A five-pound bag of flour

This is five pound bag of flour, and my new symbol of success, or failure as I approach goals for a new year, and reviewing the past year.

Friend Roy Kelsey commented to me about my recent weight loss this past few months--"Think of that in terms of bags of flour."

For years I've had a goal of weight loss and exercise, and nothing ever happened, until I guess I got scared in late summer, and ashamed after seeing photos of myself where I looked pregnant. I had to buy new pants with bigger waistband  to start the school year. So we went to work on it--a combination of things--Jenny Craig diet, regular exercise, routine, and more. Blood pressure dropped, I felt better, even gradually looked better for a geezer.

Now I've bought this five pound bag of flour to keep in a sack in my studio, next to my computer,  this coming year to look at every day. I've lost the equivalent of six of those, mostly from around my waist. I haven't weighed less than 200 pounds in almost 15 years. I've had to buy smaller, and my belt is too big.

Scary isn't it, to think about carrying that around on your body, forcing your heart to work harder, getting out of breath lifting all that when you walk up stairs, etc.? No wonder you didn't feel good, blood pressure going up.

Not all resolutions will be kept--and I have a new list this coming year. But at least one of them isn't to lose six sacks of flour, but just refrain from picking one up every few months and lugging it around the rest of the year.

Now I'm going out in this great weather for a two-mile walk in Hafer Park right in our neighborhood.