Christopher Street

A Huffin and A Puffin

It's not that I mind being fat. I don't really. I mean, that would be like minding that I have blue eyes or minding that I am not good with directions. It's just something that's part of who I am. I have been fat, in one definition or another, for almost 30 years. Sometimes I am a little fat, sometimes a lot fat. But never, not at my thinnest, not at 18 when I was working out 5 or 6 times a week--never have I not been fat. Not that I can remember.

And I don't mind. I can't mind. It's just who I am.

I mind being out of shape, however. I mind that I can't walk up 5 flights of steps without a nap and an oxygen tank. That I mind.

So, that we're going to change.

Jazzercise has been my poison of choice in the past. I like the class format, it's cheap and fun and it has worked for me in the past. So, I have signed on at two centers, one near my work, one near my home. I've been twice and both times had quite a bit of fun--more than I should have, considering that I am fat, and arhythmic, and wickedly out of shape.

But it is actually a blast. I actually laughed out loud tonight, about 30 minutes into the cardio. A real laugh. Like I was at an amusement park or something.

I suppose that a side effect of all this huffin and puffin will be that I will lose some weight. Interesting to see how that goes. My metabolism has been pretty stable for, oh, five or six years. I eat practically non-stop, whatever I want in truly horrifying quantities and I don't gain any weight. I suppose that adding in 4 hours of exercise a week will disturb that precarious balance, we'll hope in a good way.