Winners never quit and quitters never win.
— Vince Lombardi, football coach. (1913-70.)
Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.
— George Santayana, Spanish-American philosopher, writer. (1863-1952.)
No one knows more about losing weight than a fat man.
— Chris Steinbach, small-town newspaperman, blogger. (1966–.)
OK, maybe someone said this before me even though Google doesn’t think so.
If it’s not clear what the above statements have in common, a trip I want to begin again – this time by riding along to Ames on Sept. 24 — may bring it all into focus. My guess is I will be writing more about this in the future both here and in the Muscatine Journal.
A group called Mobilizing Muscatine Excellence is going to Ames to meet with Greg Welk, an associate professor of kinesiology and director of clinical research and community outreach at the Iowa State University Nutrition and Wellness Research Center. He has been working on a public-health initiative — based on the Active Life Movement – that he hopes to start in Muscatine and expand across Iowa. Muscatine was chosen because of a University of Wisconsin and Robert Wood Johnson Foundation study earlier this year that ranked Muscatine County near the bottom of the state in many important areas of health.
The Muscatine group behind all of this is trying to get me involved because they know having the Journal as a partner can help them get more people on board, which may make Muscatine County a healthier place.
And I could be the poster child for the struggle that this initiative aims to help Muscatine County residents overcome.
I’ve been in this spot — written many of these same words (scroll down toward the bottom of the link) — in the past. But winners never quit and quitters never win. This is a battle I am going to win again. And this time, I am going to figure out how to maintain my success and stop repeating the past.
Look out, Ames, here I come. And between now and then I am going to:
1. Work out at least four times in the next week.
2. Eat only three meals a day, making sure to eat at least one vegetable and a whole grain at each meal.
3. Avoid the vending machine — NO SNACKS and NO SOFT DRINKS.
4. Take a walk every day on my lunch break. I need to get away from desk more.
Brome Hill 
You go, guy…I’ll be plugging for you! So far, I’ve maintained the 50-lb loss for almost a year (about 8 months longer than I ever maintained a loss before), but I notice that I’m eating a little too much lately, so it’s a good time for me to rein it in. So worth it!!
Chris..I want you to know that after reading your earlier blogs about weight loss, I finally got up the courage to join the Y. You have no idea how difficult it was for me to go the first time with all those young, fit people. And no, when I was there, there wasn’t a single overweight person…except me. 😦 I still haven’t seen very darn many and there are plenty of times I’m the only one there so it IS embarrassing.
I still wish the Y could have a class or something for people who are at least 40lbs overweight so we could work out and not be so embarrassed. But…I’m going and I’ll continue going. So far I’ve lost a couple of pounds and gained one heck of a lot of aches, but I hope eventually it’ll be easier. So..thanks. 🙂