Last week: 386 lbs.

Start (Dec. 17): 470 lbs.

Total lost: 86 lbs.

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For years, my wife has been bugging me about losing weight. It’s been on my mind, too, but I never took the time because I was always working.

In December 2013, I finally made weight loss a priority, and now I exercise four to five times a week, sometimes taking an entire evening to work out at the gym or a chunk of my weekend hiking or training for an upcoming race. And my wife wonders why I’m gone most of the time.

It takes time to exercise and lose the weight, as much time as a part-time job. Even though I still write, publish, lecture and produce shows for North Country Public Radio on the side, I don’t do it nearly as much as I used to.

When you make the decision to lose weight, you also choose a path that takes you from one activity to another. After all, most people aren’t just sitting around saying, “Should I exercise or just sit here?” They are doing other things.

If I wasn’t working out at the Fitness Revolution gym Tuesday and Thursday nights, I’d be at home either watching television and eating or working on my computer. Either way, I’d be sedentary. At least I’m active those two nights, burning calories in a social setting, instead of gaining weight while hiding from the world. As a writer, I’m very much at peace hiding from the world.

I believe when you make weight loss a priority, you choose to make sacrifices. People don’t like when I use the word “sacrifice” because it sounds negative, but it’s appropriate.

Granted, sitting around gaining weight isn’t a sacrifice, but some of the work I do on the computer in my spare time is writing, editing and radio production that contributes to the income of my family. When I decide to exercise before or after my day job, instead of working in my spare time, I make a conscious decision to make fewer dollars to pay the bills.

It’s not an easy choice. For years, I chose a bigger income with multiple jobs because that’s what pays the bills. With it, came longer hours on my butt in front of a computer, more stress, more weight and ultimately an unhealthy body that almost killed me three years ago. Finding a balance is the key, but that’s easier said than done, especially with nagging bill collectors.

We don’t talk enough about the financial obstacles to losing weight, do we? Not only are we working more and exercising less just to pay the bills, but exercising and eating healthier food is more expensive.

Or is it? We need to think about the cost benefit of spending money on exercise and healthier food. In the long run, investing in your health and losing the excess weight will most likely save you money in doctor bills, medication and oversized clothing.

That’s just a start. You can save a lot of money by spending more time cooking at home instead of ordering out or going to a restaurant. And you can use the money you save to invest in exercise equipment, clothing, a gym membership or running and walking shoes.

Financial sacrifices aren’t the only ones I’m making. I’m spending less time with my family. I rarely have time to fix things around the house or do yard work. It’s taking longer to finish publishing projects that are already promised.

I recently spoke to a friend who has undergone bariatric surgery. She’s lost a lot of weight in the past few months and is working through the challenges of eating — at work and at home with her husband and three young children. She’s doing almost everything right, but she admitted that she hasn’t quite figured out how to exercise in a way her doctors have prescribed. That means exercising in a meaningful way, away from the kids, so she can concentrate on her own health without distractions.

With the family, the house, the kids’ extracurricular activities and the full-time job, how does she find the time to exercise?

I didn’t have an answer. Her situation is much different than mine; I don’t have children, just two dogs that behave like children. I could only tell her about my own sacrifices.

You can’t create the extra time. It’s a fixed variable. Something has to give. Sacrifices have to be made. For my friend, that will most likely mean less time with family because less time at work is not an option. Someone else will have to pick up the slack — a family member, friend or babysitter — during those scheduled exercise times. She’s a creative woman, so I know she’ll figure it out, and she has a supportive family who understands that this is a priority that can’t wait. The surgery’s done. It’s go time. I hope and pray that she figures it out soon.

As for my wife, she’s very supportive and she’s learning to live without me.

I spent most of last weekend away from home. I walked 2 miles in the Wells Memorial Library’s walk/run benefit the morning of Saturday, Sept. 20. In the afternoon, I walked 8 miles in the Relay for Life cancer benefit at the Olympic Speedskating Oval in Lake Placid. And on Sunday, Sept. 21, I spent the day at St. Lawrence University in Canton playing human foosball during the NCPR Field Day benefit. I got lots of exercise!

I may not be at home as often as before the Lake Placid Diet began, but I am losing weight, so I’m doing at least one of the things on my wife’s honey-do list. Cutting the grass? That will have to wait.