My holiday wish? Keep it up.

I am almost through the gastronomical gauntlet.


The Holidays are the trip wire that explodes the diet of many a dieter or Weight Watcher. There have certainly been times over the past month where I've found temptation a little too enticing, a cookie just too darn convincing, and a slice of cake just look too delicious to pass up. This week , especially, has been dangerous, what with office parties and platters aplenty. I am a man with his share of weaknesses, among them carrot cake and chocolate covered pretzels, and those weaknesses were tested to extremes.


I'd be a dope of I didn't indulge a little bit. Hell, that's part of what makes the season so darn delightful. But I am proud to say I did not break, and though this weekend promises a few more hurdles, the dollops of danger are starting to dissipate (What is Christmas or Hanukkah without extra alliteration, after all).


I am not a quitter. Call me easy-going or even a pushover at times, but there are few things in my life that I've given up on, at least officially. True, I quit the soccer team in 4th grade, but the stupid coach insisted everyone pass his son the ball at all times. When I get committed to an idea or cause, I tend to stick to it.


The exception, other than that dastardly soccer coach, has been my ongoing battle against my weight. It's the classic yo yo motif that I'm sure many a dieter has experienced. You get motivated to do something about your body, you diet and exercise more, you start to see results, and you find yourself pleased. Then, like a kid with ADD seeing something shiny, you get distracted or worse, overconfident. You start to think that there's no meal you can't handle. Small excuses for avoiding the gym creep into your psyche more and more. You say, "sure, I'll enter the chicken nugget eating contest!" Or, as is the danger now, the Holidays come, and Chocolate Santas become your dietary hit men.


But something has come over me. I give plenty of credit to Weight Watchers, to the motivation of a pending wedding, and to Megan herself, who has never shied from showing her pride in what I am accomplishing. I don't want to lose momentum. Instead of making excuses, I'm going out of my way to get to the gym, and my workouts have become draining and long. On the occasions I do overeat, the guilt I used to feel has been replaced with something else, a desire to overcome any indiscretion with hard work and planning. I'm on a roll, and I'm enjoying it more than any dessert I've ever tasted.


It's been 17 weeks since that first fateful weigh-in, the day I decided to make this a public journey. In all those weeks, all those weigh-ins, I have not had one regression. On two occasions, my weight has remained the same as the previous week, but 15 times now, I've been rewarded with a smile and a smaller number. I'm close to losing 50 pounds, well on my way to 60 pounds and beyond that goal I set. Quite simply, this is the best I've ever felt about myself.


I haven't had many things to ask for this holiday season. I have a good life, a great family and friends, and a wonderful fiancee. So Santa, or Hanukkah Harry, or whatever being may be keeping tabs, here's my wish: let me keep this up. Even my DVD collection doesn't bring me as much satisfaction as getting those little stickers demonstrating more weight has been lost.


Well, that and a GPS. I could really use one of those. A few weeks ago I got lost in my own neighborhood.


Not a creature was stirring, so here come some STATS!

Weeks until wedding: 32. Yep, Karl Malone's number.
Week 17 pounds lost: 1.8
Total weight lost: 45.8 pounds
Average weight loss per week: 2.7 lbs
Progress toward overall 60-pound goal: 76.33333333333 percent
Pounds remaining to reach that goal: 14.2 Can we do it by February? We shall do our best. (at least I will. You can help by reading and commenting).
Number of subscribers to this blog: 33.
Number last week: 30. This is good.
Days before Xmas: 1.
NORAD currently tracking Santa: somewhere near the Middle East. Careful, Santa. That episode of "South Park" didn't end too well.