ate everything there, including some stellar French toast from Sunnyside Up. In a way, though, I feel like a little cheating here and there keeps me from going insane and giving up, so I guess I consider it part of the plan.
Still, though, I intend to work harder in the coming month. I have a few advantages, such as access to the gym, which is great (and membership is pretty reasonable). Also, a new trainer there was made available to the Biggest Loser contestants for a free trial session, and he gave me a great workout plan. My previous workout plan was based on Kathy Smith’s Upper and Lower Body workout from the early 90’s. She was lovely, but I like my new workout better.
(EDIT) I wrote the above yesterday. Last night I went out with the gang to see The Wolfman (recommended) and we ate at Hu Hot, a Mongolian stir-fry that’s all-you-can-eat. Which-I-most-certainly-did. I am going to the gym immediately
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