Only 24 more pounds, then I can quit smoking

After a few weeks of half-measuring my health program, I took some positive steps this week and it ended up paying off for me.

I got back to my aerobics class twice, and although I ate some large lunches and indulged myself with some sweets, I really cut back on my dinner portions and ate no late-night snacks.

For the first time since I began writing this column, I finally broke through my wall and came in under 225. This morning I weighed in at 224 -- so I beat it by a pound, for a total of three pounds lost since last week.

I usually weigh myself only once a week, on Friday morning, but this week I cheated Tuesday just to see where I was at, and on that day I weighed 225. I knew then that I had the chance to break through the 225 wall this week, but after Wednesday, my hopes were not good.

I skipped breakfast on Wednesday and was starving by 12:45, when we finally lined for our Times-Gazette employee Christmas dinner and party.

We again went with smoked turkey and ham from Uncle Sonny's, and had several great side dishes and desserts as well. I stuffed myself.

To top it off, I ate filet mignon and broiled scallops with my friend Keri Smith Wednesday night. Although that was actually a lean (and rather tasty) meal, I ate a lot of it, so I consider it a miracle that I didn't gain weight this week.

I met Keri at aerobics class, and I have to give her props for staying on my butt and talking me into getting back into it this past week.

It's not that I didn't want to continue with the aerobics program, it's just that once you get out of the habit of doing things like that, it's hard to start them back up again. I don't know what I'd do without my friends.

Speaking of aerobics, my instructor, Tabby Stem, gave me a tough pill to swallow last Friday night at her Hip Hop Happy Hour aerobics class.

We started talking about abdominal workouts, and she made the comment that someone like me can do all the ab work I want, but it will just add more bulk underneath the flab of my midsection, making it look even worse.

I asked what I needed to do about it, and she said, "That, (pointing at my stomach) is food." In other words, if I really want to slim down and get that six-pack, I'm going to have to do better with my eating.

I may even actually have to start a *gasp* diet.

Well, I can tell you this much -- it ain't gonna happen until after the holidays.

I will be leaving for Knoxville either this afternoon, or maybe early Saturday morning, and I'll be back home for a week, spending time with my mom and my sisters. It's not the best time to start a diet, and trust me, I don't plan on it. I will try to limit myself some, though, so I don't have so much work to do when I get back into town next week.

After Christmas comes New Year's Day, and with that comes New Year's resolutions.

I admitted in one of my earlier columns that I am a smoker, and I had told myself I would quit when I got my weight under 200 or by the end of this year.

Guess which one I'm going to take?

That's right.

I'll wait until I get my weight under 200 pounds, which makes sense to me, because I have heard it's easy to put on a lot of weight when you quit smoking.

I don't want to try to take on too much at once, so I'm not going to try to lose 24 more pounds in the next six months and stop smoking. It seems like that would be a little too hard for me to accomplish.

The thought of not smoking is a big fear of mine. You might want to let your pre-teen and teenage children read this: I started smoking when I was 13 years old and told myself for years that I could quit whenever I wanted to. Now I'm 41 and entirely hooked. I've been smoking for nearly 30 years, and I've spent somewhere in the neighborhood of $30,000 on them. And they are poison.

What was once "cool" is now an addiction, and I am paying for it. I promise myself that I will quit -- just as soon as I lose another 24 pounds.

Everybody have a merry Christmas! I'll be checking in next week from Knoxville.

-- John Philleo is editor of the Times-Gazette. He can be reached at (931) 684-1200, ext. 218, or by e-mail at editor@t-g.com. This column is scheduled to print every Friday.