I'm more motivated than ever (not that you'd notice from my behavior
today) to shed these regained pounds. Of all things on my to do list
today, I managed to cross one thing off. I went to my bike shop and
purchased a new bike. It's a Felt SR 81. Last year's model so I got it
for a fraction of MSRP. I'll pick it up next weekend after they add a
rack, replace the front stem so it'll fit my short body, and generally
spiff it up after a long winter in storage. I tested it out by riding
around the block a couple of times. It was 35F today, clear blue sky,
and patches of snow/ice on the streets. Still, in those 5 minutes, the
thrill of riding flooded over me and I left the shop feeling
exhilarated.

Thanks for the butt kick, Mr. Official.

On Sun, 27 Feb 2005 03:13:53 GMT, Fred wrote:

An OFFICIAL (well, I'm not quite AN official here) WELCOME BACK.

You did it before and you CAN DO it again. And you've caught yourself
earlier and with a lot more knowledge. And you now have BIKING as
both an exercise and an objective that you like.

See you on the biking trails (although after today, well ......)

On Sat, 26 Feb 2005 15:50:58 GMT, Prairie Roots
wrote:

I think it was early December when I last posted. Even then I was
struggling to maintain my focus and concentration on this WOE/WOL.
Body image was a real problem. My head refused to accept the fact that
the Small and Medium size clothes in my closet were actually mine and
fit, some even loosely. Then the holidays hit and when that voice in
my head telling me I was fat saw all the goodies on platters
throughout the office, all remaining resistance melted. I've been on a
feeding frenzy since.

Work has become all-consuming, and as a result, I've become
all-consuming as well. While my work life couldn't be any more
exciting and fun, the career stakes have never been higher, and thus,
I've fallen back on old coping (food) habits. Somehow I've got to find
some other way than eating to quell my nervous energies. I'm
embarrassed to say how much weight I've regained.

Now the clothes that I imagined were too small a couple of months ago
are, in fact, too small now. And this week, I noticed in the mirror
that my neck is starting to fill in, one of the first places fat
deposits itself in my body, after my abdomen. When I saw that, the
fat-fighting spirit that helped me the last time finally kicked in and
here I am. I rejoined the Y and have plans to go later today for my
first workout. I rejoined WW online this morning, and see, I'm back to
participating in the newsgroup.

The sun is shining, daylight is longer, and only 2 days remaining of
February. My biking club is gearing up for spring and summer riding,
and dangit! I'm gonna be ready!