No spare tire, thanks very much

One year ago today, I started my weight loss program (blogged about it last year). I'm basically following the Weight Watchers program, without actually joining Weight Watchers. So far, it's been a big success. When I started (April 19, 2006), I weighed 175.5 pounds, and by August 9, I was down to 160 even. Since then, I've hovered between 160 and 165 (maxing out at 165.5 twice) &mdash this morning I weighed in (for the third consecutive week) at 163.5.

I'm still following the program, but I've upped my points to 28 per day, and I don't count points on weekends, though I try not to go too crazy. I've been doing that for about six months, and I've been maintaining pretty well.

I was never concerned about my weight until about 10 years ago. We were looking at some pictures of a recent trip to Collingwood with some friends. One of the friends was quite pregnant with her second child, and she joked about how her first child kept running up to her, pointing to her expanding tummy, and saying "baby". While looking at the pictures, we came across one of me in a particularly unflattering pose. Gail jokingly pointed at my tummy and said "baby". Now that I think about it, it would be really unlike Gail to say something like that, so perhaps it was someone else. Might even have been me. In any case, that's when I resolved (it was December at the time) to get into better shape. Shortly after Christmas that year, we bought a treadmill, and I started cutting out snacks and stuff. I went from my high of 188 pounds down to 163 in four months. In the next few months I went up to around 170, and then stayed around there for a few years, though it kept slowly creeping up until I hit 175 again, and then Easter happened last year.

My ultimate goal is to never hit 180 pounds again. Right now, I would consider even getting to 170 as failure. I realize that I am almost for... for... f... well, I'm in my late thirties, and things will likely change, but for now I'm still eating pretty well most of the time, working out two or three times a week, and playing baseball again this summer. I think I look OK, and I feel great, so my short-term goal is not to hit 170 pounds before I turn for... for... f... oh, you know.