I keep my old City Gym membership card in my wallet. The picture of me is small, but it’s a good indicator of how I looked back in 1999, at about 190 pounds, when I was a grad student at Boston University. This picture is always in my head when I sign up for a new running or triathlon training program. But usually, after weeks or months of training, I’m not much closer to this goal.
Eating the nutritional equivalent of a Frito pie at every meal does not help. When I described my weight loss, running goals and eating habits to Mariah MacDonald of Revelation Fitness last Tuesday night in the café at Central Market, her reaction gave me a lot of hope. “Oh, you’ll be easy,” she said. “It’s your diet.” At our meeting she described how after 12 weeks of group training classes and nutrition counseling I would be around 6% body fat and at or below 190 pounds. Shortly after we’d said goodbye I received a text on my phone from her that simply said, “Piece of cake.”
Well, yes. Theoretically, if I clean up my diet and exercise 5 to 6 times a week, I don’t see those types of results as a problem. But it’s not for nothing that in various groups of family members, friends and coworkers I’m fondly thought of as a garbage disposal. I’m the guy who kept his meal plan throughout his college career because he liked it. I know the difference between good food and bad food but I don’t much care, to tell you the truth.
Preventative Health
I’m 35, within two months of turning 36, and it’s high time I cut the crap. The choices I make now will affect me in future life. About 6 or 7 years ago, my dad had a heart attack. The doctors opened up his chest like it was the hood of a Cadillac and performed a quadruple bypass.
As I saw him in the ICU recovery room, a pillow pressed up against his chest to help the newly-minted stitches holding his rib cage together, I swore to myself that I would never be in the same position. While his heart problems likely came from stress, I knew that was yellow brick road I did not want to follow. Ever. So I’m looking at the cost of the exercise/nutrition program as a preventative health care cost.
Burned Ships
Mariah encouraged me to make some goals and do things that would hold me accountable and push me through when I’m almost there and tempted to say, “Good enough.” She described how when Hernando Cortez landed in Mexico he ordered his men to burn their ships, demonstrating the deep commitment to finding New World riches while preventing any chance of turning back.
Starting this blog was my first burned ship. I’ve already gotten a bunch of encouragement posted to my Facebook wall. I’m hoping every friend, family member and random guy from high school I pissed next to once in the bathroom will keep me accountable.
The second ship was my commitment to Mariah that at the end of the 12 week program, which will start the week of Feb. 6, 2012, I will pose for one of those Before/After photos that appear on the Revelation Fitness website. As you can probably imagine, this alone has me scared out of my mind.
So if you can think of another burned ship that will keep me accountable, feel free to share. The more public and potentially embarrassment-inducing it is, the better.
