Wednesday Weigh-In No. 4

Previous Weight: 167
Current Weight: 166.5

OK, OK, so it's a half a pound. But there's a couple of reasons for me to rejoice this week.

First, losing half a pound is still a loss, and in a competition where each pound gained costs the offending weigher $1 a pound, any loss is a good loss.

Second, it was totally unexpected. I mean, this week I pigged out. I ate heaping bowls of carmel walnut ice cream at least four days out of the seven. I had beer - no more than one or two a day and no more than three or four days out of the seven. But still. I had my reasons for drinking.

This week was one of the most stressful weeks I've had in ages. I had to go to court for one of my kids yesterday and, although it wasn't a life threatening sort of court date, it was serious enough. Stress manifested itself in my desire to eat -- and I had to literally restrain myself. It was unfortunate for my kids, simply because I kept the fridge bare of snack foods all week (see how well I know myself?). It was grapes and falafel on pitas and brown rice for us most of this week.

That is, until yesterday. I had this impending sense of doom yesterday -- simply because I've never gone to court for something serious before and really had no idea what to expect. So, we picked up take-out chicken wings around 11 a.m. before we went to court, had milkshakes as our celebration treat when court was over, and at the end of the day, when my legs were shaking from the overload of emotional strain I'd been under, I picked up 15 roast beef sandwiches at Arby's (thanks to their five sandwiches for $5.95 deal) and a pile of Horsey sauce, and headed home to gorge one last time. (By the way, if 15 sandwiches sounds exhorbitant, consider that I have four teenage and pre-teen boys at home who easily eat a pound of meat each in one sitting if I let them.)

I had a sandwich -- 3 ounces of meat and an unhealthy, processed-white-flour bun -- but I still felt guilty. I countered my dietary transgressions with a bunch of crunches and lunges late last night around 10 p.m. and climbed into bed. By then, I'd resigned myself to having gained at least a pound after all the crap I ate last week. And I hadn't exercised at all -- not even a sit-up. So this morning's weigh-in was fine by me. I'll take half a pound. And I'll get back on the diet-and-exercise saddle and ride out this week with a renewed sense of motivation.

Because if I can face the biggest temptation -- eating in times of extreme stress -- and still come out on on top, I know that I'm going to be OK in the end. I may not win this thing, but I'll still be a big loser (weight-wise) and that's good enough for me.

As for my competition, well, I was out of the office on Wednesday so I missed the collective reaction to the Wednesday Weigh-Ins. But, based on the progress people have made, I am quite certain the competition will only heat up from here on in. The Boss lost a couple of pounds and he's neck and neck now with some of the top losers. The Big Loser dropped another four and a half pounds this week -- she's definitely over her plateau and pulling ahead. And Miss Competitive lost a couple of pounds as well. Like Boss said at some point last week, she'll probably win this thing out of pure pluck. She's so competitive, she'll become an anorexic sack of skin and bones just to win it. Beautiful and rich. Our very own Hollywood hottie right here at Free Times.

We've had at least one competitor drop out -- and Drop Out thinks its quite funny to bring ice cream milkshakes to work at least once a week (and she even goes around asking everyone if we want her to bring us one, too). She also asks me out of lunch once or twice a week (and, yes, I usually acquiece -- I'm weak, OK?). But she's not the only one playing games: Boss deposited a bag of McDonald's french fries on the front desk a couple of days ago and sent deep-fried goodness wafting through the office. I'm not sure if anyone took the bait -- it was shortlived considering McD's fries are disgusting when they're lukewarm. Another diet-defining moment occurred a couple of days ago when the photographer needed a box of chocolates for a Valentine's Day shoot, and the chocolates were left on the communal office table for anyone to pick at.

So certainly, things are getting nasty around here. No one has cried yet (that I know of). But don't count out the tears just yet. There's still eight weeks left to go ...