Hey GA old-timers. Long time no blog. I haven't been on GA as much as I used to for many reason (mostly cause Dom has been quiet), but also because for the last three and 1/2 months, I've been on a serious diet and workout kick. Well last tuesday, I hit my weight goal and lost 40 lbs.

You see, sometime after thanksgiving, I weighed myself and hit a number I hadn't seen in years. Due to a combination of old age, slowing metabolism, and just poor eating (curses you Carl's Jr), I gained 25 and hit 200lbs .

I guess I had been getting fat for 2 years, and I knew it and my clothes knew it. But hitting 200 was a big shock, so I resolved to getting into better shape. I turn 40 this year, so my goal was 'Lose 40 by 40'.

Through a combination of better eating and better working out, I'm in better shape now than I I've been in the last 20 years . Here's what I changed:

On the food front -

- No fast food - in the last 4 months (I think I've had french fries twice)

- No breakfast pastries, but oatmeal or cereal with skim milk instead

- 4 or 5 pieces of fruit each day. Anytime I was hungry, I would eat a piece of fruit instead of candy or a cookie

- Lunch consisted of salad - mostly vegetables, some tuna on top, no dressing, and a plain bagel

- My normal dinner was a bag of those frozen vegetables from Bird's Eye that steam in a microwaveable bag. I think they are one of the greatest inventions of the 2000's. I also cut up some chicken breast and ate that with the veggies.

On the exercise front -

- While I used to workout daily before this recent health kick, I increased the intensity and stopped reading the paper on the stationary bikes. I would sometimes even do a 2nd workout in a day.

- I started taking spinning (cycling) classes, at first once a week, now I'm doing them three times a week). Each of those workouts kick my ass, I love them!

- I'm probably doing 300+ situps or ab crunches everyday. I'm actually starting to get some definition in my abs (dare I say the tiniest hint of a six pack under that skin). I never had toned abs before in my life!

- When the weather got nicer, I would try to do an outdoor activity by rollerblading 10 miles, biking 18 miles, or running 4 miles.

So with a lot of hard work and dietary discipline I got down to 160lbs last tuesday . Now, I'm just trying to maintain my weight but still build muscle tone in my abs and upper body. I was geeked when the size 31 jeans I had been wearing recently kept falling off my ass and I had to go to the Banana Republic and buy size 30 straight leg jeans. They fit awesomely and I still have extra room in them!

The drawback is that I've probably spend $750 on new clothes recently .

I guess I was motivated to lose the weight for several reasons...health, age, as well to attract a man. I was so unhappy with my looks before that I really wasn't considering dating. Hopefully by feeling better about the way I look, I'll have a better shot of finding Mr. Right .

Oh, a

So here's a picture of me taken yesterday by my roomate... The A&F muscle shirt is sort of a joke. I used to always skoff at men over 30 wearing A&F, so my ex got me the shirt. I probably can only wear it for a few more months because it's definitely a sin for a 40yo to wear A&F .

You can't see all the grey that's been sprouting on my head, but I am getting more lines & wrinkles and such on the face...grrrrrr crows feet