STUCK !

Here's a really funny story.

When I was in my first year of college, I attended a 2-year community college in the area. It was a pretty large campus and we inevitably had to park a tremendous distance from our classes. This meant that I had to tote around a huge backpack FULL of textbooks. Sure, it was pretty dorky, but just about everyone had to do it so I didn't feel too awful bad. (Just a bit sore at times).

I was still 18 and always tried to play it cool, just like most 18-year-olds typically do. I remember one particular morning when I pulled into the campus for class and, although I was still early, I had to park in one of the last row of cars. There was an empty space beside me and I sat in my car, finishing my breakfast, listened to the morning radio show, and waited until it was just the right time to head to class.

Suddenly a car pulled into the empty space beside me and I looked over to see two nice looking girls sitting right there in the car beside me! I smiled and they smiled back and I thought, "Cool. Must be my lucky day!"

Now I knew it was just about time to head for class and figured they would be bounding out of their car as well. I reached over and grabbed my backpack and, in one move, turned to open my car door, trying to time my exit just right.

That is when it happened.

I pulled my big ol' backpack in between me and the steering wheel and, yes...I got stuck. Not a little bit stuck - REALLY STUCK! My backpack strap was caught on the steering wheel and as hard as I tried, I couldn't move it to the left OR the right! But to make matters worse, my backpack, with its assorted stack of Chemistry, American History, and Physics textbooks crammed all inside, was pushing HARD against my carhorn, announcing my predicament to those girls beside me I had thought so hard of impressing just moments before!!!

Suddenly I began to panic in my mind! As my carhorn blared on, I quickly glanced over at the girls beside me and I could see them looking over - giggling! I began to squirm restlessly, like a worm on a fish hook, trying to escape my predicament. What seemed like an eternity probably only lasted a few seconds, but the thought crossed my mind, "Can I get unstuck?". The carhorn blew all the more.

Finally, with one final push I pushed my backpack to the passenger seat, turning on my blinker light and windshield wipers in the process. I quickly looked over to see the two girls shutting their car doors and walking to class.

I thought of cranking my car and going back home. I was pretty embarrassed! I finally swallowed my pride and stepped out of the car to head on to class.

--Flash Forward to the Present--

This morning I stepped on the electronic scale at the gym and watched the digits come to a rest: 193 pounds.

STUCK !

Sure, I know I am partly to blame. After all, it was me that consumed the bar-b-q nachoes Friday night, the bacon and eggs Saturday morning. No one force-fed me at the family luncheon on Easter Sunday and it was me who asked for the big birthday-cookie-cake for Monday night.

But am I wrong that most people eat like this all the time and, with a little bit of exercise, keep the pounds off? Will a few splurge meals on a holiday/birthday weekend ALWAYS mean 4 extra pounds?!?

Don't get me wrong, although I get a little impatient at times with my running progress, I am still seeing the result of sticking to the two plans I have been following the last couple of months. But it seems that my weight is just plain going nowhere away from that 190 pound threshold! And now I am getting so frustrated and feeling so stuck I decided to write about it: get it off my chest!

I can explain why I gained a few extra pounds form the weekend but I can't really understand why my weight is so constant. I exercise - run, lift weights, run some more. I watch what I eat pretty closely. I struggled with my weight off and on for years so I KNOW the caloric estimates of what I put in my mouth. I also know that my family's metabolic rate resembles the two turtles on the local commercial for comcast broadband: SLOWWWWW.

So it is frustrating to be stuck. And my tendency is to go with my first response of many years ago when I basically wanted to flee the embarrassment of wrestling with my bookbag in a true "Chris Farley" moment (no I wasn't fat then).

It makes me want to give up. (On the weight loss thing that is, not on the running thing. That has become an addiction I can't give up if I tried).

But I will keep trudging on, keep trying to watch the calories and fat, keep racheting the miles up, and keep hoping the metabolism somehow catches up.

Until then, I will resemble the famous phrase coined by a famous runner - "waddle on"!