I've been keeping to my New Year's Resolution of raising my walking schedule to twenty miles a week. I wasn't keeping track of my walking mileage before this, but it was probably averaging only about seven miles per week. I didn't make any plans on changing my diet for a couple of months, but was just going to focus on the increased exercise. I'm already feeling much better with the increased exercise. I've got more energy and am in a better mental and emotional spirit. But I haven't lost any weight and it's been over a month now!
But I do feel more toned, and though I didn't measure myself at the beginning, it's quite likely I'm losing a bit in inches around most parts of my body. My sister is trained as a dietician. She says they were told muscle is three times as dense as fat. Meaning a pound of fat takes up three times as much space as a pound of muscle. So she thinks I've added a little bit of muscle and have lost some fat. The scale doesn't show this difference at all, but if it's true, it would be a big improvement.
I've done over two hours of research on the web, trying to find the definitive answer for the muscle versus fat density question. (This is as good procrastination as any for delaying my walk today ;-)) There are a lot of conflicting answers out there. If anyone has a good online reference, and more encouragement for those of us who have started exercising but don't see the good results on their scales, please let us know!
Not wanting to bore you (but going to anyway), the food for the holiday was strange.
Monday we got up early. I had a banana, then went to the manicurist and had my nails done and they look awesome. Then back home for an hour's Swedish massage and then off to the lake for a couple of hours swimming. I was starving after that so we went off to get some dinner. Found a lovely place that we thought was a restaurant, but was in fact a swish ice cream bar and had a couple of boules of ice cream. Then went to another restaurant with the others and I had 'Rooster stewed with its balls' Yes. That was the dish of the holiday! Last year it was "Prisoner in the Gaol Foxy Soup". This time it was Rooster balls!!! HA HA.
There was a good article in the New York Times yesterday encouraging people to 
Michelle Obama looks really fit for her age. She just celebrated her 44th birthday last week. The highly publicized story is that she works out most weekday mornings on her treadmill, starting at 4:30am and is in bed by 9:30pm. She has two daughters aged 5 and 8. I'd be interested in getting more information about her actual workout routine, can anyone supply some good information?
Kathy was told she had high blood pressure and had to lose weight. She started on the South Beach Diet in June and had lost 49 pounds by this January. See her story and a couple of other stories of 
Heather has been fat since her teen years. But now at age 31, she is very slim for the first time since childhood. She weighs 140 pounds and her height is 5'9". 
There's been 
Montel Williams, age 51, is feeling really great these days. In the mornings he works out in the gym on an elliptical machine and he has been drinking a lot of green vegetable shakes for a couple of years. His face is glowing with health, he says his wrinkles have disappeared and he feels very energized. 
I linked to this 
Hi, I came across your blog and I love what your doing! I think you will find my story very inspirational. I have overcome binge eating disorder, alcoholism, substance abuse, and chronic illness that developed from my disorder. I personally gained and lost the same 10-15 lbs. over and over for 14 years until I found a way out of the insanity. I've kept my weight off for 20 years now, even through menopause! 
This couple met ten years ago and started a family about five years ago. They now have three beautiful children but are determined to get their health and energy back. They want to feel like they did when they were at ideal weight They've just started 
I can relate to this image. It speaks perfectly of the dejected feeling most of us must have occasionally, maybe especially on Monday mornings.
Tim has lost 128 pounds. He lost the first sixty pounds over eight months by starting a regular walking program and then joining a gym. He joined an Operations Boot Camp to help him lose the rest of the weight. 
Many of us are trying very hard to change ourselves and our habits at this time in the New Year. But changing habits with sheer willpower is the hardest thing and we are often beating ourselves up about it when we fail. I found the first couple of sentences from this Zen newsletter very interesting in this regard. It's a different approach entirely;
Miss Patti wants to lose about 40 more pounds before her wedding in May. She's lost about 16 pounds already since she got engaged in September. That's when she went out and purchased an elliptical machine and dropped fast food from her diet. She started a blog two weeks ago in her goal to lose weight. She's found new determination to work out for 30 minutes everyday and so far she's lost about seven pounds in the first two weeks. 
Here are some amazing before and after pictures. What is most incredible is that there is only a seven pound difference between them. 
The photo shown here is another success story featured on the
Hi everyone. My name is Adriana and I developed the 
The Daily Mail has an entertaining article today about celebrity diet secrets. These celebrity diet tips are taken from the 
. They list the tips alphabetically. Here's a couple of examples;