The Hill

As I once wrote, in one of my favorite postings...

Around six years ago, I lost a bunch of weight, worked out (hard) daily, and, for the first time in my life, looked really good with my shirt off. And yet nothing changed. No one was the least bit nicer to me, women did not throw themselves at me, nothing in my life got detectably better!

Strangers treated me exactly the same; it turned out that people encounter lots of thin, reasonably muscular guys every day, and I was just another one of them. Crowds didn't gather to gape in astonishment.

I eventually gained back all the weight. This involved no orgies of pizza and barbecue, despite what you'd imagine from my protruding belly. Actually, I kept an austere diet the entire time. But my workouts grew spotty, so rather than losing a plodding 1/2 pound per week, I began gaining 1/4 pound per week. Not a big diff, but the trend's a killer. So I gained 35 pounds without having any fun at all. I looked like I'd let myself go, while eating like a freaking ascetic. Perfect!

It took two years to produce my app, "Eat Everywhere", the hardest task I've ever set myself. I didn't get much exercise during that time (focused commitment may be a great boon for creativity, but it does not lend itself to a balanced lifestyle). And while I enjoy a gym habit once I'm in it, the habit strikes for me as readily as wet matches. I can't hit the gym unless I've summoned some exuberance. Lacking that, I've been pretty inactive. Checkmate!

I live at the bottom of a hill. One day last month, I opened my door, and strode up the hill. And I've been doing likewise most nights. An hour of hill walking, which translates to 500 calories. I've already tightened my belt one notch. I walk up the hill, I lose weight, and I feel better. It feels like I've stumbled into a magical solution. I must be some sort of genius, to think of walking up a hill - the hill I'd lived on, and barely noticed, for five years while I wondered how to burn some calories!

To an idiot, the ridiculously obvious solution feels like pure brilliance.


It reminds me of the time I managed to work around the high expense of sticky notes via my discovery of glue).