John's attempt to get....well, I'm not sure what the goal is

Some of you may remember my quasi-regular posts about weight loss called John's Attempt to Get Less Fat....well the attempts have continued with some success while the postings have not.

For those still keeping score at home, I now weigh 297.6 pounds, which is 42-45 pounds total loss since last April (the number is unclear because the starting weight wasn't written down anywhere I can find). I hoped to hit 50 pounds before April ends, but I'm not going to push it. I'm happy with the progress.

Anyways so after dealing with a possible virus, low blood pressure and then a very annoying and probably never going to totally go away other problem (Don't worry I'll live) I've started focuseing on this fitness stuff again. A few little walks, some physical work days, and most importantly, the resuming of playing semi-competitive table tennis against co-worker Todd.

We've decided that February and early March just might be the yearly off-season for what we've dubbed the Not Professional Ping Pong Association (NPPPA, t-shirts coming soon?)

But we're back. I won week 1, Todd won week 2 and we were off this week. Play should resume for the NPPPA proper when I face Todd on Thursday but I've got an "exhibition" with possible NPPPA member, my boss Jason, on Tuesday.

So why so much table tennis? After beating up on each other for a solid year, Todd and I have decided we want to see just how good we are, and we plan to enter the Bluegrass Games <a href="http://www.bgsg.org/">Bluegrass State Games</a> this year. For a modest entry fee, we can each compete in USATT style competition for our age group and singles open play, and we'll also have a shot to play doubles together.

I've watched some video of last year's event... We're not likely to do very well. But I've been losing motivation on my workouts of late and the only thing that ever got me to take fitness seriously was regularly scheduled athletic competition. So I'm hoping this will serve to motivate me.

I got a new racket (trainer model, nothing special) and we're going to step it up between now and July with training. We're also going to visit the Lexington Table Tennis Club for some pointers and practice between now and then.

Will we be the best in Kentucky? No, I don't think so. Can we win a match? I don't see why not.

So here's to the stoking of my competitive fire. Let's hope there's enough fuel to keep it burning.

Also, have a happy Easter folks.