One of the more successful activities this year for me was a new [almost] daily visit to the gym. It's been a great way to blow off steam and further my goal of getting into better shape. There are few things that provide a better stress relief than a good workout (legal things that is). I also get an opportunity to read magazines and books while I'm working out.

One thing I haven't done much of is getting on the scale to see my progress. I'm more concern with feeling better than stats. I decided to get on the scale the other day for the first time in a bit and was shock to discover I've lost around 25 pounds this year. I still feel like I have a long way to go, but this year was a good start.

One disadvantage of the gym visits that I've recently realized is a lot my clothing doesn't fit me anymore. It's been a gradual change where for example, pants don't stay on without a good belt, but it's gotten to the point where I can't wear a big chunk of what i own because it's horribly lose. OK, so I admit this isn't a terrible problem to have cause losing weight is good stuff, but since I don't feel like I'm done [and I'm cheap] I wanted to avoid spending a lot of money on new clothing.

I broke down yesterday and went shopping with my [twin] sister to get some new clothing. She's an expert shopper and has great fashion advice [I got zero fashion sense, but I'm OK with that] so I really appreciated her help. She is crazy good at finding good sales/deals. $500 later I've updated a small portion of my closet with some new stuff. It's a start, but it was great yesterday trying on stuff many sizes smaller than I'm use to. My new gear should help me hold out a little bit longer before I have to spend even more money, but so far I'm pretty happy.