Wednesday Weigh-In No. 6

Previous Weight: 167
Current Weight: 166.5

Boss called it a holding pattern. Yeah, that's what it is. Without stepping up my game, it's likely to stay that way. I guess I know what I gotta do.

As for the rest of the group, spirits seemed high this morning as most people logged a loss, including the Big Boss, who'd been going up and down and evening out through most of the competition, but lost 3 pounds this week.

The Scorekeeper and I were talking the other day about why this competition is so important -- at least in the larger scheme of things. It's not so much the way it's making us feel about ourselves ... sure, getting thinner boosts our self-confidence and buoys our spirits (thanks to the warped images our society insists should make us feel good about ourselves, but that's another topic for another time). The conclusion Scorekeeper and I came to is how necessary this sort of thing is for our health.

In this week's Women's Day (no I don't read it -- I'm not exactly in the 60-year-old grandmother demographic this rag caters to), an article highlighted the risk factors for diabetes, which Scorekeeper points out is becoming epidemic in America. Anyway, the article lists some risk factors as having a body mass index (BMI) of 25 or more and rarely exercising. Those of us with any weight to lose at all (and I'm not talking about those of you losing those 20 or so vanity pounds), should worry about that increased risk. It's a little scary when you think about it. It's not just diabetes: you gotta worry about heart disease, high blood pressure, strokes and any number of metabolic diseases.

What we're doing is all fun and games, sure. But there's a greater stake to this game than any of realize.

And you know, I'm 29. I'm young. I've always been healthy. Until recently, I always ate well: I avoided processed foods, bleached and refined grains and sugars, skipped foods with preservatives, all that kind of stuff. And when I quit doing all that, well, that's when the weight gain thing started happening. And that's when I started sleeping more and feeling less rested. And that's when my joints started aching when I sat in one position for too long. And that's when my cognitive skills started slipping. And, well, you get it. I got old in a matter of months.

And dammit, it's ridiculous to have a list of complaints like that. I'm 29! I should still be able to scale El Capitan if I wanted to (CA rock rat reference for any of you who get it, hey Yosemite), or -- and here's the big 'un -- hike up McKinley on the eve of the full moon in August to watch the sunrise on the peak. That's what I was supposed to for on my 30th birthday. I have a long way to go to get in shape for that in 6 months.

So, sorry to have gotten serious on y'all, but I really thought it's important to put what we're doing in perspective. We should all pat ourselves on the back for our weight loss. But we should pat ourselves for doing something even more important: giving ourselves an extension on life.

Here's what else the Woman's Day article said helps prevent diabetes: being active for 30 minutes a day, five days a week, lowers your risk by 50 percent; eat 1/4 teaspoon of cinnamon a day (in your coffee, oatmeal or on toast) reduces risk by 29 percent (hey, I'm not making this up); cut out refined sugars and carbs; eat breakfast (breakfast eaters reduce risk 35-50 percent); and have one drink a day (red wine is supposedly good for heart health too).

Cheers.