Less than a Pound a Year

Soon I'm going to a high school reunion and I was thinking how the class changes, as a group. Marriages, divorces, deaths, children. And pounds. Oh, I'm sure there are people who have maintained their high school weight. But as a group, I bet we've gained.

Today's picture shows me reflected in a shop window selling coffee paraphernalia. I am a caffeine addict. At least I don't use cream in my coffee!

But, yeah. I've gained weight since high school. I've done it honestly though. By eating cheese. And foie gras. By drinking alcohol. By choosing rich sauces. By making eating out a hobby.

I did some math, though. On average I have gained .8 pounds a year since high school. If everyone in my class has done the same, then we've raised the weight of ourselves a few tons.

Actually, of course, this has not been a neat linear gain. Rather I've had my ups and downs. And my plateaus. In particular, when I retired in 2002, I had gained about 1.4 pounds per year since high school. But I've since lost about twenty pounds and kept it off. Hence the new .8 figure.

I had this idea some months ago that I'd lose some more of my excess pounds and exercise and build up my muscles and look really good for this reunion. Well, if not 'look good' (there is the matter of the goofy hair and stuff), at least look fitter and thinner. Didn't happen, though. I am pretty active and do some exercise, but with my eating habits it's all I can do to keep off that twenty pounds.

So, I'm off to the reunion a little heavier than when we graduated. (Of course, I don't honestly remember my weight in high school. I'm guessing.) But it's only a .8 pound per year gain. And that's only like twenty-four ounces of cheese. Per year. Or twenty-four Guinnesses. So two ounces of cheese or two Guinnesses a month over what you burn...and there you are, decades later, that much fatter... thirty-two pounds fatter. (Imagine, again, if I put cream in all that coffee.)

I'll bet my classmates have some gray hair, some balding, some drooping, some wrinkles to show for our years. And some pounds. I've got all of that. Actually I'm not very gray yet but my barber claimed the other day that my hairline was receding.