So, here I am. Day 365. One year of weight loss. One year of watching what I eat. One year of forcing myself to go to the gym. One year.

Well, there's good news and bad news.

First, the good news: I've lost 40 lbs.

Then, while I'm still basking in the glow of the accomplishment, I must address the bad news: Even after 40 lbs of weight loss, I still weigh 178 lbs, and since March 15 I've lost 5 lbs.

The lowest weight I've managed to record was 175. My weight has fluctuated between that (hit it twice) and 183 since March.

Although I'm pleased with the 40 lbs, I still have more weight to lose. I'm about 5'7" (if you measure me in the morning, I might be 5'8") and of medium frame, so 178 lbs is not a good weight for me. I should be around 150 lbs. When I graduated high school, I was 155 lbs, and I guess a little chunky (I had lots of muscle, but a fair amount of padding too). The skinniest I've ever managed to be was 123 lbs, but that was on the college student starvation diet. I was a size three then; I've kept one pair of ultra-slim Calvin Klein jeans as proof that I was once that size. My doctor informed me a few years ago that I "will never be a size three again." He could have been a bit more tactful about it, but it was news I needed to hear. I didn't need to come up with an unrealistic and unhealthy weight loss goal.

Instead, I came up with a few small goals, all of which I accomplished. I wanted to lose 15 lbs by last Christmas, and be in the weigh range for my kayak (under 185 lbs) by the end of this past May. I did those. But I stalled out badly, and never really got started again.

I can identify exactly what caused the stall-out: I got lazy. Story of my life, really. I am the woman of 1000 excuses. I can rationalize all kinds of reasons why I can't make it to the gym, but it is all really because I am a lazy person and always have been. My weight loss went well when I really didn't have a good excuse for getting out of work outs. I coach high school swimming during the winter season, and the practices aren't until 7 p.m. Because I live 45 minutes from my school, it isn't feasible to drive all the way home and then back up for practice. So my schedule went as follows: up at 4 to walk the dog and head to the gym (a nightmare in my book--4 a.m. is not morning by any stretch of the imagination), leave at 4:30 and get to the gym by 5, work out until 6:15 or so, shower, dress, and head to school, grade papers for a few hours after school, then head to the pool to swim for an hour and a half before swim practice starts. I was getting two work outs each day, and since I was limited to eating the food I had in my desk at school, I wasn't taking in more than maybe 1200 calories each day.

But then came March. Swim season ended, and lacrosse season began. Lacrosse practice was right after school each day, so I lost my after school grading time. That meant I still had work to do in the evenings. Also, by the time I was finished with lacrosse practice, I didn't really feel like hitting the gym, so I'd just head home to see my hubby and get some grading done. I was still hitting the gym in the mornings, but then came the time change.

I love the fall time change. You go to bed early because it feels later than the clock says, and you get to sleep in an hour later than normal. Awesome. The April time change sucks lint. When you are already getting up at 4, and 4 becomes 3, you start thinking of any reason at all to stay home. Muscle stiffness. Headache. Didn't sleep well. Dog kept me up all night. Got a cold. Whatever. I'd tell myself I would work out in the afternoons to make up for missing the mornings. Didn't happen. I'd tell myself that once I got used to the time change, I'd start getting up again. Didn't happen.

Even in the summer, I was a slacker. I had these fabulous plans for staying organized, keeping the house clean, getting all kinds of work done in preparation for the school year, and working out multiple times each day. Didn't happen. Oh, I'd make it to the gym twice a day maybe once each week, but that really isn't enough to keep it going. And my husband and I feed off each other (pun intended); when we are together we opt for bad food choices, like eating out and stuff like that.

School started in August, and I promised myself that after a week or two of getting used to getting up for work each day, I'd get back to the mornings. Didn't happen. You see a pattern here?

Well, now is my chance to get back into the routine. Swim season starts Wednesday. I'll have my grading time after school (to an extent; this year we're doing preseason lacrosse a few times each week, so I'll have to surrender some of my time), but I'll still have time to hit the pool before practice in the evenings. And now that the time change has swung back in my favor, I'll be able to get up in the mornings a little easier.

So here's the new plan: I'm giving myself some more easy, attainable goals. First, I'd like to be below 170 lbs by Christmas. It means losing about 1 lb each week, but I should be able to do it if I get back on track with the eating and exercise. I'd like to be under 160 lbs by the time school gets out in May (I told you they were easy goals) and at or under 150 lbs by the time school starts next fall. So I've got about 30 lbs to lose.

I'd say here goes nothing, but it's gonna be something, all right.

Cross your fingers...