For anyone who doesn’t know, I am the editor of a small daily newspaper. I’ve been a newsman for more than 20 years.
Today has been the kind of morning old news guys love. The local police at 3:30 this morning arrested a local guy and charged him with first-degree murder. My newsroom knew something was going Monday, but we weren’t able to confirm it until 6:37 a.m. today. We posted breaking news on our Web site this morning and have already updated the story four or five times. It made for lots of excitement to go with all of the things we normally do each morning to put out an afternoon newspaper.
There was one difference today. In the middle of the excitement, we had to take a health screen as part of a switch our parent company is making to a new health-insurance provider. My numbers, of course, were not good and it’s hard to not be depressed.
Somehow, I weighed 14 pounds more than I supposedly weighed last week when I began a weight-loss contest at the Muscatine Community Y. I hope this is just a difference between scales, times of day and the clothes I had on today. I don’t know how I could have gained 14 POUNDS.
All you have to do is look at me to know my body-fat percentage is freakishly high and my body-mass index is also in the range of your typical contestant on “The Biggest Loser.”
My blood sugar was solidly in the ideal range, which is good. At least I have not yet become diabetic.
My total cholesterol is als in the ideal range, but my “good” cholesterol is too low. My blood pressure was also a bit high, but not in the hypertension range. I’m hoping the excitement of the morning contributed to the somewhat elevated number. The pot of coffee I sucked down this morning probably didn’t help.
I just HAVE to stick to a sensible eating plan and get plenty of exercise. I’m getting better at the former and doing OK on the latter, having exercised for 13 hours so far this month. And much of it was the dripping-wet-with-sweat-when-done-type of cardio exercise.
Eating right will be a challenge Wednesday — we’re having a potluck lunch at work.
… 14 pounds heavier. It’s enough to make me go looking for a pizza. But I’m not gonna do it.
Brome Hill 