Saying goodbye to my chins...

Through no one's fault but my own, weight problems have plagued me ever since I stopped exercising on a somewhat regular basis (which coincided with me getting my high school diploma) and my discovery of fermented hops (which also coincided with that whole diploma thing). Toss in a marriage to a good cook and pretty soon I went from (singular) chin to (plural) chins.

These days, I've come to grips with the fact that if I want to live long enough to enjoy grandkids, which isn't a guarantee given the late start I got at this father thing, I need to take better care of myself. Since about mid-July, I've been on a serious exercise kick. I worked out diligently on my elliptical until that broke down in late August, and now I've become an avid walker with a little jogging up the many hills of St. Peter mixed in to get me at least buns of tin.

Some weekends, like this past one, I'll log nearly 20 miles walking and in that time it gives a person a lot of time to think. I used to use an IPOD when I walked, but I've found its just more enjoyable for me just thinking about life in general without the audio interference FloRida or Miley Cyrus (hey, it's my kids' IPOD) provide wearing earphones.

In that time, I've come up with some pretty amusing thoughts and one of them was the internal debate I had recently over the question, "Why is it that overweight people, like myself, aren't the strongest people on the face of the earth?"

You'd think overweight people would have a distinct advantage carrying that extra weight around. We're pumping iron on a somewhat permanent basis.

Skinny people pay big bucks to be able to lift that much weight whereas the overweight person carries it with them all the time for free. It's like that freakin' American Express card, we don't leave home without it.

If skinny people are too tired to work out, they don't. If someone overweight is too tired and doesn't want to work out, well guess what, if you want to eat you can't avoid at least getting a little leg work in even if you're just going to the door to tip the pizza delivery guy.

No wonder overweight people are breathing so hard, it's because they're always exercising.

I don't consider myself fat. I'm a home gym on two feet.