Holy COW, that was a lot of chocolate!

My weight was 156 when we got home last week -- and now it's up to 159 despite five days of hard labor and not much snacking (but I'm probably retaining water -- and I also dropped two pounds when I took my nightgown off before my shower, and it doesn't weigh two pounds, so I think my scale is as flaky as ever). So I'm up somewhere around 15 pounds from last winter. Yikes!!

I am very glad that Labor Day is coming. That has always been our reset point and I've always found it easier to lose weight in the fall than any other time of year -- the first two months are before the candy holidays hit, and I'm back into my routine so I do less snacking and more gym.

And now I have a triathlon as my mental goal, even if I just do a piece of it! My bike tires are pumped up and one of these days I'll get brave and fix the derailleur, and in the meantime I can ride my bike at least a bit. I rode it back from the car place today (I left the car for new tires, ugh) and couldn't believe how out of shape my riding muscles are -- that teeny little trip made my thighs work, and I was winded when I got home. At the gym I'll start running some each trip (and at the Crawfords' this weekend I'll run my usual 5k, which is to say I'll jog-walk it) and work back up to that kind of fitness. I'm not sure how I'll work in the swimming fitness but I'll get there somehow, too! Next week the kids are out of town -- I could at least go over to the pool and try out my old muscles. Swimming always kills me after a long break.

Exercise is probably not enough to get my weight back down, though. I am officially overweight again, so I'm giving myself until Labor Day to merely eat sensibly, and then I'm starting the food diary again. My class reunion is the first weekend in October and I'd like to qualify as not-overweight again by then. We shall see.