160 by August 26

The gauntlet has been thrown.

So I kind of alluded to this before. Unfortunately, that's all I did. I wrote down a goal, brushed off some of the cobwebs on my blog so I could set this somewhere, and went on about my business.

We're doing a Biggest Loser contest at work, which I may have mentioned before. There are going to be prizes and such. Pretty decent ones. Anyway, I've kind of been "training" the last week or so.

Today, we had donuts for breakfast and Stuffed Crust pizza as a "last meal". I weighed in this afternoon ... 198.

Now, it was in regular work clothes, stuff in my pockets, shoes on, all that stuff, so you can say that maybe I weigh 194, and maybe in the morning on an empty stomach, that's 192 ... maybe.

Or maybe I'm a buffet away from the most I've ever weighed, which is not cool if your age doesn't start with 2. (Well, it's not cool ever, but it's less cool now.)

So. My goal is a "work weight" of 160. I figure if I actually weighed 160 as a non-drinking, close-to-middle-age adult, I can do it again. Plus I need to, or else I'll end up carrying an extra 50-100 pounds like my dad and his dad did.

Our contest has weekly prizes, monthly prizes, a six-month prize, and a grand prize. We do weekly weigh-ins through three months, and monthly for the next three, when we do the six-month prizes. Then we're on our own, either maintaining or continuing our work. Before the next incentive meeting, we do a final weigh-in. Biggest percentage loser gets $750 toward a gym membership or his or her pocket.

There's also a rumor that everyone who kept weight off will get $5 or $10 a pound. Yeah, our president is really hoping this will spur us to get and stay healthy. They recognize the value of healthy employees around here (at some point, our grounds will actually become smoke-free. Did I mention we're a construction company?) It's pretty cool.

38 pounds. 25 weeks. Not as easy as gaining the weight, but it can be done.

Who's with me?