Apologies for the silence, folks! It was a busy and bittersweet ol' week but now I'm back to blogland. Albeit very gingerly as my arms so sore from last night's weights session that it even hurts to type. Exxxxcellent!

It's bordering on February so it's high time I posted my lard bustin' New Years Resolutions. I'm happy with how the 2006 list panned out but they were far too vague and open-ended:

1. Reduce paranoia, increase confidence!
2. Write like a mofo.
3. Eat well
4. Keep moving my butt.

So this year I shall be more specific. And my goals are mostly about the sporty stuff, because that is what keeps me motivated and interested. Also, I've got Goal 1 and 2 from last year well under control and Goal 3 doesn't need to be re-resolved because my eating takes care of itself so long as I am committed to moving my lardy arse as per Goal 4.

That's where I fell down last year. I exercised and lost weight consistently until May, when my knee problems got severe and I had to halt all exercise for awhile. I didn't reduce my food intake to compensate; in fact I ate more because my moods plummeted without the smug and happy feelings I get from moving my butt. In hindsight I should have come up with a new programme with all the things I could do, but instead my efforts were sporadic and I never really got any momentum going. I lost and regained the same few kilos for the last half of the year. I'd lose for awhile, then start pushing the exercise, then get hurt again and the cycle would start again.

But towards the end of 2006 I finally accepted that this knee thing is a long term issue, and so my 2007 goals are all about working within my limits. Hurrah.

So here we go! A lot of these goals might seem a little small or just really bloody dorky, but I've learned from the likes of Maggie and Kek that you need to be specific with your goals, otherwise I will have another year of bumbling along without significant results.

1. Reach goal weight of 75kg
It will happen this year. I'm not setting a date but it WILL BLOODY HAPPEN IN 2007! I've got the plan and the tools, I just have to actually apply myself consistently… and believe that I can do it.

2. Track food DAILY
Looking through my food journal last year there is a direct correlation between blank pages and weight gain. I need to write down what I eat. I'm sticking with my old friend WLR for this.

3. Do physio knee-hab exercises DAILY
At times I was sooo inconsistent last year and then wondered why it wasn't getting any better.

4.  Do three cardio sessions per week
At the moment this is limited to the recumbent or upright bike, usually intervals. My aim is to do this steadily for January and February with a view to building up to switching one of these sessions to a Spinning class by March. Fingers crossed!

5. Weight train 2-3 times per week
I've got an upper and lower body split mapped out for the next couple of months, a mixture of Cathe DVDs and gym stuff. The lower body work is not weighted at all coz of the knee – so lots of little floor exercises that are based on what the physio recommended.

6. Flexy/Stretchy/Relaxy stuff twice a week
Whether it's an hour of Pilates or a yoga class or just a 20-minute Cathe stretch DVD, I'm going to be more consistent with that stuff this year, coz I like that floaty feeling.

7. Learn to ride my bike down a hill!
Without crapping my pants. And also release death grip on the handlebars. And learn to turn a bloody corner! I can't go in a straight, flat line forever. Baby steps, people

8. Try three new sporty activities in 2007
I'm excited about this one. I've been inspired by Mary organising all sorts of groovy activities for the Sydney bloggers to try, like archery and hooping. I like the idea of trying new things and taking exercise beyond the gym.

I'd have to say my proudest achievement last year was overcoming my ancient and irrational fear of swimming. Ever since I've wondered what else I can try. I've always told myself I was crap at all sports; that I was a book learnin' type and that was that. I have memories of being told the same by various teachers too. Here is a montage of my finest sporting moments:

• scoring an own goal in hockey
• passing ball to the opposing team in netball
• swinging and missing and spinning round 360 degrees at golf balls, baseballs and cricket balls
• finishing a one-mile running race eight minutes later than the rest of my class
• getting stuck halfway through a backwards roll and having to be unraveled by the gymnastics teacher
• instead of hitting tennis ball to person on other side of net, hitting ball over their head and over the fence and onto a bridge and hitting a truck
• scoring another own goal in the same hockey match

So I've never been blessed with sporting prowess. But how much worse was it because of crap self-esteem and lack of confidence? Maybe it's not as dire as I thought. I didn't drown in the swimming pool, so that's somewhat encouraging! And I don't care about being any good – I'm at a point where failure is funny instead of humiliating. I just want to have a go.

And that's about it! It's all going well thus far and I'm feeling organised and focused. I am ticking boxes and filling in spreadsheets and feeling the pleasant ache of tired muscles. Rock on.

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Tomorrow Dietgirl turns six years old. Well, technically Dietgirl has turned six already, as it’s already today in Australia, which is the wide brown land where it all began one stinky summer Monday in 2001.

It was strange reading back over the early entries the other day. Usually if I plunder the archives I feel awed by how much has changed, or I struggle to relate to my old mindset. This time round I was actually… a wee bit jealous. In 2001 I was so single-minded and determined. Losing weight was Priority One and all my mental and physical energy was poured into the enormous task at hand.

 That’d come in handy right now, I thought. It seemed so much less complicated back then.

But then I realised that in 2001 losing weight was Priority One quite simply because it my only Priority. I didn’t have any competing interests. I had non-demanding job I could do in my sleep, a comfortable life in the suburbs of Canberra, no hobbies, minimal dramas and very few relationships. I’d retreated from all of my friends and was quite the hermit. And in some ways I think it needed to be like that, to allow the time and space to tackle such an overwhelming task.

In the years that followed it’s been one bloody obstacle after another.  Family dramas, moving overseas, travel, work dramas, wedding and visa shenanigans, knee dramas, bah blah blah. Sure enough the lard has come off a helluva lot slower. When I’m in a bad mood I sometimes wonder if I deliberately make things harder for myself.

But then again they’ve not really been obstacles so much as they were just… life happening. And that’s something that I didn’t have when I started this blog six years ago. It was just me and my dog and a bag of chips and a block of Cadbury’s. Weight loss may have been "easier" back then, but I’m glad that these days there’s a lot more going on.

And now for some thrilling statistics…

• I weighed in today at 81.3 kg, meaning I lost an incredible 5.4 kilos in Year 6… that’s a whopping ONE POUND PER MONTH!

(I know, I know, my jaw is still on the floor too! But at least my Xmas Blubber is coming off.)

• In the past six years of blogging I have used the word CHOCOLATE approximately 192 times.

• And the word ARSE has been used 152 times. No wonder the Minneapolis Star-Tribune warned last week that this blog contains "frank language".

• I first used the phrase "onward and downward" on 12 April 2001 and I still mutter it to myself in the mirror when feeling flabby.

And now onward and downward into Year 7 of the World’s Slowest Weight Loss Adventure. Thank you all for sticking around for so long!

Next entry I will finally post my goals for the next twelve months because dudes, I am finishing the job this year. I am channeling the Determined Dietgirl of 2001 and I’m feeling mighty positive about the way things are going. 

Besides, even if I lose one measly pound a month like in 2006, I can still get there.

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