the little Lissa that could...

Who knows how long it's going to take for me to lose weight. To get back down to a comfortable size 10. (A size eight wouldn't be bad, either.)

After being so dedicated for the first month I started walking, I started slipping up. Skipping a day here and there. Once skipping an entire week. (Depression.) Last night I got to thinking about summer, though. I mean, here it is, already March. The year is nearly one-fourth over already. It's time to up the ante; increase the stakes.

I've set my sights on a goal that even Banana says should be attainable and isn't overly ambitious. 200 pounds. By July. That's four months for a measley 25 pounds. (Because I've lost about 14 since the first of the year.)

This goal is still WAAAAAY far away from my size 10s but maybe I will be back into my size 16s comfortably. Maybe I'll be able to wear some of the Bermuda shorts I bought two summers ago comfortably again. Maybe I'll be a little more satisfied with myself in a swimsuit when it comes time to spend a weekend in Panama City this year.

Banana recently procured a much deserved and long-overdue promotion to supervisor. The position is salaried so she no longer has to worry about being a few minutes late from time to time. She'll be working more hours so it's going to balance out. In light of this we've started tackling (well, okay, I've started tackling) four laps vs. the three we'd been doing. So now I'm up to four miles in the afternoons. But it doesn't seem like quite enough. The weight is still being stubborn and is coming off slowly. I'm not looking for a dramatic change like five pounds in a week. Just a mere pound a week is all I ask. And I'll meet my short term goal of 200 pounds by summer time. To, perhaps, give my metabolism the swift kick in the ass that it needs, I'm going to start walking two more miles at night. By myself. Alone with my thoughts. And my iPod. Where this used to sound exhausting and generally uneasy, I'm finding myself looking forward to the challenge. I picked a route that won't absolutely kill my legs/feet/ankles. No steep hills or anything like that. Just a nice one mile route that I can walk twice at night. It'd be nice to get my sister to do it with me but I'm not counting on it.

I have to do this for me. I'm out of excuses. I can't use twisted logic and flawed reason to get out of it anymore.

This weight has GOT to go.