Weighing in on Weight Watchers and my upcoming temptation situation

I am surrounded by current and former Weight Watchers participants, both family and friends. Women and men. Success stories and non-success stories. I have purposely not joined, which has angered some in my family who have had success with it. Interestingly, I believe in the company's mission and appreciate their goal of getting people to change their lifestyle instead of profiting off a get-thin-quick plan.

Probably the only thing that's kept me away from joining Weight Watchers is my own stubbornness. That, and I hate having to pay for something I should be able to take care of and control myself. Much like my views on counselors, marriage and otherwise, I don't discount their success, but just know they are offering professional advice on something I feel I should be able to handle on my own.

Yet clearly I haven't been able to control my weight, based on the last 20 years. So I'm proud to say I've lost 10 pounds since starting this blog. Yet in that time I've wasted a lot of opportunities to double that. I should be closing in on breaking the 200-pound barrier, which I haven't seen in many years. Yet I'm still hovering around 220.

And now it's only going to get harder. The Minnesota high school golf season starts tomorrow and I'm a golf coach. Come mid-April through the end of May I spend a lot of time in a van with growing boys. After walking 18 holes of golf they are usually hungrier than the annoying geese that often inhabit the golf courses these boys just walked.

Our team restaurant for a couple years was Culver's, which if my waistline had sponsors would occupy a solid piece of real estate. My wife is from Wisconsin and I have endeared myself to that state's love of cheese. Also, the Culver's nearest our house serves Spam Burgers, and I have also endeared myself to that company's mystery meat. Hormel also should own advertising on my belly. If it came in trade for Spam I would probably do it. In fact, I'm going to start researching Spam tattoos right after I finish this blog entry.

The last couple of years the golf team members have most often picked Chipotle. Nothing screams GORGE YOURSELF quite like Chipotle. Nothing represents the U.S.'s obesity issue quite like this Mexican restaurant. In fact, going there was one of the first signs of aging for me, as I have always been able to eat a lot of food. Yet I never enjoyed eating their burritos. Too big.

Not sure what this year's golf team delicacy of choice will be, but something tells me whatever restaurant finds their favor it will have a limited menu for those of us trying to eat healthier. This will be the true test of my will. As long as I keep the babies currently floating in my wife's belly in mind, I should be able to resist the power of Spam and its fatty fast-food brethren.

I originally intended to write about Weight Watchers' theory on weighing in (hence the first two words of the headline), but I am going to save that for a separate entry later this week. Also on the docket: dieting while married to a person pregnant with twins and the challenges that presents.

As Kai Ryssdal of NPR's Marketplace program would say, "Let's do the numbers."

I worked out four times last week, which is one or two more times than my average times per week and more than the last couple weeks combined. I burned the following calorie amounts in four workouts last Sunday through Wednesday: 542, 564, 805, 335. With that weekly total of 2,246 calories burned, my total of calories removed for the year is 64,768. Almost two third of my way to my goal and only one third of the way through the year. I have to be happy with that. And I still have a few tricks up my sleeve. :)

In the presence of weight loss greatness, and I came up empty (or rather overly full)

A week ago I boarded a bus for the Twin Cities to cheer on the high school wrestling team at the state tournament. In the town I reside, wrestling is king. The team owns 20-some conference titles and either wins the section or finishes runner-up every year. This year the team continually improved and out-did most people's expectations.

They practice a couple times per week before school, then practice again after school. There's no doubt wrestling is one of the most strenuous sports available to high school teens. It takes the ultimate in dedication and a lot of watching one's weight.

So there I sat last Thursday, watching a room full of dedicated athletes from all over the state, plowing through stale pizza and overcooked mini-donuts and various others. I spent $20 on nothing tasty. Nothing. And I wasn't satisfied. In fact, I was the opposite of satisfied ... which now that I think of it would simply be unsatisfied. (I originally thought there was going to be another, more creative word. Shucks.)

It felt like the ultimate irony. I was being so undisciplined in the company of all these disciplined people.

No excuses. Just disappointment. I'm still hovering around 10 pounds weight loss, but that day's poor eating choices have seemed to follow me since like a shadow. Since then I have eaten pizza nearly every day. Not going to lose weight that way. Since then I have only worked out once. Since then I've not been proud of my choices.

But that's partially why I have this blog, to hold me accountable. I'll pretend for this moment that I have 100,000 readers watching me flail. It's believable, to me, but so is my dream of finding a healthier me.

On two tread mill workouts I burned 991 calories, putting the 2011 missing calories report at 62,522.