For most people this time of the year is called “Autumn” or “Fall.” There is another term used by a majority of people for this time of year and it is called “Creeping Obesity Season” or “Why am I gaining all this weight again?” The next 10 – 12 weeks are a tough time for people trying to keep their weight down.
It starts with Halloween and the trick or treat candy barrage. You buy candy for the kids in Halloween costumes asking for treats. You have large bags of candy laying around the house. The temptation to take just a sample a few times until that night of Halloween is a given. The leftover candy is there for the taking. If you were fortunate enough to get rid of all your candy, the kids brought home sacks of candy from the night visiting the neighbors handing out candy. The good thing is this start of the season only adds a few pounds.
Then Thanksgiving arrives and that is where the real pounds pile on. With turkey or ham, sweet potatoes, dressing, and a variety of pies, it is a losing battle to stay skinny. And to add more problems to this weight increase is the fact that for the next three days you will be eating leftover turkey sandwiches and pie. This is good for another easy five pounds.
The next section is the worst one for keeping pounds off because it is so long. The season is called Christmas. It starts right after Thanksgiving with an event called ‘Black Friday.’ It is a joyous time of year with many parties at friend’s homes, at office parties, at football bowl game gatherings and they will all have food for the taking. Christmas Day is another turkey or ham, dressing, sweet potatoes, more pies, and bowls of candy. This is good for another ten pounds added to the waist line. The only group that survives this time of year are the Norwegians. Instead of turkey they have a dinner of lutefisk. Only true Norwegians can eat this boiled ripened cod fish that has been soaked in lye. It took this Norwegian 25 years to finally sit down and eat this meal. You do not use your fine silverware at the meal. You use everyday silverware as the lye in the lutefisk turns it black. This is first-hand knowledge.
Then in one week it is New Year’s Day and the celebrations that go with this new start of a promise to lose weight by Valentine’s Day. This week is also filled with various parties leading up to the big day. And to make it even harder is if you are a football fan the day is about 12 hours of watching bowl games and eating snacks the entire time. The only exercise is a quick jump up off the sofa if your team scores a touchdown.
The last event is the Super Bowl party, with more food and more three-hour snacking binges. The game is about four hours of actual playing time but the broadcasts start in the mid-morning and to really get with the festivities you watch the broadcasters tell you the highlights to watch for during the game. By the end of the game – and the ‘Creeping Obesity Season’ – you have gained an impressive 25+ pounds more from that week before Halloween.
There is a cure for this weight gain period of the year. You join a group of runners training for the ‘marathon season’ which starts in late September or before and goes until the end of February or beginning of March. I usually went to several of these gatherings starting with Thanksgiving. My first impression was, “How can these thin people eat so much food and then go back for seconds and thirds. Where did they store all that food?” I thought these marathon runners had hollow legs or something to put that much food away. One reason was most of them had run 15 miles or more that morning. And during the coming weeks the total miles were anywhere from 60 miles to 100 miles each week. They needed that food for energy.
