Playing the Game

I'm lucky. I've never really had to battle with my weight. The only time I really felt like it was an issue was after I got out of college and was kinda pudgy from years of boozing and junk food. I started working out and lost about 25 pounds in three months. My weight went up when I started getting into free weights, but it was muscle, not fat. And in the last 12 years, I've been running regularly, which has kept me pretty fit, and I've eaten mostly healthy food.

But last fall, I stopped running because of Achilles issues and put on about 10 pounds over the holidays. I started the year at 176 (the heaviest I've ever been) and set a goal of losing 15-20 pounds this year. Once I started running, I dropped about eight or nine pounds almost immediately, but I've been kind of stuck around 167 for a few months. I'm sure part of the reason is my affection for high-alcohol craft beer.

Last week, Deb mentioned that she was doing something called the Game On diet with some friends; it's not so much a crazy diet as it is a monthlong diet challenge. You have a group of friends that splits into teams and you all have to stick to a diet plan that awards you points for staying with the diet and deducts them for cheating. You eat five times per day, and each meal has to include a lean protein, healthy fat and a carbohydrate (whole grain or fruit). Two of the meals must have two fist-sized portions of vegetables. No sugar, no alcohol (two of my favorite things!). You get one day off per week as well as a meal off and you can have 100 calories of anything each day. You also must drink 3 liters of water (about six 16 oz. glasses) and get points for exercising 20 minutes per day and sleeping at least seven hours per night. The goal is lose at least 1% of your body weight every week.

I've never done a diet before. But I realized I was treading water with my weight and figured why not try something like this to see if it worked. So at the last minute, I decided to do it. We're nearly done with the first week and I'm already down four pounds. I've been getting into it, even though it's meant giving up some of my favorite things like my daily Nantucket Nectars Half and Half iced tea and cereal for breakfast. Most bread is off-limits because it has sugar. And of course, no beer (except for one I had after hockey the other night). I've even gone to bed earlier. Tomorrow is my "off day" but I'm going to stick with the diet for all meals except dinner, and even then I'm not going to go overboard. I'll have a couple of beers, but I don't want to blow my progress on one night.  I set my goal weight for the end of the month to be 160, but I'm hoping I can get into the mid-150s, where I haven't been in at least 10 years. And that, hopefully, will translate into faster race times.

At the very least, I'll be healthier...and the beers will taste better.