Half a hundredweight, half a hundredweight,
Half a hundredweight downward.
All in the valley of Dieting
Rode the big losers.

(That’s half a light hundredweight, by the way, for you sticklers!)
Yep, there be raucous celebratin’ and riotin’ afoot–can’t you tell? Don’t I sound absolutely raucous? And riotous? And well I should, because I’ve only this very morning achieved my first major weight loss goal:

I have lost 50 pounds this year!

Actually, I think I’ve lost most of it the last several months, but details, schmeetails.
Now onward and upward–uh, downward. I have not yet begun to fight. No, that’s not right, either. I’ve got a good beginning, but I’m only two-thirds of the way toward my goal, and I’m not buying new clothes until I knock off about another eight pounds and drop another inch in my waistline, even though I’m getting comments that my clothes are looking really baggy now… Wednesday should be about right (just kidding!).

No dieting during the cruise later this year, though. I’m not missing out on either the delicacies or their respective quantities. I’ll be another 12-15 pounds lighter by then, so I don’t care if I lose a little ground at that point—I’ll be walking around the deck quite a bit, anyway, probably reading my Kindle as I go (I once chastised someone for doing that very thing, but I tried it recently on a sidewalk next to a busy thoroughfare and found it not difficult or dangerous at all—one can watch the sidewalk without having to focus on it). I don’t have a particular time frame in mind for my goal, and if the last third takes twice as long as the first two thirds, then so be it.  But I think 75 pounds down will be just about right for me.  Just think—that’s the equivalent weight of nine gallons, three pints of water!
…and miles to go before I sleep…