Metabolism and March Madness

For sports fans, a spring staple is ‘March Madness,’ the weeks’ worth of college basketball tournaments. For a sportswriter like me, I have my own March madness.

There are the high school basketball conference tournaments at the beginning of the month. There’s junior hockey and everything else that goes on in the world of Mat-Su Valley sports.

But there is no three-day stretch more hectic than the Alaska state high school basketball championships.

For those three days I basically live at the Sullivan Arena in Anchorage. For someone paying close attention to diet and exercise, a three-day stay at the Sullivan can be somewhat difficult.

Last week, during the 4A state tournaments, I spent about 45 hours at the Sully. That means no time for exercise, the sleep schedule is all out of whack and it is extremely hard to control your diet.

I tried to be proactive. I packed Special K bars and Slim Fast shakes in the bag with my lap top computer. But I also loaded that sucker with as much Diet Mountain Dew as it could handle. As much as I never wanted to believe it, sodas — even the diet variety — can be a roadblock when it comes to weight loss.

So I was drinking too much soda, and I couldn’t rely on granola bars and chocolate weight loss shakes. I tried to find reasonable things to eat in the hospitality room. That wasn’t exactly easy. I really didn’t want to settle for a hot dog or a pretzel at the concession stand. One afternoon, two other reporters and I hit the Arctic Roadrunner for a quick burger and I had pizza while I was in Anchorage.

I have to admit, I felt a little guilty about eating pizza and a burger during those three days. Throughout this process, I have done my best to make sure pizza and burgers are not staples in my diet. We’ve had pizza and burgers since the start of Trim to Win, but it’s been at home were we could control the ingredients.

I wasn’t sure where I’d be at when I stepped on the scale after the tournament. I was worried.

On Thursday, the morning after the tourney, I stepped on the first scale for the first time in three days. I was another two pounds down. I couldn’t believe it. I didn’t know what to do, other than thank God for my new found metabolism.

That moment gave me a great amount of confidence. As I’ve said before, it’s not realistic to think that I am never going to order a pizza or go grab a burger. But I know if consistently make wise decisions when it comes to me diet and continue to exercise regularly, I can maintain this healthy lifestyle.

That’s my focus now. I am not as preoccupied by just the number of pounds I can lose by the end of the Trim to Win challenge. I want to ensure that I’m not facing the same issues years from now.

Continued luck to all,

JB