Weighing In on New Years Resolutions

I will lose x (where x=5, 10, or 15) pounts:  it has been a staple New Year's Resolution of mine since I was 11, whether or not I needed to lose the weight.  This year is no different; I'd love to lose some weight.  But weight has always been a struggle for me.  And now that I'm in my mid-thirties, I've found that I have to work harder than ever to lose a couple of pounds. 

To make matters worse, my doctors are closing in on the cause of my occasional palpitations and heart murmurs.  Right now the most probable candidate is some form of hyperthyroidism.  Read:  I should be losing weight with no effort at all.  WHAT?!!  Do you mean THIS is me in thin mode?!!  You mean, if my thyroid levels were normal, I'd be fatter?!   If I do have a thyroid imbalance and start taking medication, I'm going to gain weight?!!  I've always thought I had a slow metabolism, but apparently my TSH levels are saying the opposite.   

Great. Now what?  I won't bore you with the diets I've tried and failed with.  I know I should be able to lose the excess weight through old-fashioned diet and exercise, I would love to have a little bit of help.  Two interesting new weight-loss medications are slated to pop up in over-the-counter shelves soon:  Alli and Rimonabant.  If my doctor says it's ok, I'd love to try them.  Hold on:  like Xenical, side effects of Alli include flatulence and diarrhea.  And my BMI is not high enough to be suitable for the use of Rimonabant.  Damn.  It would be so nice to just take a pill and lose weight.  Because I've tried so hard, and the weight still ain't coming off.

All right, fine; it's a New Year, time to look long and hard at the year that has passed, time for a fresh start.  I need to be honest.  I guess I need to admit that I haven't tried hard enough; I can't blame my slow metabolism any longer.  It's time to take a good, hard, look at my eating habits and admit that I snuck too many candies out of the kids Halloween bags -- ok, and Christmas stockings. It's time to take a good, hard look at my exercise routine and admit that I've been barely making a half-hour, half-assed attempt at working out at the gym.  So other than a vague "lose weight" resolution, I think I need resolutions that address my diet/exercise failings of 2006.  So without further ado, here is a list I think I could live with:

1)  Drink more water
2)  Take a multivitamin every day
3)  Decrease our family's consumption of refined sugar
4)  Decrease our family's consumption of fast food and processed food
5)  Stop eating after 9PM
6)  Do situps every time I go to the gym, i.e. 3x per week
7)  Walk the kids to school more often
8)  Start swimming again
9)  Run a half-marathon
10) Go all the way across the monkey bars at the kids' playground

All right, maybe I won't be able to do all of them (especially #10).  But if I can keep going with even a couple of these, I'll have made an improvement in my overall health.  And hopefully maybe even drop a pound or two or five or ten.  Ahh, New Years Resolutions.  All that starting anew, all that hope.  I'm feeling thinner already.