26 June 2005

Well that puts it all in perspective...

Opened up the Washington Post today and was reading through the paper when, blam, I turn to the Style section. Splashed across the entire top fold is a photo (can't link directly to it...I'm not that smart, but here's the gallery) of this 680 pound man and his wife, who goes 250+ herself, sort of hugging. The man is bare, except for a sheet around his waist.

Now I'm trying to lose a little weight myself, but my problems pale in comparison to his. This man can't walk because his legs can't support his weight. The Post reports that the National Aquarium in Baltimore had to lend their whale crane to workers who were trying to move him.

Me, I'm trying to go from 170 to 158. That's nothing (although I suppose if you wanted to go with percentage of total weight, my trying to lose 12 pounds would be like this guy trying to lose 48 pounds).

These extra pounds crept up on me over the winter. I entered the fall weighing a respectable 160 or 162, but somehow I stepped on the scale one day in January and weighed 170. I was shocked. I hadn't weighed 170 since 1994, when my diet consisted mainly of Popeye's Chicken, purchased close to midnight at the 14th and N Popeye's. Love that late night drivethru.

Since Popeye's is no longer in my regular diet, I'm guessing these extra pounds are sympathy weight from my wife's pregnancy. That and in your mid-30's you don't burn calories the way you did a decade ago...

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