A Weighty Issue

I had my annual physical a month ago. All of my numbers were relatively unchanged (statistically insignificant differences). One curious observation is that, after a year of eating oatmeal for breakfast, my cholesterol went up two points. If you believe the commercials aired by a brand name oatmeal company, my cholesterol was supposed to drop (and drop significantly). Conversely, when the cheesesteak place was still open, and I ate a greasy, fatty, fried-meat-and-cheesy sandwich every Friday for a year, my cholesterol dropped ten points. Is that significant?

On Monday, Boss told us about an idea he had: a weight-loss challenge among managers. He thinks that, if we lose weight, we'll set an example for our hourly employees. (He wants to better their health by encouraging them to quit smoking or drinking.) I dislike the challenge in principle and in practice. First of all, I might have my own health goals. Who is he to arbitrarily decide that weight should be the deciding factor? Second, the sample of management employees is weighted (so to speak) to the benefit of two individuals, so the rest of us would have almost no chance of "winning" this loss.

One of Boss's suggestions was for all of us to start running. Boss is already a runner, so this wouldn't be fair. After five minutes, I'd be "huffing and puffing like a chubby boy" (Pinky & the Brain). I'd be lucky to finish a mile in ten minutes (my high school time). However, I'm pretty sure I could walk circles around my coworkers. I won't even suggest that Ob and (hmm-hmm, still waiting for nickname suggestions, thank you) take up jogging. Adding force to their corpulence would play hell with their knees.

My goal is to get thinner, not to lose weight. When I started working out, my weight went up. This is because muscle is denser than fat, so I was adding heavier tissue than I was losing. From February to mid-March this year, I lost nine pounds. I've never lost that much before, and I can't think of what I did that might have contributed. Still, I'm not able to throw away my "fat pants" and buy new ones, so weight isn't my issue.

I overheard a student (a male in his very early twenties) in my CAD class say that he has gone back to working out to get in shape and that he has dropped eight pounds to 192. This guy is about my height and seems pretty thin. Setting 192 lbs. as a goal for me would be attainable by starving myself. Even 200 lbs. is off at the horizon. Boss says he is 5'11" and weighs 165 lbs. (but was as low as 147 lbs. when training for a marathon). He is toothpick-thin compared to me. Ob and _____ are like boulders. You can't compare the four of us to each other and say that weight loss would work.

Now compare me to my brothers. Both of them are visibly fatter than I. Both of them have large waist sizes (and, for the one of them I've always thought of as "the thin one", this is surprising). We are a better set of individuals to compare with a particular exercise goal.

I have two years until my next high school class reunion. (Betty, will you go this time, or will you be visiting Ireland again?) That seems a reasonable time in which to achieve becoming thinner. I've stopped buying salty snacks, greatly reduced my consumption of sodas, and started eating more fruit (although reducing ice cream consumption is of more considerable difficulty). The even more difficult, yet more effective, step is to reduce my portion size. I ought to eat less, but how do I train my brain to realize that my stomach doesn't need seconds (or large firsts)?