Wednesday Weigh-In No. 1

Previous Weight: 172
Current Weight: 168.5

Anything new is exciting -- at first.

There were at least a half-dozen staffers waiting in line eager to be weighed first thing this morning. And it surprised me, honestly. I was nervous as hell. Probably because I wasn't prepared and I didn't know what to expect the scale to say. I hadn't done anything except eat less all week (and do a few crunches, lunges and squats before bed last night) and I knew there were plenty of people, unlike me, actually taking this thing seriously.

And those people were lined up in front of Kevin, our self-appointed administrator of this "what have we gotten ourselves into" contest. I have to give a quick shout out to Kevin for being a good sport. He's not participating in the weight loss game; he just keep track of all of our weights (I don't even want to think about the power over us that knowledge has given him).

Luckily for this blog, I sit just a few short feet from Kevin's weigh-in station and I get to watch the Wednesday morning goings-on. It's better than front-row seats to an Oprah show (although anything, really, including front-row seats to a Toby Keith concert, would be better than the Oprah show. Well, it might be a toss-up between Oprah and Toby Keith, but still).

It was amusing, really, how many "woo-hoos" were sounded and how many high-fives were slapped. All in all, it was a decent start for most of us. The majority of us seemed to have lost a cool 3 pounds each, with one person actually gaining a couple of pounds, and one serious competitor losing 8 pounds. (Her secret weapons: a treadmill and the Zone diet.)

Another little tidbit I picked up on came from a conversation between the Big Loser and Another Coworker as they stood in line to be weighed. Another Coworker is attending classes presented by this nutritionist guy who insists that weight loss can be accomplished by eating right and exercise has nothing to do with it. Someone else who heard that conversation commented that she's not sure if Another Coworker really believes that, or was just hoping to undermine the other competitors by fooling them into thinking they didn't have to exercise. However, Another Coworker did lose several pounds this week (though only about half what Big Loser lost), so time is going to have to be the judge on that one.

See, I mentioned before that this blog is going to be filled with drama. It's just now beginning to manifest. There are some staffers who are taking it slow and easy -- easing into dieting as if they can somehow trick their bodies into accepting their new diet. They are banking on the assumption that most, if not all, the other competitors will plateau after a few weeks and/or fall down on their diet and exercise routines. Others are plunging into the game head-first with subscriptions to diet programs or workshops. And still others already are making plans to deviously undermine everyone else's hard work -- ice cream shakes anyone?

Me? I have a diversified plan - eat a little, exercise a lot and don't get discouraged. I've tried to lose weight enough times before to know what I have to do to win this thing. My problem, however, has always been that I lose motivation a few weeks into it. Still, I have a trick or two up my sleeve (and I have no intention of publishing those tricks here, yet).

My two biggest fears are these: First, that I won't be able to muster the motivation to make it to the finish of this thing (simply because of my track record, no pun intended). Second, that there are much more competitive competitors on staff (and I know there are) who will starve and/or beat themselves six sizes smaller to win this. Either way, I'm screwed.

But it's all in good fun, right?

Week One has come and gone.

We're scheduled for our first real weigh-in tomorrow. We have decided to keep the public info about our progress to a minium: That means we're only allowed to know gains and losses rather than weights. For those of us sensitive to the numbers, it's a blessing.

But honestly, making this a competition is a bit tough for those of us who aren't necessarily competitive types. For example, I'm cringing at the thought that I will have gained weight (or even maintained my current weight), because I know full well the quarterbacks of the group will have spent the last week dieting, exercising, pill-popping, starving, whatever, in preparation for this weigh-in.

And I haven't been doing any of that, really.

Sure I'm dieting: I've been fairly good at keeping my caloric intake between 1200 and 1800 calories a day. If I hit the high end of that range one day, I try to make up for it the next by hitting the low end (an apple for dinner, etc., etc.). Great fun.

But exercising is a whole nuther thing. Since I used to be fit — I used to hit the gym 3 hours a day, 4 days a week, in case you were wondering — I know that dieting is useless without burning calories through activity, stimulating the metabolism and all that. But here's the thing: I work. A lot. And I have kids. A lot of kids. And so my time for extracurricular activities is ... uh ... nonexistant.

I try to make up for it: parking at the end of the parking lot, taking the stairs, walking to my mailbox rather than driving to the end of the driveway (yes, people really do that). You know, all the ridiculous little tips you can find in any filler article on a diet or fitness product's advertorial web site. Honestly, it's bullshit in my opinion.

Nothing substitutes good, old-fashioned workouts. Nothing.

Right now it's no big deal that I haven't exercised. This competition is still all in good fun. The heartbreak (which is sure to come) hasn't set in yet. If you like drama, you'll want to keep tabs on this blog. The whole point of sharing this process is to showcase the roller coaster ride attributed to losing weight. We've just hopped on, baby.

Anyway, here's the plan: I'll check back in tomorrow after the weigh-in and list the stats as I know them. There'll be tears. There'll be cries of disbelief. There'll be snarls of competitive jealousy. Yes I'm talking about me. I'll try not to be too big a sore loser ... er ... non-loser.

And I'll start exercising next week. I promise.

What is the Free Times Loser?

Well, let's see.

The Free Times is the weekly alternative newspaper in Columbia, S.C. And some of us here at the paper have noticed a disturbing trend toward rotundity in our expanding paunches -- particularly those of us stuck behind our computer moniters for most of the day.

So we've decided to hold our own "Biggest Loser" contest, named after the NBC reality T.V. show that pits teams of overweight people against each other as they attempt to lose weight and snag a hefty monetary prize.

Our office contest begins Wednesday, Jan. 11 and will run for three months -- or 12 weeks of Hell on Earth here in the office (famine was one of the four horses of the apocolypse, you'll recall). We've nixed the teams: For the more competitive types, it'll be every man for himself. And there have been rumors that some of the more subversive members of the staff are already saving up to provide doughnuts and other temptations to help us stumble along the way.

As a member of the editorial staff, I've had my eye on weight loss for a while. This time of year, its a popular achievement to try to lose weight. Columbia held that Shrinkdown! event at the Colonial Center on Monday and more than 1,000 people signed up. Well, here at the Free Times, we're just as much slaves to pop culture as the rest of 'em. Though we like to think we're more good looking than most.

But I kid. If we really felt that way, we wouldn't be doing something as ridiculous as starving ourselves for 12 weeks in a competition in which the winner is really a big loser. But for some of us, myself top of that list, this competition is our last hope to keep from succumbing to the specter of obesity.

You see, I used to be thin. No really. In my late teens and 20s, I averaged a size 6 (in my late teens I dropped down to a size 1 at my thinnest). That's pretty damn tiny (not necessarily by anorexic Hollywood hottie standards, but still). I had a couple of kids, which didn't help, I went to college where every last minute of my free time was taken up by studying, which really didn't help, and I got a couple of sendentary office jobs, which pretty much did me in. The pounds packed on. Within 3 years I had ballooned to a size 14 and last year, I topped out at size 16.

I say topped out, because I've maintained a size 14-16 for the last couple of years. But enough is enough. I'm tired of telling people: "Oh, I used to be a size 6." They don't believe me (and to be honest, I'm beginning to wonder myself if I was ever that small). I see this contest as an opportunity to do something about all that. To take back my waist and my tight-fitting jeans and my old summer dresses and my old skinny bikinis. It's about damn time I did it, too.

And to make myself even further accountable, I plan to keep track of all my ups and downs, fat days and thin days, fears and hopes for the entire world to see right here on this blog. I hope you come and visit me here once in a while.

Ciao ~ Heidi