Finally

I have learned that if you actually put forth an effort to exercise and try to eat a little better, you can lose weight and feel better.

About 8 months ago, I started walking on the treadmill 3 or 4 times a week at night. I began to see some success and started feeling better about the way I looked and generally felt.

I added some weight lifting to my routine a few months after that. In July I decided that I was going to lose 50 pounds by the end of December 2009.

I did not quite make the 50 pounds by the end of December but when I got on the scale last night, it showed that I weighed 197.4. That is 22.6 pounds lower than I weighed in July. I feel much better and think I look a little better to.

I have not been under 200 pounds in probably 15 years. I was pretty happy.

I have learned that work and persistence pays off when it comes to losing weight.