Well, I’ve completed my “Lent” diet.  46 days without fast food, soda, alcohol, and minimal burgers and other things not so great for me.  And more exercise, mostly in the form of walking everywhere since I no longer own a car.  And where am I at now? Well, Sunday morning I surpassed the 250lb point to 249.5 pounds, which is pretty remarkable for me.  Granted, it’s just a number, but it’s a significant number, nice and round.  Also, it’s only a few pounds away from my monthly goal of 245lbs.  So I can honestly say that my diet worked, and worked way better than I expected.  I’m really proud of the weight loss I accomplished; having said that the diet is over and I’m going to begin to allow myself some fast foods and alcohol again.  However, not nearly in the capacity that I had been consuming before.  Seeing the results, and how astonishing they were, I’m going to only eat fast food and drink alcohol on weekends.  During the week it’s going to be healthy only.  I’m going to continue to walk everywhere, and in fact now that I bought new running shoes I’ve started running again, which will help out even more.  Today I ran 3 times further than yesterday (which was the first time I had run in quite some time), and I’m hoping that tomorrow I’ll run even farther.  If I keep at it, I know that I’ll get back into my runner’s lungs before I know it, and then I’ll really start stripping the weight off.  Combine that with some weight training, healthy eating and good friends to keep me at it, and I’ll be nearing my goal much faster than I had planned, maybe I’ll even make my goal that I had set for myself on January 1: to be at 170 pounds by Dec 31.  I think I may be able to do it, but we’ll see.  One step at a time.

So for the rest of you, how is your “new” New Year’s resolutions going? Are you still working out? Are you still dieting?  If so, then good on ya.  I’m living proof that it’s never too late to start (or restart).  If not, then I urge you again to finally make that promise and stick to it.  It can be difficult, sure.  But nothing worth doing is ever easy.  If you put in the effort, the results will not be far behind.  I personally promise.  And if you need motivation, or advice, or have questions, by all means contact me and I’ll help you out the best I can.  Because we’re all in this together, and together we’re strong enough to succeed! Until next time, keep at it!