In October I heard that there was to be a “bet on yourself” contest in November. The premise was that you would pay a certain amount of money and bet that you could lose 4 percent of your body weight in 28 days. I did not bet very much because I did not have very much that I could afford to lose. I planned to accomplish the goal so I would not be losing the money.On the starting day I went to the fitness center and was weighed on some very fancy scales that measured all kinds of things. It turned out that I needed to lose 12.07 pounds in the four weeks. I was off and running.
Well, not running. I am too large to run without damaging my knees and feet but I did start walking more and swimming more. PLUS I ate a LOT of kale salad. Such great kale salad. (Recipe: strip all the leaves off a large bunch of kale and put in very large bowl. Massage the finely broken leaves for 3-5 minutes. Thinly slice one medium to large sweet onion, one bunch of celery, and 2-3 large heads of broccoli. Toss together and sprinkle with Tajin Classico. [No, I did not use any other dressing.] Sometimes I added a little feta cheese and Greek olives, but mostly not. I ate this 2-3 times a day.)
When the Monday came to weigh in I did not think I had done very well because the previous weekend had been a go-overboard-eating-and-not-exercising. WELL, I was in for a surprise…when I was weighed I had not lost 4 percent of my body weight (12.07 pounds); I had lost 11.8 pounds. So very close to 4 percent. Just needed to have lost 0.27 pound! What a bust! I did not get my money back, sadly, but 11.8 pounds was a real win. Since then I have been up and down but now, in this new year, I am back on the wagon.
It just goes to show that consistent hard work can accomplish wonders. The weight loss for 2015 was 19 pounds total according to my physician’s scales. Makes me happy. I want to be happier next January!