Day 1 - Facing the Music

Today is the first official day of my road to thin, although I've been on deck since January 2. Here is how this blog will look.
1. On Sundays, I'll post my goals for the week. That includes my menu plan, my exercise goals and at least one lifestyle change.
2. On Saturdays, I'll report how I did on those goals. That means weigh in, temptation success stories and analysis of what went wrong.
2. I'll post wedding plan progress on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Those of you not interested in wedding stuff can skip those.
3. On Wednesday, I'll post my favorite recipe of the week and tips I've heard from others. However, anyone can share tips.
4. On Fridays, I'll post my favorite workout of the week.

More about me. I hate running and I hate dieting. But I love food and I love the outdoors, so there is hope. Despite what you may think from reading this blog, I am a paid writer and editor, so I do spend a lot of time on my butt in front of the computer. My hobbies are reading (another butt-friendly activity), horseback riding (where you sit most of the time) and travel (where you sit on your way to a place where you also eat a lot). But I also love canoeing, walking, riding my horse fast, teaching kids to ride horses and swimming. Again, there's hope. And, somewhat oddly, I have also competed in triathlons. The story of how that started is too sad to share (maybe later), but I don't enjoy it at all until it's over.

My plan is to cut out all bad food (fast food, fried food, candy, restaurant desserts and processed foods). Since I love to cook, I'm going to try to make more of the foods one might like at the fast food joints, but in a healthy way. I will have five meals a day—small meals. No more double dipping. And my stepchildren and fiance are going to have to eat the foods that I make which are healthy. For the past year, I've been cooking for this whole new family and, in order to please them, have been ignoring health. Homemade macaroni and cheese, spaghetti and meatballs, fried chicken, pizza galore and potatoe dumplings are all favorites here. We even had turnover night for a while. The kids do think I'm a great cook now, but the penalty is that I've packed on 30 pounds.

So here's the moment of truth. And this hurts. I weigh about 60 pounds more than I want to. I'm going to have to lose 60 pounds between today and October 17, my wedding date. That's about 9 months if you don't count the month of October when things should be fitted and finalized. That means about 7 pounds a month. I can do it!

My friend Nancy, who lives across the country from me, is my partner. She has much less to lose, but will be a big help.

To everyone who reads this blog, I'd love your support and suggestions. From Web sites to books, please share.

More of my story later.

So that also means exercise.