My bathroom scale is the devil….and so is my son.
by admin
July 12, 2009
If you’re bored enough to read this post, I can only assume you read my first one. If not, I’ll cut to the chase and tell you two important facts.
Fact #1–I’m kind of fat.
Fact #2–I drew an Idaho controlled hunt tag for elk.
To be clear, I’m not so fat that people attempt to harpoon me or anything along those lines. I’m just too fat at the moment to be able to properly hunt the mountains of Idaho. We can’t all be giant, walking lungs like Cameron Hanes or our own Corey Jacobsen….nor does a person HAVE to be. Having said that, it certainly helps a great deal when you’ve got the ability/willingnesss to hunt areas that others won’t. This fact is not debatable, at least not with me. I’ve proved this to myself enough times to know it’s true.
There are certainly a few large animals shot each year in relatively close proximity to a road. There are a whole lot more taken in areas that make you want to cry when it’s time to pack one out though. To prepare for the “make you cry” areas, I am forced to lose the equivalent weight of an averaged-sized African villager each year. A controlled hunt tag means about a villager and a half worth of effort/weight.
Since I’m going to be suffering anyway, I thought it might amuse all of you to monitor my painful journey down misery lane. As such, I will be providing a weekly update on where I’m at with my training and what my evil, evil bathroom scale (or fatmeter as I like to call it) is telling me.
I checked this morning, and it told me I was about 250 on the hoof. That’s a good number if you’re 6’5″, but not so good when you’re a hair over 5’11″. I’m a big boy by nature however, and to put it into perspective I was right at 200 pounds when I graduated from boot camp some 17 years ago.
My goal is to reach 215 by October 1st, which just happens to be the first day of my hunt. I’ve come VERY close to this number the last few years, but never quite reached it. I made it down to 219 last year and 216 the year before that.
I have a secret weapon this year however. My ungrateful 7 year old son has taken to challenging me in feats of strength and fitness lately. I know what you’re thinking.
“Where is the sport in beating a child? What’s next? Are you going to mosey down to the senior citizen’s home and challenge some geezers to arm wrestling?”
If that’s what it takes to assert my dominance…..yes. I digress however.
Rowdy (yes that’s my son’s real name) has figured out that sit-ups in particular are not fun for daddy. It all started innocently enough when he sat down one night and knocked out 20 of them. While it was no picknick for me, I managed to do 21 without actually crying.
While that was managable enough, he’s w0rked his way up to a HUNDRED FREAKING SIT-UPS! I am proud to say I managed to wheeze my way to 101, but it took a LOT longer for my 101 than it did his 100….and yes I did cry a little.
You think that’s funny? Try sitting down tonight and doing 100 consecutive sit-ups. I’ll bet even money you shed a tear or two yourself.
I’ll report back next week when hopefully my son will have found someone new to torture and I will have dropped to 240ish.
Fat guy out.
Good stuff Dave! I’ll just add that getting on a schedule for working out and STAYING in shape has made the biggest difference for me. My wife used to always give me a bad time for “training for elk season”…getting in shape 2 months before season (and hating every second of it, by the way), then getting out of shape on October 1, just to start over again the next July.
I remember my first run (I hate running)…I made it to the 0.2 mile mark and seriously thought about just waiting for the next July to come and beginning my struggle through my normal training routine then. I pushed through to 0.5 miles and felt like my lungs were ready to explode. The key was that I went back and did it again 2 nights later. This time I pushed myself and made it 1 mile. After 5-6 weeks of running 3 times per week, I ran my first 5k. 3 miles represented the farthest that I had ever ran!
Staying on a training schedule and setting an attainable goal has made all the difference. I’m by no means a world-class athlete, but staying in shape comes much easier now and having so much invested gives me the motivation to not let myself get out of shape. It is a rough, uphill climb, but the view from being “on” the mountain is much better than the view from the bottom!
Keep it up guys! September is less than 7 weeks away!!!!
Tom,
Though I question your choice in NFL teams, I’m glad to know I’m not the only one with the aforementioned struggles. I’m 37 by the way. The effort always feels worth it when I’m chasing bulls around in September/October, but by January those memories are LONG gone for me, only to be replaced by thoughts of cheesy pizza and ice-cream with the kids.
I’m hoping that a weekly update of my efforts will help guys EXACTLY like yourself stay motivated leading up to hunting season at least. Next week I’m going to include a photo of the nasty little hill behind my house that I train on. I suppose I should feel lucky that I have a hill so close to me to prepare with, but really it just serves as a daily reminder of how old, lazy, and fat I feel.
I should note that I quit chewing tobacco about a year and a half ago, and that has REALLY made keeping my weight down harder. I used to be able to throw in a “pinch” whenever I felt bored/hungry. Food seems to have replaced that pinch for me. It was worth it to keep my son from seeing what I was doing, but it’s certainly been difficult.
Keep the faith brother, and watch for future updates. Let me know how you’re doing as well so I don’t feel like the only middle-aged male struggling to get ready.
Dave
I can relate. I am struggling for the first time this year with weight loss. In years past I was able to diet and drop 10-15 lbs in 2 weeks. Not this year, I have lost 10 lbs in 8 weeks and it has been difficult, dieting and exercise. Your original post reminded me of myself. Lose weight for hunting season only to gain it back cursing the Denver Broncos into January (being optimistic). Today I weighed in 188.6, I am 5’9. Good hunting weight for me is 175 by August 30th. When I here of these guys running triathalons I can just gasp with amazement Heck, I feel proud when I run around the block (3/4 of a mile) and do 3 sets of pushups with my daughters on my back. Getting old sucks, this is the first year I have admitted and felt my old age, 34 by the way.