In with the new!

I'm so glad the new year is here. In spite of my continuous efforts to eat right and maintain some sort of intentional activity level throughout the holidays, January 1 feels like a new start. And how serendipitous is it that the first day of the new year happens to fall on a Monday? Don't we all like starting over on Monday?

Here's the progress photo – January 2006 to January 2007.

Note to self: Remember to choose a more flattering shirt for the February photo!

I love that grey shirt – it's a waffle-weave cotton with pouch pockets for whatever I need to carry when I walk, so I wear it a lot. When I look at myself in a mirror it doesn't look so … um … lumpy. But you know those cameras: They never lie!

[My husband gave me a digital SLR for Christmas, but the lens still isn't here. The fast-talking salesman told me it was a professional lens and "distortion-free." I think I'm the perfect subject to determine if that's true or not. Heh.]

I'm gearing up for the half-marathon training regimen I'll be following for the next four months. I think I calculated that the schedule begins January 7, and I have to be able to run three miles continuously before I take the plunge. I can do it on the treadmill, and I hope that counts. The only time I could run three or more miles straight outside [on our hills] is when I was at my lightest weight.

A loooooooooong time ago.

I didn't make it until midnight last night, but when I went to sleep at 10:30 p.m., I was thinking about what a wonderful year it's been. I got married! That was the best. I stuck to a sensible eating plan for a year! I've re-established regular exercise – or intentional activity, as I like to call it – and I've become more active in non-intentional activity. [Yesterday's steps? 11,970!]

I'm not making a list of formal resolutions or goals. One of my favorite quotes has always been:

If you keep on doing what you always did,
you'll keep on getting what you always got.

Or something like that. In the past, I've been motivated to stop doing things that have led to unpleasant results. Drinking too much immediately comes to mind. But this year, I'm looking at that saying in a new way. What I've done this past year has yielded pretty darned good results. Half the weight I want to lose is gone. I'm in good enough shape to train for a half-marathon. I'm well on my way to reaching my weight-loss goal and I'm learning – from many of you – how to keep it off.

So I need to keep doing what works. One of those things, as I mentioned yesterday, is blogging. I'm going to keep up with the progress photos, whether they show a difference from month to month or not. Knowing you're all out there snickering at today's photo – especially compared to August and September – is really motivating me to post a knockout picture in February.

I truly value the effort and courage, humor and heart, you share when you publish your blog posts. I'm grateful to you blogless readers who take the time to comment and offer your support. I'm humbled and inspired to do better when you tell me how I motivate you.

Believe me, it's the other way around. Happy new year to all of you.