"What [evening] bores we are..."

A couple of months ago I stepped on the scales at a doctor's office and was shocked to see, for the first time in my life that I was aware of, that I had reached 180 pounds. That unprecedented number ending in zero got my attention, somehow confirming that the difficulty I'd been having buttoning my pants and bending over to tie my shoestrings had a physiological basis.

I reported the new weight to my wife that evening. As usual she gave me some good advice, all the more attractive because of the indirect way she put it to me—in the form of an anecdote about the obese woman who lived down the street when she was a child. This woman's doctor told her that she really had to lose some weight, and the way to do it was very simple. "You don't have to give up any of the food you like. Just eat half as much."

As though startled by a flash of lightning, I instantly saw that what I needed to do was to stop eating "as much as possible [without making myself sick]" and begin eating "as little as possible." Today, less than two months after the eye-opening experience on the scales, I weigh about my ideal weight (163). I feel better, more supple, even occasionally lithe. And I don't even much want ice cream, cookies, cake, or pie (or a combination of the above) after dinner anymore. I don't even much want second helpings of anything. And I prefer the lean, hungry feeling of mental acuity to the stuffed, dull feeling of satiety. But I still tire early of an evening and frequently fall asleep while watching a taped episode of, say, "Mystery," which—even at nine o'clock—starts too late for either my wife or me to stay awake to watch the broadcast.

I reported this to an old friend, and he wrote:

"Boy, are you in good condition. I don't really try to lose the weight, and now stay around 193 to 185. Would like to be about 180 to 185. I also get exhausted in the early evening. What bores we are."

I wrote back:

"We may be bores in the evening, but we're hot at 6:30 a.m. (after we've been up for a while and our blood has started flowing again and our joints moving). I may be at my 'ideal weight,' but I'm not sure how good my condition is....Anyway, during the 'daylight hours,' when my blood IS flowing and my joints ARE moving, I usually do feel fairly alive and energetic."

As I (finally) do now...after feeling so sluggish upon first arising this morning that I doubted I could do today's post....