Greetings!

Hello!

Welcome to the blog of someone who asks daily: Can an overweight middle-aged woman who hates exercise really, finally succeed at losing weight?

I'll be honest. I'm more than overweight. I;m close to a hundred pounds overweight, which probably qualifies as O-B-E-S-E. I'm 54 years old, 5:2, and last night I weighed 207 lbs. on my ancient bathroom scale. And that's a huge improvement!

Back in February, I finally got sick of being so fat. Not to mention sick of having creaky knees and wearing a Size 24-26 in pants and a whopping 3X in shirts/blouses, and having high cholesterol. I don't know what it was that got me started to really try again, for real, for the first time in over ten years, to lose weight - maybe the fear of Diabetes. (I am really a baby about needles)

The biggest obstacle was that I love food and have been a serial cheat for years. I couldn't go more than a few days without buying potato chips, or Fritos, or salted mixed nuts or salted peanuts or corn nuts, or pizza, or a BLT sandwich, or even all of that in one or two days. Not to mention croissants, or occasional other pastries. If it's salty, fried, bacon, or pizza; I want it and I want it NOW.

And I hate exercise! I don't like group exercise, can't remember various exercise moves even if they've been taught to me; and couldn't jog more than ten ft. if you paid me. If it not for my dog, I wouldn't get any exercise at all, but I do take him out and walk at least 40 minutes a day in addition to short outings to let him relieve himself.

I decided, toward the end of February, that I would make some changes.

So I embarked on the diet I've been following since then - heavy on vegetables, cutting back on processed food and red meat as much as possible, watching the calories, drinking more water, not cheating every few days but allowing myself occasional splurges, and pushing myself harder and faster when I'm out walking my dog.

I've lost 20 pounds, which is just a drop in the bucket as far as the weight I need to shed. I'm starting a blog to write down things I eat, my frustrations and (hopeful) triumphs; and hear from anyone who might want to give me feedback.

I saw my doctor a few weeks ago; and we were both pleased by my weight loss. I lowered my cholesterol by 70 points, though it's still just above the normal range; also my triglycerides and (YAY!) my glucose levels (now smack in the normal range). I've gone down one size in pants and bought some new jeans.

I have a long way to go....