Even though I consider myself a "foodie," I have as much of a love/hate relationship with food as I do with the gym. Too little good food and I'm cranky, too much good food and I'm lying prostrate on the couch. Too little exercise and my thighs and hips expand just enough to where I can't buy new jeans because I refuse to go up a size, too much...wait, there's no such thing, at least not in the capacity that I imagine I'd ever exercise!

I do enjoy the high I get after my 30 minutes of cardio and some weight lifting at the gym, but I've always been one of those types who protests the actual act of going to the gym until about the tenth minute on the elliptical. I don't run because I don't like the feel of all that jiggling, and I much prefer hiking, or at least walking on New York's amazing West Side highway path. I like to walk around NYC as much as possible -- depending on my shoes, I'm easily able to walk a couple of miles a day.

I've got little legs though -- I'm 5'3" (and 3/4!) and my weight has stayed stable at around 123 pounds as I've ambled up through my 20s. I seem to have a good metabolism and know that if someone with different genes ate as much rich food as I do on a regular basis, they'd likely be a few sizes larger. I feel lucky for that.

When I turned 28 this past summer, I was in the middle of an apartment move and didn't join a gym in my new neighborhood until the fall. While I maintained my weight, I could definitely see changes in my body that cemented in my head (hopefully once and for all) that I must work out! Since then I've tried my best to make it to my new gym, Crunch, three times a week, and in the last month I've noticed that my waist has gotten narrower, my thighs have slimmed, and my pants aren't as tight.

Hopefully by the end of January I'll be the owner of a perfect new pair of jeans!