The Saturday before Christmas, I was very glad to leave this cold, snowy, grey, miserable New England weather for warm, sunny Florida. We got there Saturday and did the usual shopping. On Sunday, Daniel’s half-brother and his granddaughter came from Baton Rouge with a surprise…basically David’s present to Helga - a little puppy.

Other than that, we got a lot of training in including swimming and running outside - something we can’t do here in Boston too much. The first day we swam, we ended up sharing a lane with Lisa Bentley, a pro triathlete. As much as it blows to be on a diet over the holidays, it was motivating to see her and think of the positive results of exercising and eating healthy. I also got a great 12-mile run on the path.

We also went to Sea World (I hadn’t been there before) and then to Mount Dora, a cute little town north of Clermont which was the only place in the area that had MBT shoes (even though there’s no known cure, I’ll do anything to minimize my cellulite and tome my tush).

Anyways, we came back to the miserable weather last Thursday. I weighed-in and was very happy to see that I had lost weight (under 120 YAY!). In the airport on the way to Florida, I got a book called “skinny bitch” which is an awesome nutrition book which I think contributed to my weight loss during the holidays…and also I really want to move somewhere warm since it seems to be conducive to exercising.

Since Thursday, I have been doing nothing. It’s been awhile and it feels good (I’ve been exercising, but that is fun…by “nothing” I just mean I haven’t been doing work because that’s **not** too fun haha).

Another thing, I have found that not eating too late really helps me. Late at night I am very hungry, but the following morning I almost always weigh less if I eat around 6pm so I really try to suck it up. I am now at 118.6 and have lost 8 pounds in the past month…and have 3 pounds to go. It’s really hard even though it’s only 2 pounds a week. If I don’t eat enough, I don’t have any energy to exercise. I honestly admire those people on shows like “the biggest loser” who lose 7 or 9 pounds in a week. Hopefully in 2 weeks (by mid January) I will succeed in getting to my goal weight.