Ah, just got back from the gym. I was supposed to walk tonight but after an hour on the phone with Mom, ate supper at 7pm and by 8:30pm when I felt sufficiently digested to walk, it was too dark so I went to the gym and did 25 minutes on the treadmill. Feels Great!

So, a funny thought occurred to me. Here it is. When I left high school at the tender age of 17, I was about 180lbs (like 178 or something). My heaviest weight was 220lbs or so. (Right now I'm 214) And 3 times in my adult life I have lost about 30 lbs: once when Mom lost her job in 1995, on diet pills in 1998 and with Jenny Craig in 2002. Okay, let's do the math.So from 180 to 220 is 40lbs plus 90lbs lost - I have gained 130lbs in the past 14 years! That's crazy! And lost 90.

I'd like to be 150, 160. That's about 65 to lose (then I could say that I lost 155lbs!!). At 2 per week, 8 per month, that's - crap, where's my calculator? 8 months, give or take. End of April. Hmm.

I always do this thing in my head at the gym. I used to read people's success stories in magazines. You know - "I tried everything and with your program I lost 30 pounds and kept it off for 10 days"!! Ah, yeah, sarcasm. You know what I mean. Anyway, when I get going with exercise I always write my success story in my head. Today's was funny:

'I've been dieting since I was 10 months old. I've tried everything: name calling, bribery, starvation, exercise, bulimia, diet pills, Jenny Craig, dietitians but nothing worked! Then I started seeing a shrink...'

How do you think that would go over? Funny. The funny thing is I'm not dieting. Yes, the experiment. I can eat whatever I want. I just don't really want so much. Of course, I haven't lost any weight, either. Snicker.