One of my major motivators for losing weight is helping my children develop an honest body perception. I want my children to be able to recognize things like a healthy portion, weight and lifestyle. I want my children to develop healthy habits now that will serve them when they are adults. Although I wasn’t overweight as a child, I had already learned bad habits.

There was that recent study that found the people in your social circle can impact your weight and body image. OK, so I haven’t actually read an article on the subject, so I don’t know anything about the actual study. I’m just thinking of my own experience. I know I never thought of my dad as fat, and he weighed in at over 400 pounds. I know that I often think of myself as skinny, and I am really 80 pounds overweight. In other words, I have a tendency to be delusional about weight.

And, I also know that I am more successful in my attempts to lose weight when I have someone to join me in losing weight and/or exercising. My husband and I have made pacts in the past to walk regularly, but when 6 a.m. rolls around, more often than not, he resets the alarm for 7 a.m. It seems so many times, we will tell each other, “we’ll walk tomorrow.” But lately I’ve been trying to change that. If we don’t walk in the morning, I have tried (a couple of times at most) to get him to walk at night. It’s hot though, and afternoon/evening walks aren’t very appealing.

But on Monday, I made a deal with another family member — my 13-year-old daughter. We have committed to walk at least 5 times a week, and to begin with, we are walking 2 miles. Teens can be persistent, and so far it has been pretty successful. We grab our iPods and off we go. Yesterday my two younger daughters joined us. The girls jogged part of the two miles, but I’m not up to that yet. I’m not sure if I ever will be. I’ve never particularly liked to run. We shall see.

The thing about the walk? We’ve been going in the evening, usually after dinner, when it is still hot out. Last night when we arrived back home, I immediately took a shower because I needed it.

I have also started exercising to my exercise DVD. Mind you, I haven’t managed to do the entire workout yet, and that is usually because I have to do other stuff, but it is a start. I am doing what I need to do to lose weight — exercising. Because I find I can only talk the talk so long before I expect results.