HAPPY NEW YEAR!

In the spirit of beginning the way I mean to go, I wanted to be sure and make my first post of 2008 today. I am delighted to say good-bye to December and to realize that I won't have to worry about Christmas again for about, oh, eleven months. That is not to say that I didn't have a wonderful Christmas, because I did. Julie was home, of course, and Tom and Kristy and the girls were here for almost a week. I was once again overwhelmed and humbled by the loving generosity of my family.

One of the presents I requested - and received - from Kristy was a knitting tutorial, along with a whole knitting kit that she put together for me and some really beautiful wool yarn. Those of you who have known me for a long time - say thirty years or so - know that I used to knit. I have had the urge for a while to take it up again, and so asked Kristy, who is a skilled and creative knitter, if she would help me do that. I had my first lesson a week ago on Christmas afternoon, and am delighted with my progress.

I managed to lose four pounds last month, for a total of twenty pounds over the last three months. I would not ordinarily be thrilled with that, but when I think that two of those three months were November and December, I will admit to being pleased. I feel like I have a head start on the usual January weight loss panic. It's a good feeling.

I hope you loyal readers have been hanging in there during this month-long hiatus. I don't make resolutions, but I will be posting more in the coming year - you can count on it.

November numbers

I took six days off again this month, so that means 24 days of exercising. It would have been 25, but I took an extra day off Thanksgiving week. For dinner, we ate vegetarian five times and had beef four times, so we met our goals in that area.

I set a more modest weight loss goal for November, as I knew it would be more difficult to lose weight in the month that contains Thanksgiving, the holiday that celebrates overabundance, overindulgence, and overeating. My goal was to lose six pounds - I lost seven! I am delighted. I can only hope to do that well this month. I do love Christmas cookies, though...

how women measure weight loss

I have nice pairs of jeans in three different sizes. Needless to say, I have been wearing the largest size ever since the weather turned cool enough to wear long pants. Today, for the first time in about a year and a half, I am wearing the middle-sized pair - and I didn't even have to lie flat on the bed to zip them up.

statistical data for the month of October

I worked out 25 days for the month, and took six days off. I had hoped to only take one day a week off, but I needed a couple extra.

Ben and I had beef for dinner three times throughout the month, which exceeds our goal of not eating beef more than once a week. We had a vegetarian dinner five times, which meets our goal of eating vegetarian at least once a week.

I took Rufus for two 20-minute walks a day every day unless inclement weather prohibited it. I think throughout the month I may have missed three or four walks, and Julie took him on his evening walks some of the days that she was home.

And although I did not meet my goal of losing 10 pounds for the month, I did lose 9 pounds, and I am pretty darn pleased about that!

day 1

I have known all along that as much as I hate the thought of it, the day would come when I would have to get back on the treadmill in the basement. My twice-daily walks with Rufus will only take me so far on my journey back to a healthy lifestyle. Yesterday was that day.

I thought that after our morning walk would be a good time to check out whether the treadmill would even work or not. It has been almost two years since I used it on a regular basis, and when Julie tried to use it this summer, she reported it as non-operational and "smelling bad". So I wasn't real optimistic as I turned it on and climbed aboard. I only walked for three minutes, but it seemed okay. There was some "slippage", as I reported to Ben, and he said it might be because he had adjusted after Julie tried to use it last.

Ben and I made sure everything else was just the way I like it down there - the neon clocks synchronized, the little oscillating fan operational, and my Neil Young CD in the boombox. Next I had to find the clothes I prefer to work out in. That's not easy to do. My dresser is in perennial need of a good clean-out, and the clothes I don't wear for a while get buried under the layers of stuff that I do wear. At last - biking shorts and a sports bra and a light-weight, loose-fitting cotton t-shirt. Comfortable walking shoes and socks, and I was all set.

After our evening walk, I changed my clothes, grabbed my water bottle and headed for the basement. The first thing I always do before I get on the treadmill is weigh myself, and last night was no exception. I was not really that surprised at how much I currently weigh, but I had hoped it wouldn't be quite that bad. I am too embarrassed to say how much it is, but suffice it to say that I need to lose a minimum of thirty pounds to even get close to a healthy weight.

Neil Young started to sing, and I was off. I walked for a half hour, which is my normal walking time. The slippage was quite alarming, but tailed off the more I walked. I did notice a slight "burning smell" at about two minutes, but kept walking, and it didn't seem to get worse. The biggest problem was the noise. That treadmill is so noisy! I am hoping that once I start walking on a regular basis, it will run more smoothly (and quietly). I am sure it could do with a tune-up, but that's not something I can afford right now.

Neil and I sang, he wailed on his guitar, then it was time for me to do my cooling-down and stretching exercises. I hate this part way worse than the treadmill part, so I figure it must be good for me. Fifteen minutes of that, and I was done. I took big gulps of cold water as I powered everything down: clocks, fan, and boombox.

I turned to head back up the basement steps, and the last piece fell into place: Rufus was waiting for me at the top of the stairs, just like Bobo always did. That was one of the reasons I had to stop before. Bobo had just died, and he wasn't there anymore. When I saw my little black dog waiting for me last night, I knew this was going to work out all right.

Day 2 Update: Ben adjusted the belt so it doesn't slip anymore, and there was no "burning smell." He also made some critical adjustment that made it less noisy. Just about an optimum experience if I truly have to do this.