Another week down, and Thank God I lost 1 lb.  I binged a few nights.  But I picked up on the exercise this week, so I know for a fact that that helped.  I really want to lose 2 more lbs this week to hit the 10 mark.  I am down 8 so far.  8 lbs in 4 weeks is not bad.  Very frustrating as it feels so slow.  I cannot give up.  I have to keep focused on the picture of me in my head (not the one in the mirror.)   71,447 steps last week, 27.02 miles.  So I am up over 10,000 steps on average per day.  I need to keep that up.  I went to the YMCA 3x.  2x on the elyptical and 1 exercise class.  I did weights 3x.  I walked the dog 3x.  I am very busy this week, so I will have to work really hard to squeeze the exercise in.   Paul actually took the dog for a walk twice this week!  I am praying that as I get fit and lose the weight he will jump on the band wagon too.  He is a bigger couch potato than me.  I went to the farmers market and bought all kinds of fruits and veggies.  So I am psyched for this week.   I have decided that I am going to go to my dad's the Saturday after Christmas.  I bumped into my stepsister yesterday at the farmers market.  My stepmom has had a few surgeries on her hands for skin cancer and my dad is getting ready for a surgery on his hand for nerve problems.  When I saw Lori yesterday, it just hit me so bad that I miss my Dad and Shirley.  It is 17 hrs of driving.  I am a little scared but I have to have confidence that I can drive it on my own.  When I first went out in the field for my job, I was petrified.  I had only ever driven locally and never really distances on my own.  Now I live in DE and my territory is the Eastern 1/2 of PA, although I did go to Pittsburgh for a week to handle claims last year.  Thank God for the GPS!  Getting away for a week will hopefully do me good.  I guess I feel relieved at least that I made my decision to go.  I have to get past my fear.  I almost want to do this to prove to myself that I can do this.   The new ME for the New Year:  lose the weight, feel better about myself, get control of my weight and my life.  Read more books.  Exercise more.  Feel better bothy physically and mentally.  I cannot wait to finally get excited about buying new clothes again.  When I was growing up, into teen years, we were so poor that I hated to shop for clothes.  In college, it was even worse.  As I began to make more money, I began to gain weight and became less and less excited to buy new clothes.  Now, my clothes either don't fit or are so ratty looking I shouldn't be wearing them.  I hated buying new clothes so bad.  I refused to go up another size.  I can't wait to at least begin to be able to wear some of the clothes I have outgrown and throw away the ratty stuff, which should be soon.