Way down at the bottom of this page, as far down as possible, hidden for the most part, is a counter. I tried to make it smaller but that's as small as it gets. Yes, I've finally come to the realization that I need to lose weight. Darn it.

But it's a realization I needed ... I've gained almost 20 pounds in the last year ... strangely during that year I discovered blogs and rediscovered my sewing machine. Surely just coincidence, right?

I've immersed myself in weight loss library books, especially The Biggest Loser, which I found to be extremely easy-to-read and understand. I've only tried twice to lose weight, once after A. was born (and I lost most of what I was trying to lose) and a few years ago when I was running (and lost it then too ... and even got muscles in my legs ... and then one night a stranger stopped me and told me a wild, large cat had been seen in the neighborhood ... I'm still not sure if the wild cat or the stranger worried me more but I stopped running alone at night after that and then stopped running altogether). Before last week I had no idea how to go about watching what I was eating and eating the right things ... things I thought were a-ok were not! Darn it.

The best thing so far is the C. wants to exercise with me, and it's so good to have her pushing me! And it's great to take long brisk walks with her and chat about life in general ... it's not easy squeezing in good quality one-on-one time in this house. And then there are the days we try Denise Austin aerobics ... and spend most of the time giggling at ourselves and all our left feet.

My hope is that by mentioning it now and then I'll keep myself motivated. Maybe? The eating thing isn't hard for me so far, we are big on fruits and veggies anyway ... so pretty much I just have to watch the fruits and cut out the sweets. But the exercise ... that's where I can slack so easily. Darn it.

And yeah, this probably isn't the best time of year to start this ... but there's really no time like the present right?

So share your success stories or tips!