Weighing In
After my comparison w/Nightwing elicited three responses, I thought I should set the record straight on the scrawny thing. If I was an outside observer, I would swear the thing was an attention grab ("Please tell me how awesome I am!"), and I freakin' despise attention grabs.
And allow me to sidetrack briefly to place the blame for this whole thing squarely on animegan's shoulders. She brought this real-life discussion into LJ and created this mess. So there.
See, I've made it a habit to avoid scales like the plague the past few years. When I was overweight, I learned that weight can be deceptive, so one shouldn't use it to gauge their fitness. I've since ignored it, to the point that I've asked not to be told what I weigh during the handful of physicals I've taken in that time.
Something -- Lord knows what -- compelled me to jump on one at the gym Friday afternoon, and I was dumbfounded when the device found its equilibrium at a measly 180 pounds. I was so shocked that I stepped off it and weighed myself again just to be sure.
To put this into proper perspective, you have to understand that my idols have always fallen into two categories: football players and superheroes. My favorite baller, Chicago Bears linebacker Brian Urlacher, is 6'3", 254 lbs. Batman stands 6'2" and weighs 210 lbs., according to most sources. You're no doubt familiar w/the phrase "standing on the shoulders of giants." Well, now I'm so freakin' scrawny that I can stand on their shoulders w/o them having to strain.
I have long since given up the notion of ever playing in the NFL, but my dream of being a superhero had stayed alive until Friday afternoon. I'm not even big enough to be one of the Gotham Knights! I know I'm a little bigger than Nightwing, but he can do all that Matrix bounce-off-of-four-walls-and-then-kick-the-bad-guy-upside-the-head stuff that I'd break my neck if I tried. Now my only hope is to stand in front of the X-ray at work wrapped in aluminum foil and hope that the radiation gives me superhuman strength.
Now, much of this is being totally exaggerated for comic value. I really was dumbfounded by my weight, but it's not causing me any emotional problems. I look and feel better than I ever have in my life, so this recent revelation isn't going to change anything.
Still, another inch or so around my arms wouldn't kill me...