Laying off the Donuts

If you live in New England you run on Dunkin Donuts, clam chowder, stuffies, clam cakes, beer, all sorts of breads and lots and lots of pies.  Not good if you don't keep up with the exercising.  So not good, that since August 2005 I've put on 25 pounds - and pushing 26.  On top of that we celebrated Chile's Fiestas Patrias a day early last night - having eaten too many empanadas and drank too much Pisco Sour and red wine.  Thank God there is not a Cuban bakery or restaurant anywhere close by (except those revolucion people, but they are not Cuban).

Being a doctoral student it has been hard to keep up with an exercise regimen that allows me to freely participate in New England culinary culture while maintaining a healthy weight.  So at 25 pounds overweight, with no motivation whatsoever to engage in exercise (except to be able to partake on the culinary arts of this region) my spouse decided to dangle some incentive - once I loose half the weight I get my choice of an mp3 player (yes, I can even opt for an iPod Nano); once I loose all the weight I get a trip!  To be honest, I'm more excited about the midrange prize than the grand prize and that's a good thing.

You see, once I get into a routine, it's hard for me to fall off.  So today I went to my first aerobic step class in well over two years.  I thought I wasn't going to be able to endure it, but I fared much better than the young things in the class.  My right knee almost buckled in the first 10 minutes (hey, after all it's carrying around the extra weight), but I survived.  It reminded me how much effort goes into staying healthy and fit and how much strenous exercise is needed to burn off once Chocolate Glazed doughnut.

This is the first week of my fitness adventure, so wish me luck.  If all goes well, i should be getting that iPod very close to mid-October and for my birthday no less!