The Latest Challenge, Part 2

At various times in my life, I’ve been semi-serious about working out and living healthy.  The year or so leading up to this weight-gain bet was not one of those periods.  I hadn’t been to the gym in God-knows-how-long.  I had skimped on meals to save money (there were a couple of months of travel during that time period), to focus on work (writing for a newspaper often had me out and about at odd hours or working straight through lunch), and out of sheer laziness (sometimes I’m lazy).  As a result, I wasn’t in the best shape of my life.  I wasn’t in bad shape compared to the general population of obese Americans, mind you.  And I wasn’t emaciated either.  But looking at that scale made me realize I’d drifted down in size and strength from where I once was and wanted to be.

I admit, there was also an element of vanity and shallowness in the bet—I wanted to look better.  And I was also tired of my friends being able to pick me up—a rather demoralizing occurrence for anyone inclined to think of himself as a man.  So I committed to the bet and bought a gym membership, along with a sizable supply of food and nutritional supplements.

I started eating about 3,500 calories per day.  I was taking in a good amount of carbohydrates, fats, and especially protein.  My speedy little metabolism won’t let me gain much weight in the form of fat, so I was mainly focused on building muscle through working out and eating plenty of protein.  About a month into the bet, things were going very well.  I felt more committed to physical fitness than I’d been at almost any other time in my life.  So, naturally, I hurt myself.

As many amateur bodybuilders are bound to do from time to time, I pulled a muscle in my back.  Or maybe I pinched it.  Or tweaked it.  Or something. I don’t know; like I said, I’m an amateur.  As a result, I had to sit on the sidelines and let my back heal for a few weeks, losing much of the progress I’d previously made.  Working out regularly and putting on some healthy pounds had felt good.  I could see my progress, and I felt stronger and healthier than I had in a long time.  Maybe that’s what caused me to get a little too zealous during that shoulder exercise when I hurt myself.  And now I was down.  I felt that progress slipping away.  I didn’t feel as healthy as I had a few weeks earlier.  I didn’t feel as energetic.  My appetite was diminished.

The Fourth of July came and went.  I paid Chris, who easily reached his goal when his gains began to snowball (maybe a little more than necessary, if you ask me).  Taking my injury into account, we agreed to extend my part of the bet an extra five weeks, to my birthday.

Now I’m less than four days from the official weigh-in, and just a tad shy of 150.  I’ve been back in the gym for over a month, I’m eating well, and I’m feeling pretty healthy.  I’m feeling that motivation and commitment to physical fitness that I felt in the first few weeks of the bet.  So I’m knocking on wood that I won’t hurt myself again.  And I’m eating ravenously this week, hoping to report good news in my next update.