From 18 thru 24 March.

After last weeks set back in my weight loss program this week is great because at my Friday weigh-in I was down to 186 pounds (92 Kilograms) and my waist belt is up one extra notch. Now that has sounded alarm bells because it is the final notch on the belt and I hate making extra holes.

This puts the weight loss program right back on track to achieve a weight of 180 pounds (89 kilos) that was the original target. I did set 17 weeks as the target period but will beat that deadline by around 4 weeks or more at the rate Im losing weight.

The focus during the past week has been to increase my level of exercise not by having longer or more vigorous exercise sessions but by being more conscious of doing those little extra things that we all pretend that we dont have time to do. Like choosing stairs rather than an escalator when the option is available, becoming really serious about questioning whether I need to use the car to do a chore and just getting off my butt and taking a walk after dinner.

One instance that I recall this week was when I promised my wife to bring a carton of milk back when I walked down to buy my morning paper. The sports page was so interesting I totally forgot to buy the milk and arrived back home without milk. - Now I wear the pants in my house with her permission so I immediately turned around and made for the car to return to the village. Then I thought of my promise to increase exercise, so I slipped the car keys into my pocket and walked back to the village. Needless to state I felt proud of myself for pocketing the car keys and remembering my exercise pledge. Maybe that extra trip to the village was worth half a pound in weight loss?

It doesnt matter whether the exercise helped me lose weight or not, it certainly helped make this old body a little fitter and that is equally as important as losing weight. Whats the point in losing weight if your body remains too unfit to enjoy the benefits of weighing less?

As your body becomes fitter during the process of following this system you should never stop reminding yourself that this extra fitness will be the major factor in keeping the weight off. Because you are fit you will want to be more active and activity burns calories.

This article is copyright David McCarthy 2006.

David McCarthy is webmaster at www.recipesmania.com a site dedicated to freely sharing knowledge on all things connected to health and diet and featuring a wide range of recipes from basic family meals to entertaining specials. This is backed by diet meals and weight loss program that are all free to try and share.