Pondering our weight-challenged times

Does anyone question that we have more wide-girth people among us than in previous times?

TV accents the problem by showing those "headless" people walking around - people with huge middles whose anonymity is deemed important to protect.

But the wide girth has become such the norm, it seems no shame is associated with it at all.

That's good to an extent. We don't want to stigmatize large people. But we don't want people to feel too comfortable carrying too big a load around.

A lot of the blame goes to "fast food." Politician Howard Dean disputes that. He at least feels this factor is overrated, and suggests other environmental factors are at work.

Clothing manufacturers naturally make adjustments. There was a time when young and middle age males tried to look like Starsky and Hutch. Or those dudes on "Dukes of Hazzard."

Pants had to be form-fitting. Many trousers were labeled "slim cut." It was the desired ideal even though many males back then didn't look anything like Starsky and Hutch.

I recall the term "chubby" for heavier individuals back then. There were clothes labeled as such. Today we have a new word for "chubby." It's "normal."

We think nothing of wearing a shirt and not tucking it in. As the years went by we began seeing male trousers labeled "relaxed fit."
It's a euphemism. Translated it means "yes, all you male slobs are adding the pounds for whatever reasons, so since we're in the business of selling clothes, we'll market to you."

And then I had to laugh because I noticed some trousers labeled "loose fit." This was an additional tier.

It's like those sweatshirts that might be labeled "XXXXL" or whatever. I remember Bud Grant walking around with "XL" boldly emblazoned on his sweatshirt. And Bud was/is a slim man.

I'm not sure Bud would have let go of O-lineman Bryant McKinnie so quickly. McKinnie fits right in with my topic today because he's a glacier. He looks like he crammed down way too many frosted rice crispie bars in the offseason.

But Bud was never all that excited about pre-season. He opened "training camp" at the latest possible date, didn't he? He seemed to believe you didn't create great players by putting them through brutal workouts, in August or whenever.
You simply went out and tried to acquire great players.

Bud was the real deal and knew what it took. Spartan practice regimens might be for coaches who were putting on airs.

Bud might have had patience with Mr. McKinnie. The two might be a good fit with each other.

Bud would simply recognize the tackle as a blue chip player. Bud might let him get in shape through the inevitable rigors of getting into a pro football season.

Someone once asked the venerable Grant, father figure to the young generation of male Vikings fans of the 1970s, why he didn't have his players drill by running through tires. We'd see those tire scenes on TV.

Bud's response: "Look out there on the field. You don't see tires out there, do you?"

Bud didn't believe in electric heaters on the sidelines. All of this was fine as long as he won.

The "purple people" indeed won a lot. But to this day we are haunted by those four Super Bowl losses.

Was McKinnie pouting about something? I can't believe he would just walk away from the game.

Grant might have coaxed him along. The coach had rapport with players who were blessed with special talent.

I have become resigned about my own weight. People joke about how you have to "push away from the table." But our food consumption seems to happen everywhere, not just at the dinner table.

If we restricted our consumption to "dinner time," we'd be in good shape. You can't even pay for gas without seeing those wrapped, frosted rice crispie bars. Oh, and grab a soft drink while you're at it.

When I was a kid, when you paid for gas you paid the attendant who came out to the car to wait on you. Back then, "pumping gas" was a flunky job. Today there's no such thing as a flunky job.
There's a line in "Do You Know the Way to San Jose?" about "washing cars and pumping gas."

I think about losing weight but it seems immensely difficult. Food temptations float around us. It's amazing high school wrestlers can still lose weight. Hats off to them.

I once lost weight using a real "wrestler's diet" as prescribed by coach Spencer Yohe. I used it 3-4 times mostly with success. The last time it didn't go so well. It felt more like a chore and I didn't shed that much.

Was age the problem or those "environmental factors" (like peptides) cited by Howard Dean?

I still have a copy of that wrestler's diet. It was photocopied (or "Xeroxed" as we used to say) from the original that was obviously typed on a manual typewriter. That's how far back yours truly and Mr. Yohe go.

If my biggest problem now is weight, I'm blessed. Mr. Yohe has been through a cancer crisis.

That diet was loaded with things like scrambled eggs, cottage cheese, spinach, dry toast and grapefruit. You could also have a nice T-bone steak once in a while. You washed it all down with coffee.
But you started having dreams about Hershey bars.

It's ironic we have the Regional Fitness Center (RFC) in Morris in this time of expanding girths.

Maybe the RFC just gives us an excuse to abuse ourselves with excessive calories. We can pig out and then salve our guilt by going out to the RFC and pretending to take care of our body.

I have written before that the path to fitness is pretty simple. It starts with a simple balanced diet and self-discipline in that regard. The latter is difficult, I realize.

But we can't overcome our dietary shortcomings by simply buying an RFC membership.

Stop the snacking. Resist the between-meals food temptations that are often thrust on us out of the blue.

It's fine to go to McDonald's once in a while but don't go for that soft drink refill. I would have been aghast in my youth if someone told me that someday you could re-fill your soft drink cup at will.

Our Courage Cottage in Morris has scheduled a 10K walk-run for September 10. It strikes me as unusual because the 5K distance has taken over as far more popular.
The 10K is 6.2 miles. It's really quite a long way to run if you're running hard.

Maybe the upcoming event will attract mainly walkers.

The Courage Cottage was originally called a hospice but today I think hospice is just one of its services. It's a health care facility.

It's a great asset but I get weary of seeing the manner in which such facilities gather money. There are so many fundraising drives or events.

Maybe a simple little tax paid by us all would be more practical.

Would I consider doing the 10K run? I doubt they'd have the timekeeper stick around for two hours.

How the mighty have fallen. I did the Twin Cities Marathon three times in the 1980s.

I need to dust off Mr. Yohe's diet again.

Maybe next month. Or next year.
In the meantime, I'm having a Hershey bar. Have one too, Mr. McKinnie.

- Brian Williams - morris mn Minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com