One must eat a free lunch, yes?

Lawrence Toppman

I'm going to speak to high school students about journalism this afternoon, and my reward (aside from their rapt attention) is the free box lunch from Jimmy John's that I'm eating right now: a veggie sub, a pickle, a bag of potato chips and a dilemma.

The last item is a chocolate chunk cookie. A big cookie. A cookie whose chips -- I am not making this up -- seem to be formed in the arc of a smile aimed at me. My lips say no, no, but my pleasure centers say yes, yes.

Now, like most kids raised in the late '50s and early '60s, I was taught never to throw food away. Kids were starving in Asia and would be glad to get the food at which I turned up my nose, etc., etc. (I never understood how my failure to eat lima beans would affect them.)

I suppose I could give this to a co-worker, but I earned it, dammit! Or I'm about to. Why aren't THEY making speeches to high school kids if they want giant cookies? And...er...wouldn't I be doing evil if they happened to be on diets and were tempted to eat this wagon wheel of sugar and chocolate? As I said, it's a dilemma. I'll let this sit on my desk for a while....

Cars, please stop before the crosswalk

Ellyn Ritterskamp

I know that everyone reading this is considerate, and careful when they drive, to watch out for legitimate walkers who follow the rules.

But just in case it finds its way to someone who isn't sure of the rules, here's the deal: the zebra crossing is for walkers. When the light is red, the cars need to not be in that area. Those extra couple of feet edging forward won't help when the light turns green, toward getting anyone to their destination faster, and they can hinder those of us who are trying to cross the street in the only safe place we have.

In North Carolina (and I presume most states), many intersections have a wide solid line indicating where cars should stop, then a gap, then the zebra crossing, which is the striped area designated for walkers and wheelchairs. It's unsafe when cars creep up into that area, because then we have to work around them, and it slows us down, and then we can't get out of the intersection on time.

The line is there for a reason. There is nothing for motorists up there beyond it. Nothing to be gained, and much to be lost.

I've had to walk behind cars that were so far forward that it was safer to go behind them than in front. And for no reason except a driver's impatience. I suggest leaving a minute earlier, to get that time back.

I get it when a driver is trying to edge forward to be able to see if a right turn on red is available. I am willing to grant right-of-way there most times. But in the straight-ahead and left-turn lanes, there is no reason to be forward of the solid line.

There are two kinds of rules in the world: the kind that benefit the rule-maker, and the kind that are about safety. This one is about safety, yours and mine. Thanks for setting a good example.

I'm working on getting back into shape

Elizabeth Templin McCamic

The last few weeks have not gone as planned. I was doing really well with my new routine (running plus extra DVD workouts). Then I caught a cold. And then a second cold. And I'm still working on bouncing back.

I've been surprised how long it's taken to get my energy back. I'm young and, thankfully, not sick very often, so when I am sick I never know how much to rest in order to shorten my recovery time. These colds hit me hard, so I feel like I'm starting over in some ways.

I know I can run; I just need my legs to catch up.

I'm on vacation this week, which does not help in terms of re-establishing a routine, but I'm hopeful it won't be long before running gets easier.

Clueless

Lawrence Toppman: So I weighed myself today for the first time in almost three weeks, doing that balancing thing where you try to be enough on the scale to satisfy your conscience but hang off a little in hopes that a pound or two won't be counted. (Does that even work?) And I weighed exactly 181 pounds, the lowest on this quest and just 1.5 pounds from my original goal.



Then I did that other kind of weighing, where you clomp on the scale confidently and lead-footedly and confirm the first reading with a light heart. It fuddled around 182 for a while but decided 181 had been correct after all.

But why? I'm exercising steadily but not maniacally. I'm eating rationally but remembering to go downstairs before bed for a consolatory cookie or two. My happy Monday baffles me as much as all the Mondays where I weighed MORE than I thought I would and got cranky.

My mom used to tell me not to look gift horses in the mouths. But gift horses also have a way of throwing you once you think you're comfortable in the saddle, so I'm not cocky. I could just as easily turn into a puffer fish on short notice.

Couch to 5K program

Ellyn Ritterskamp

I had heard about this Couch to 5K program before, but just recently ran across it again. It is meant to be, for me to start it. After next weekend's half-marathon.

The goal is to turn non-runners into 5K runners in about nine weeks. They are very insistent on not getting ahead of the program, and letting your body ease into running. If you aren't ready to move on, you just repeat that week.

I read about one woman who weighed over 300 lbs., and she started the program, and just stuck with it, repeating weeks until she could do the goals, and then moving on.

It's 20-30 minutes, 3 times a week, a very reasonable goal.

I have in the past few long walks, felt like I was getting into an actual running rhythm, not fast at all, but it was running. I will need to do this for hours next Saturday, to finish anywhere near the time limit on the race.

But then after this event, the only next event is next summer's triathlon with Mom. I did 2 miles in 37 minutes our first time, and I want to get that down to 30 minutes, anyway. Learning how to run/jog efficiently should shave some time off that.

Really, the most inspiring thing about this is the vision of the 300-lb. lady (not so much larger than me at my most) chipping away at it and succeeding. Good for her, and good for all of us for trying.

Onward.

The tuxedo, part 2

Lawrence Toppman

My father owns two tuxedos, a fat one and a skinnier one. (This is not uncommon for folks whose weight has gone up and down since Truman was president.) He realized that, at 83, he didn't need both of them and mailed me the skinnier one. And I am so close to fitting into both halves.

The shoulders don't cling; the jacket waist doesn't pinch. My butt doesn't emerge from the split back like a manta ray cleaving the waters of a Hawaiian lagoon. (Though it's snugger than I'd like back there.)

The pants? Well, the pants "fit" in the sense of "closing without the prospect of losing snaps or buttons, as long as the wearer doesn't insist on drawing a normal breath." So I'm going to have to drop poundage to get into those.

I know millions of people losing weight do so to climb into unworn clothes, and I have happily spent four decades as an adult with minimal need for a tuxedo. But it's cool to know I could wear it if I felt James Bondish, and I'm determined to fit into it someday. Someday soon.

Time to say goodbye (to capri pants, for a few months)

Ellyn Ritterskamp

Rewards confuse me. I am not big on rewards for weight loss, but this experience was simply about having enough clothes that fit and looked good.

I treated myself to a new pair of jeans and a new sweater, partly because they had a big sale at my favorite big-girls store, but also because I was short on pants that fit. I have lots of capri-style pansts for summer, but they have to go away for a few months now. I've also saved a bunch of size 16 and 18 jeans for down the road, but we're not there yet.

I tried on three pairs of jeans at the store, and somehow, the most expensive one looked and fit the best. Maybe this is one of those products where you get what you pay for, to a point.

Those size 18s will down from the closet shelf by next fall.

Onward.