Exercising

I never thought of myself as either terribly sporty or health conscious. With the exception of an uneventful season on the junior varsity basketball team (I was the second to last man off the bench - Greg Zona was the last), a month on the freshman crew team at Penn (Beer 1 Sport 0) and about a year lifting weights during my sophomore year, I've been pretty sedentary. Sure I had jobs where I was on my feet up to 15 hours a day, but if I remained trim it was through the luck of metabolism and an affinity for restaurant work.

So when a regular paycheck and a desk job became my daily lot in life I did what every red-blooded American male in his 20s does. I drank my face off and ate everything in sight. Why not?! Never hurt me before!



Flash forward a couple years and I was a pack-a-day smoker pushing 200 lbs (14 stone for you Brits). Something had to be done.

It was then Gabby and I went on Weight Watchers. I actually quit smoking then too. We had gone out on a real bender for my birthday in 2003 and I had gotten absolutely shitfaced and probably smoked two packs at my old hangout, a calculated measure designed to really put me off cigarettes for the first tenuous days. (It worked - we won't talk about the side effects though.)

Those were the last cigarettes I've smoked since, and I subsequently lost about 30 pounds. Since then we had Alex, and I - like my wife - gained some pregnancy weight. The only difference is that she lost hers and I kept mine. I figure I could stand to lose a good 10 pounds. Even though I had the discipline back in 2003 and 2004 to lose the weight and keep it off, something's happened since. I am easily maintaining my current weight, but basically every time I get started losing a couple pounds I find an excuse to either: a) go out drinking with the boys or b) lose my motivation and eat a whole pack of cookies.

About six months ago my boss, who was training for the NYC marathon, suggested I get into running. He said he found it not only kept him in decent shape, but really helped clear his mind. So I went out and bought some shoes and found a training regimen I could follow to get started. It worked for a while, until I (quite foolishly) over-did it and hurt my knee. By the time it started feeling better it was October and things were pretty hectic on the home front. It was only toward the end of December when I picked it back up.

Anyway, I'm doing it again and it seems to be working. I haven't lost any weight, but it's early days and I'm not concentrating that much on my diet at the moment either. It feels good though. If I make it through another month or so I might just get myself a present.