Weighty Matters

When I was courting Grandma Bentley she used to tell me I was what the girls at BYU sometimes referred to as a "hunk" or a "massive structure" and I took that to mean that she thought I was big, strong and athletic. With my customary sincerity, quiet modesty and agreeable nature I would often tell her how astute she was and that she could certainly count on me to protect her from any threat, uncluding the unwanted attentions of her former boyfriends (which, may I add, were numerous). most of them must have gotten the message that I was someone they should never mess with because I did not have to prove my manhood until a few months after we got married. We had recently moved into our first apartment and were just getting to sleep when someone tried to come through the front door, no more than ten feet from the hideaway bed where we were sleeping. I could barely see his heavy-set silhouette in the doorway. Expecting the worst, I waited until he was about six feet from our bed and then I suddenly leaped, karate-like, out of bed with the loudest, screaming roar I could muster, my chisled body in a fighting stance. The man panicked and stumbled out the door as fast as he could move. We later decided he was probably a fellow renter who had gotten drunk and became confused about how to get to his apartment, but after that we kept our door locked.

When my boys were little I used to let them try to beat me in wrestling, a sport in which I lettered in high school and took two physical education classes in college. I would teach them wrestling holds and then lie on the floor and let them get any hold they wanted before we started wrestling, but they could not keep me down until after they became teenagers. I also ran distance events in high school and used to jog a lot until I was called on a mission to Argentina at age fifty-five. One time, when Rick was about eleven years old, I took him with me on a 13 mile run up Mill Creek Canyon and back. Amazingly, he kept up with me all the way, but after that I could never get him to jog with me again. I wonder why?

After the mission, I had to quit jogging because it was too hard on my knees and ankles, but Mom and I began a practice of walking for about an hour most mornings. We still do it, but it has not been enough to avoid a growing pot belly or to keep my weight from gradually increasing about a pound or so per year, perhaps because of my Paul Bunyun appetite, together with the sedentary lawyer lifestyle I had before my retirement last year.

I am now even more of a "hunk" and a "massive structure" than I was when I courted Grandma, but not in the way I want to be, especially when I look at the difference it can make in my health and ability to feel good and be an active participate in the lives of my children, grandkids and maybe even my great-grandkids. After years of making New Years resolutions to get in shape and lose weight that I did not keep, with Grandma's help I'm finally making some significant changes.

Mom and I are eating smaller meals consisting mostly of healthy foods like salads, fruits and vegetables. Breakfast is usually fresh fruit or high fiber cold cereal. We drink a lot of purified water, usually with a twist of lime. Once in a while we go out to eat because we like the local food, but we usually do not order as much now and we seldom drink anything but water. We pretty much avoid foods like pizza, pop, sweets and rich desserts.

As indicated, we go walking together most mornings and we also exercise separately. Grandma rides a stationary bike at home and I go to the gym at a local university most days for an hour or so for a workout that usually includes weight-lifting and exercises on machines for almost every part of the body. Some days I even jog a bit on the treadmill machine. I typically burn about 400 calories per session. We also have a swimming pool close to our house. I still don't feel very strong compared to how I used to feel when wrestled and played football in high school, but I'm a long way from where I was just a few months ago. Best of all, I feel a lot better and my stomach is getting flatter. Oh yeah, today I weighed less than I have for more than five years.

Anybody under 16 want to wrestle? Elijah? Israel? Levi? Lincoln? Brigham? Joshua? Will? Samuel? Peter? Jacob? Thomas? All of you at the same time?

Papito