Finding My Game (2021 Stats - Weight)

I was pretty obsessed with tennis when I was in high school. I played 6 days a week between my junior and senior seasons, and I finally got to the point were I could consistently beat my older brother. I took a couple of tennis classes and would play from time to time throughout my college years, and even made the finals of BYU intramural tournaments a couple of times. Tennis wasn't my life, but it was part of who I was.

Then came teaching and kids, and I went a good 10 years or so with only playing once every year or two. About 5 years ago I found a group that played doubles regularly. My ego took a hit when I found that I was the weakest player on the court. I gradually shook off a bit of rust each year as I would join them once or twice a month during the summer.

For my 41st birthday I replaced my ~15 year-old racket, which made me excited to play every week. Then a friend of mine introduced me to the Reno Tennis Ladder, which is a group of guys that challenge each other to singles matches. Results are recorded and standings displayed on a website, so there's more on the line than with a casual recreational match.

There were about 45 guys in the ladder group, and I contacted one at random for my first match. He made quick work of me 0-6, 0-6...what's referred to as a double-bagel... and I experienced another painful blow to my ego. I'm not sure why, but the thought of being a bad tennis player wasn't something I could live with. While tennis is a sport you can play until you are 100, I felt like it was now or never if I wanted to regain the type of physically demanding game that I used to play in high school. So I jumped in head first and probably got a little too consumed with regaining (and maybe surpassing) my former tennis self.

I typically played 3 matches a week, occasionally even 4. I figured I needed to play that much if I wanted to progress, which I did. I started winning and was loving the feeling of being back on the court. I made a lot of new friends and was invited to play on a league team (I didn't even know they existed). Our team took 1st in the Reno area and we were able to play in Sacramento against the best teams from Northern California. We won 2 of 3 matches, but needed to sweep all 3 to move on to Nationals.

It was all so fulfilling...and so time consuming. These were best-of-3 set matches that could last anywhere from 1.5 to 3 hours, and almost all of the matches were played in Reno. At first I was teaching and could play after work before coming home, but over the summer I ended up driving 45 minutes each way just to play. One opponent commented that I must not have a family, given how much I was playing. When I replied that I was married with 4 kids, he said, "Well your wife must be a saint," which is absolutely true! She has been absurdly patient with letting me run off all the time for hours on end. I plan to keep playing, but at a more reasonable pace.

With all of this tennis, I didn't get into my typical summer workout routine of weights, running, and HIIT workouts. I probably ended up with a bit less upper-body muscle and a bit more leg muscle, but my weight maintenance was similar to other years.

With other workout routines, I typically get a lot more hungry and end up putting on a little weight (I tell myself that some of it is muscle) before starting to shed some pounds. With my "tennis workout," I started earlier in the year and didn't have the small weight gain period.

I have a wifi connected scale with which I log my weight daily. Overall I had my lowest average weight (156.8), peak weight (159.6), and low weight (153.4) in 2021, just edging out 2020 in all those categories. I've never hated exercising just to exercise, but being active by doing an activity that I love was even better. I didn't count calories or follow any specific diet (I'm pretty against diets as data show they don't typically work in the long run), but I tried to eat reasonably healthy foods. I had an unofficial goal to keep the scale below 160 for the whole year, which helped to keep me from letting things slide too much during the holidays (don't worry, I still had plenty of cookies).