The 2008 Running of the Fatboys

2008 has just shown up out of nowhere. And, as in years past, I find myself on the heavy end of the scale. This year, I tip the scales at my largest amount ever - 235 lbs according to the official Fatboy scale at the office.
So, once again, I am participating and organizing the Running of the Fatboys at my company. For the next ten weeks, 90 people in my office have signed up at $30 each challenged with dropping 7% of our weight in that time. The contest has grown from humble beginnings in 2001 when there were about 10 of us.
For several of us, such as myself, the challenge has helped act as something of a reset for slipping back the previous nine months. Every year, we say we won't need to come back and do the challenge again, but we keep ending up back in the challenge the following year.
This year, I have to do better. For, while the 10 week challenge has helped me cut down the previous years gains, I find myself starting the following year heavier than before - I keep bouncing higher than last time. So, this year, I'll be making this post every other Sunday. A picture of my current condition and my weight for that morning. As of today, this is what I look like and this morning's scale reading is 229.0 lbs. There's probably a three pound difference between home and work due to clothing, so I'm down probably three pounds so far.
I'm also not alone. One of my friends in Podcasting, Tony Mast, has a podcast dedicated to his own efforts to get his weight under control. He's a good bit bigger than I am, but as I've listened to his show, I find we are a lot alike, particularly when it comes to how we have packed on as much as we have. He's working to turn it around and so am I. Otherwise, I'm going to find myself one day shopping for a specialty scale.