Where Was This Size In High School?

Trying to delay probable disappointment and eventual anger, I purposely avoided the bathroom scale for the last week.

As the Thanksgiving holiday rolled through, I enjoyed all the turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, desserts and libations with, essentially, reckless abandon. And why not? I was with friends and family, celebrating my absolute favorite holiday. But, as with all good things, the holiday came to an end.

My folks went home, my brother headed to Aspen for the winter (a story for a different time) and the alarm finally had to be turned back on for the dreaded post-holiday Monday morning.

As is part of my usual morning ritual, I stepped on the scale. I do this every morning – it helps me gauge not only the effect of my most recent physical activity but, probably more importantly, the effect of my latest dietary intake.

I’m a big guy – but even I was surprised at the number I saw. Was there really a 7 after that 2? Yup – I was tipping the scale at a whopping 270lbs!

Holy crap! Now, I’m not disillusioned by any means. I’m a big guy. I’ve always been a big guy in some form or another and I’ll probably always be a big guy.

I’ve accepted the fact that I’ll never be built like a marathon runner and I’m cool with that. Honestly, I’d rather have some muscle than be a scrawny skinny guy.

But, at 270lbs, I have exited the realm of athletic or muscular, zipped through the husky arena and pulled up a chair in the have-another-helping-and-you’re-plain-old-fat realm. I verified this assessment by viewing pictures of myself on my latest vacation to Mexico and pictures from my nephew’s birthday party.

It used to be that my chest extended past my stomach, giving me that athletic look. Now my mass has shifted to a more…centralized…location.

When I saw that number on the scale, my first thought was of the run-in I had with my high school football coach, former New England Patriots Pro Bowler Mosi Tatupu, when I came back from my first year of college.

I had put on about 30lbs – mostly muscle, some beer-induced – and his first words to me where “Where was that size last year?”

I had been an offensive lineman in a league known for their linemen and I didn’t even get close to the 200 lbs mark. Hell, I was listed at 190lbs and that was generous.

Oh coach, if you could only see me now.

But, my next thoughts went to “What do I do now?”

I have twin daughters and a lovely wife that I want to stay healthy for and, to be perfectly honest, 270lbs (even at 6’2″) is not a healthy weight.

I’m 31 years old and don’t need to be dealing with all the repercussions that being overweight can lead to.

I am intimately aware of the effects that obesity can have on a person as high blood pressure, high cholesterol and heart disease all run in my family and have been responsible for the early passings of more than one family member.

So, it starts today.

Diet will change.

Exercise will once again become part of my daily repertoire.

Overindulgence will be replaced with extra play time with the girls.

Late night snacks will be averted by spending more quality time with the wife.

I’ll do what I have to do to set the example for my kids and be here for my wife.

That’s about it for now. I’ll be heading to VT in mid-February for my annual snowboard trip and my goal is to be back in a much more reasonable shape by then.

I’m sure that proper diet, exercise, and a general health-conscious approach to life will help me achieve my goals.  I’ll check in as time goes on and give updates.  

Perhaps we can discuss setting up a training plan, working around problems of eating healthy while working/travelling, and dealing with the oh-so-common ‘not enough hours in the day’ syndrome.