Or yesterday for that matter. We are have moved from one house to another. Our transition to the new house has been sloooooow. Why? Because our new house is less than a kilometer away from the old house. We didn’t have to move everything out at once.
This has made me think about weight loss in general and why we (you and I) don’t always do what’s best for us when we have ample opportunity to do so.
Until late November of 2006, I never really thought about losing weight. Why should I, I could lose weight whenever I wanted to. I would just need to change my diet a little, get some more exercise, and presto – weight loss.
That didn’t happen for years and in the last decade I gained about 30+ pounds. Did you read that – 30 pounds in ten years!!! B.C. (that “before children” for all of the childless folks out there), I was in very good shape since I lived a very active lifestyle that including teaching skiing in the winter and bicycle racing in the summer. My diet was never really good or bad in that time. It didn’t matter – I could eat whatever I wanted and stay in good shape. Ah, the good old days on my youthful 20’s.
Then came the end of “that” decade (my 20’s). By the end of the decade my first son was in our lives and things seem to shift. Nothing dramatic at first. I spent more time at home taking care of my newborn son with my wife. There was more holding the baby, walking the kid around in his stroller, changing diapers, feeding him – less time exercising. Once our second son came around a couple of years later, we were busy with two young children and all of the details that go along with such a responsibility.
It was at that time, that my wife and I figured out that if we were going to do this right, i.e. – raise our kids, then we might need some more money. I’ve got to tell you, that while skiing is great and teaching skiing is fun, the moolah isn’t so great. Turns out kids take money. Write that down. If you are mathematically inclined, here’s the formula:
KIDS = MONEY
For clarification, MORE KIDS = MORE MONEY. Make sense?
As a side note, we never received the instruction manual when we left the hospital – not for either child. If you have an extra copy lying around, maybe you might just want to send one over …
So we moved. We moved from the high desert of Taos New Mexico to even drier environment of Boise Idaho. Our choice was determined in part by the location, close to skiing (can’t get that out of our blood), to the size of the city (my wife thinks Boise is a large city, “largest city I ever lived in” – I laugh having lived in Seattle for awhile), to the apparent “kid friendly” environment (yes, this is a kid/family friendly city – shhh, this will be our little secret).
Eventually, I landed myself a job that involves sitting at a desk for an extended period of time. Guess what happens if you sit at a desk for long stretches of time? That’s right, you get the “spread”.
For those of you not familiar with the “spread” let me fill you in on some details. As you age, gravity plans an ever increasing importance in your life. This impact may show up in different forms. For some, they can’t jump as high. For instance, in the old days, the really old days, I could jump up and touch the basketball rim. Not too shabby for a 5′10″ guy who ran long distance event in high school and college. Now, I can barely touch the net.
Getting back to the “spread”. Very simply, it is when you sit on a chair for an extended period of time; minutes, hours, days, weeks, years, and you ass gets wider. And no, I don’t have a picture to show you. Maybe I should get myself on a treadmill.
