But enough about politics

Thanks for your comments yesterday, as well as the previous day. Bloggers love comments (hint, hint)! I left a reply, but I guess if you don't subscribe to the comments, you wouldn't know unless you came back and read the post again later. And who has time for that?

It looks as if the social-media pressure on Rush Limbaugh is working, in so many ways. Advertisers are bailing, stations have begun to drop the program and he continues to apologize. More importantly, President Obama's poll numbers are rising, particularly among women voters.

If only we could pressure Congress and get similar results.

My congressman is a Democrat, but he votes carefully so as not to upset the Southern Democrats who've kept him in office for 35 years. Don't get me wrong: I like him. I've met him, talked with him, visited his offices in West Virginia and in Washington, D.C. and will work hard to keep him in Congress. But he and the other moderates could and, in my opinion, should take advantage of the current huge lean to the left.

Don't get me started on our junior Senator.

Okay, moving on! It's Tuesday, and that means weigh-in day around here. Nine weeks in and I'm eight pounds down. I was able to get back on track this week but I gotta tell ya: Taking it off is so much harder and so much less fun than packing it on.

You've probably already figured that out, right?

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Although navigating Other People's Cooking wasn't really fun at all, now that I think about it. I was anxious and peevish and hungry. I'll probably never get to the point where I can just tuck into a big plate of forbidden fruit with joy and pleasure, but I hope I can get to the point where food is fuel. Not pleasure, not entertainment, not something to look forward to, not a battle, not a drag. Just food.

I'm guessing if you're reading this you might be hoping the same thing for yourself.

Eating lots of vegetables certainly turns food into fuel. I've been in a cooking slump lately, and it would be good to get that "I love to cook" mojo back again. Because I really do love to cook. The chopping and prepping is part of the cooking but lately it's Just Another Chore. I guess it comes down to making the decision to do whatever it takes to further my goal of once and for all getting rid of this lard.

So simple. And yet so hard.

We had lots o'snow yesterday morning so I worked out on the elliptical here at home. It's melted quite a bit already and it's going to be in the 60s today – spring in the Middle of Nowhere! – so look for a photo on Facebook later from my outdoor walk. And maybe tomorrow there will be one here from some fabulous South Beach-friendly new recipe I've found.

Better start looking …