
I am a fairly competitive person. I was never into organized sports and such, but if you throw down-I’m gonna do my best to beat you! I like to win; I like the feeling of pushing myself to be the winner. Unfortunately, I can’t win all the time. Such was the case on Sunday when Christie threw her gauntlet at my feet and declared that she would have more steps on her pedometer than I. “You’re on!” I roared, “Your ass is GRASS!” I’ll be honest here, I’m an exerciser and Christie is not. I was positive I had this one in the bag. We set our pedometers to zero, typed our goodbyes for the day and headed off for my Wii. I hula hooped. Twice. This one is a good warm up and actually got me a few steps too. Then I did Advanced Step. Twice. I moved on to 30 minute Free Step. Then Island Biking (Twice), Short Run, Obstacle Course and 30 Minute Timed Run.
For two and a half hours (taking several small drink/bio breaks) I kicked my own ass positive that this would outdo Christie’s plans for laundry and a run to the store. I jogged around my living room in my shorts and sports bra-cursing at my children to keep their mouths shut - confident that my plan was secure and I emerge from my sweaty ordeal victorious. I took great pride in finding that while jogging indoors in much different from outdoor, I could still jog a 5K in 30 minutes.
I knew that being Super Bowl Sunday and having planned to go to a poker tournament, I’d be sitting most of the evening. I kept this in mind as I jogged on. I repeated helpful and inspiring affirmations to myself; “You are a winner!”, “You can do this!”, “Every drop of sweat is a calorie burned”, “I’m good enough, I’m smart enough and doggoneit-people like me!”
After showering, playing poker and gloating a little to myself about step count, I sat down at the computer to compare numbers with my best friend. “You first”, she says. I smirk a little as I type out my 12,308 steps taken-wondering if she’d like a screen shot of the gorgeousness that is my readout. “Good for you!” she declares, “I’m so proud of you!” Yep, I got this one in the bag, I nodded to myself and sat back and waited. Suddenly there are characters on the screen that I can’t quite comprehend. Where did those come from? I force myself to focus on them. 13,568. Wait. What? “I did 30 minutes on the treadmill at full incline, then 30 minutes at half incline, then 30 minutes of cool down with no incline”, pops up in the next few lines. I swallow. I stare.
I have lost.
I’m so proud of my friend. She is doing so much better than I. Christie has truly been my inspiration and my driving force. Both of us being of a competitive nature has made our weight loss journey interesting and fun. We cry on each other’s shoulders when we gain and cheer each other on when we lose. We challenge one another and share recipes and tips, each wanting the other to succeed almost more than ourselves.
So here it is-my admission of loss in a public forum. I am the step loser for this week.
Next week….She’s goin’ DOWN!





