I thought I would give you a brief history of the Be A Loser With Karin contest.
by Karin L. Nauber
Three years ago we started a weight loss contest called “Be A Loser With Karin.”
The contest was started because of the “growing” problem of being overweight or obese in this country and I personally wanted to put my best foot forward and try and lose a few pounds.
This is the third year we will be running the contest.
A lot of people ask me how it is going with my weight loss. I usually grimace, swallow my pride and tell them it isn’t going very well.
While I haven’t gained (very much anyway), I sure haven’t lost any weight. I have given up walking (unless it is to the fridge for something else to eat) and I have been consuming soda pop like it is “going out of style.”
But I am hopeful that this will be the year that I can finally say I am a “loser” and really mean it!
Isn’t that what new years are all about? New chances to do what we know we should?
One of the biggest things that I know I should do is lose weight.
This year we are starting Be A Loser With Karin a little earlier than we did in the two previous years. Our first weigh-in will be held on March 1.
The cost is still a low $25 for which you will receive not only the chance to win some great cash prizes, biweekly weigh-in prizes and receive a T-shirt, but you also have the chance to be a loser and isn’t that what we are really in this for?
There will be more information forthcoming so watch for it.
I will also be starting up my daily (or sort of daily) blog. In fact, I have already begun it. You can find it at: http://bealoserwithkarin2010.blogspot.com. Please note that this is a different blog location than my blog from last year.
I intend to add a video feature, too, called “Take A Walk With Karin.” Since it is really hard for us to get together to walk, you can walk with me in the “virtual” world, or at least in the online world.
Watch for more information in the newspaper and online.
How Be A Loser With Karin got started
The problem of being overweight or obese is a “growing” problem, no pun intended.
According to the Minnesota Department of Health the proportion of adults in Minnesota who are obese has grown from 10% in 1990 to 20% in 2001.
Since the problem is so prevalent and because I fit into those statistics, I thought it might be a good idea if I did something about it.
In talking about it, the idea was born for a community weight loss challenge called “Be a Loser With Karin,” which would be promoted by the newspaper.
You might ask yourself why I would want to be the center of such a challenge and submit myself to the embarrassment of people knowing how much I weigh.
Karin’s story
The main reason I took on this challenge was because I have seen my health gradually worsen over the last several years as I have slowly packed on pound after pound.
I had quit smoking about two months prior to the start of the first contest. So now I figured it was time to take on the next challenge, that of losing some of the weight I had gained since graduating from high school.
I maintained 160 pounds for almost ten years after graduating.
I was an active person during my high school years. I grew up on a farm and you just can’t help but be active on a farm. I was moderately involved in sports and I rode bike and walked for miles a day.
When I went to college, I continued to work physical labor jobs, was moderately active in sports and continued to walk several miles a day.
Around my third year of college, I started smoking. At that time, it didn’t bother me. I could still walk several miles a day and work my two physical labor jobs.
I continued to work a physical labor job after college graduation, but my walking routine had shriveled up to next to nothing.
Because I was very active in my job as a housekeeper for a 26 bed mental health facility, I managed to still eat like a pig and maintain my weight at 160.
Then it happened. Probably the worst thing that can happen to a person like me, I received a promotion.
I know, a promotion is a good thing, but in my case, the promotion meant that I was not very physically active anymore. I sat a lot doing paperwork.
That first year wasn’t too bad. I only gained 10 pounds.
I wasn’t happy about the weight gain, but I rationalized that it was only 10 pounds and that should be easy enough to lose.
It wasn’t. In fact, the harder I tried to lose the ten pounds, the more weight I gained.
It was like my own body was waging war against me.
By the time another three years had passed I was up to 237 pounds and it seemed as if there would be no end to the weight gain.
You may be asking yourself how I remember my weight from 1992. The reason is simple, I was very compulsive about my weight. I sometimes weighed myself several times a day just to see if I had lost any weight.
Suffering from low self esteem every time I weighed myself, I just made myself feel worse.
Up to the point when I reached 237, I was at the absolute heaviest weight I had ever been. When a person reaches a pinnacle, they remember it.
At that time, I was the program director of one of the group homes I worked for. I had a resident who wanted to lose weight also, so we became weight loss buddies. We encouraged each other when we failed to lose and bolstered each others self esteem when we did lose.
That time I actually was fairly successful in losing weight. I managed to get down to 190 and stayed at that weight for the next four years.
I’ve never been especially good at avoiding temptation, however. And soon enough, I was starting to sneak a few pounds on.
The last five years have probably been the worst for me. I had gained close to 75 pounds and was nearly topping the scales at close to 300 pounds.
I was the person that “fat” jokes are told about.
According to my home scale which I weighed with tonight, I am 276 pounds as I write this.
So as you can see, I have a “huge” reason for wanting to lose weight.
In the next few weeks, we will be telling you more about the “Be a Loser With Karin” weight loss competition. Watch for more stories and advertisements on how to become a participant.
In the meantime, I keep thinking about how nice it was to be an overweight 160 pounder. I know I won’t get back to that tomorrow, but maybe with several of you signed up beside me, we can battle the bulge together.
