Health nut

It's fitness challenge time again, and I'm back at drinking lake-sized amounts of water, eating vegetables like a herbivore and spending extra time at the gym.

Like I explained when I participated last year, the fitness challenge is where teams from businesses and organizations in our area compete to have the most healthy habits. Certain things, like exercise, eating vegetables, taking a multivitamin and getting eight hours of sleep are assigned points, which participants keep track of daily.

It's supposed to make you think about adding healthy habits to your daily routine. Of course, the added element of competition makes people, including me, take it too far. Last year I was captain and got really to into it, so this year I resolved to take a milder approach. Of course, that only lasted the first week — after I saw everyone else's point scores.

I actually traded weight lifting the other day for running because I get more points for it. I'm drinking so much water I'm visiting the bathroom ever five minutes. And don't get me started about fruits and vegetables. (A friend of mine at the gym suggested I bring some vegetables to eat while I'm working out, but I haven't reached that level of insanity yet. Maybe in week three.)

I don't think I will eat any fruit or vegetables for weeks after this is over. I'll trade them for all the deserts I'm skipping.

Lesson learned: If I really want to be fit, I just shouldn't participate.