Actually, it began a month ago and I did something I never dreamed I could do: I went all the way through the holidays without stuffing myself with fattening goodies. Was I miserable? No, indeed. I found several recipes, which I’ll share soon, for some low-fat, low-sugar cutout sugar cookies and a low-fat apple pie that kept me from eating my dad’s pecan pie or my mom’s Yankee Doodle cookies.

Anyway, welcome to Finding Fitness at 50. Don’t let the name scare you away if you’re much younger than 50 or even a little older. I plan to share with you here healthful eating and exercise tips, a recipe or two from time to time and a lot more. I’ll let you in on the goals I’m setting for myself – small, reachable ones – and the rewards I’m planning on giving myself when I reach each of them. And when I’m frustrated or stymied, I’ll share that, as well. As I wrote in a column that appeared in the Journal today, learning that I was well on the road to a diagnosis of diabetes in early December scared me. And fear can be a powerful motivator. But, it also made me angry – at myself for letting it happen. Then I realized this truth: I can’t go back and redo. I can only move forward.

 And that’s what I intend to do.I hope you’ll join me on this journey, whether you need to lose 10 pounds, 50 pounds, 100 pounds or more. Or even if you just need to exercise a little more or make more healthful food choices.It’s my hope that we can help each other along the way.

Click here for Leslie Criss’ column introducing this feature in the Daily Journal newspaper.