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. :)