Trying to cheat on a 'diet' in this town is spooky

It's only two weeks away, and it's getting scarier every time I think about it. I have only run a few times in the past few weeks, and not at all this past week.

In fact, I haven't done much for my health at all in the past 10 days.

I've had a cold, and between that and staying busy at work, I've completely dropped the ball on my fitness program. I also dropped the ball on this column Thursday, which is why it's in Sunday's paper rather than Friday's -- I stayed home sick for a day.

And it shows. I've gained two pounds since last week, so I'm back up to 227 pounds. Ugh. At this rate, I'll never get below 200 pounds during my natural life. I need to recommit myself, and quick.

I have made a deal with myself that no matter how I feel Sunday, I'm going to get out there and run -- at least for a mile or so -- and I hope I can hold myself to it. I've determined that it's easy to talk (or write) about doing things for my own best interest, like exercising, but it's a lot harder to put it into action on a daily basis.

Frankly, it's hard to slide a fitness routine into my busy schedule, and I don't even have a family at home. I don't know how people with spouses and children do it.

I get up between 4:30 and 5:30 a.m., and even when I get up at my earliest time, I would rather sit on the porch and drink coffee as opposed to going on a run in the morning.

The best time for me to exercise is in the afternoon, but I often feel too deflated after a long day at work to be able to motivate myself to exercise.

I have done physical labor, and I have done mental labor, and I have to say that as I get older, the mental labor saps a lot more out of me than it did when I was younger.

Guys who work construction have a hard time understanding how sitting at a desk all day can be exhausting, but I assure you, it is. It's a different kind of tired, and after 10 hours of reading and writing at a computer terminal, my brain tends to want to shut down. It's hard to get motivated to do anything beyond turning on the TV in the afternoon or early evening.

That's where group exercise comes in. If it weren't for the group setting, sometimes I don't think I'd get anything done at all. There's a certain sense of camaraderie and mutual accountability that keeps me going.

Of course, my lack of exercise is only half the story.

The other half of the story is my eating.

I tell you, it's getting harder and harder for me to cheat on my "diet" in this town.

Last Friday, I was at a First Community Bank luncheon, and one of the women I was sitting with announced to the table that she liked reading this column. On that note, I looked down at my plate ... of course it was overflowing with roasted pork, baked beans and dinner rolls. Caramel cake on the side.

I made some comment about how I wasn't doing too well with my eating, and she said something like, "Yeah, I was sitting here watching you slather butter all over that roll."

Yikes! Talk about Spooktacular, my diet (or lack thereof) is getting scary. I have a whole county full of people (mostly women) watching my condiment usage!

I got myself into trouble again at the Times-Gazette coffee Tuesday. I had a plate full of food, and general manager William Mitchell asked me if I was going to save anything for our guests. Ouch.

There was, of course, plenty left over -- even after my second and third trips to the buffet -- but the mental damage was done. The latter two plates were comfort food to help me get over the guilt from eating the first one!

Well, I feel like it's about time I had some success to report, so my goal is to hunker down this week and report in at 224 pounds or less next week. Wish me luck!

-- John Philleo is editor of the Times-Gazette. He can be reached at (931) 684-1200, ext. 218, or by e-mail at editor@t-g.com. This column is scheduled to print every Friday.