Like many people, I have a problem with overeating and underexercising, and I don’t like the way I look or how I feel. So I’ve been spending the past five months trying to re-create my past Lake Placid Diet weight-loss success — dropping from 470 pounds to almost 380 pounds in the first six months of 2014. By the end of 2016, I had gained back all the weight, plus an extra 10 pounds.

Now I’m down to 443 pounds, a loss of 14 pounds for the year. But that’s 8 pounds more than the last time I filed a Lake Placid Diet column on April 5.

Since then, I’ve been loading up on the excuses. I was sick for the entire month of April. Then, after a long weekend mini-vacation in Quebec City, I got really busy at work and didn’t make my diet and exercise a priority. Those are my excuses in a nutshell; day by day, others pop up depending on the situation.

This week, I’m ashamed that I was not physically fit enough to volunteer at the Lake?Placid Marathon and Half on Sunday, June 9. I was going to help at the finish line — as I have fond memories of the finish line as a participant in the half marathon in 2014 and 2015 — but I was not strong enough to do it. I was sore from simple yard and house work the day before and could hardly walk on Sunday morning. It’s embarrassing.

The Lake Placid Marathon and Half was a wake-up call. I decided to kick myself in the butt again and get back to the gym — Fitness Revolution in Lake Placid. I returned this week after being absent for 10 weeks. And now I’m concentrating on eating a healthier diet.

Promises, promises, right?

Still, I am proud of at least one thing this year. On Sunday, March 24, I put aside the cane I’ve been using for more than two years, and I haven’t used it since. That’s almost 12 weeks without the cane. I’m still walking slowly, but at least I’ve taken a major step toward improving my health and getting back to normal — whatever that means. I guess it will mean walking without assistance, with more strength and stamina and with less pain.

Now I have to concentrate on getting stronger and conditioning myself to walk normally again.

As I struggle to walk from one room to the other, I think of what I accomplished four and five years ago by finishing the Lake Placid Half Marathon, and I ask myself, “How the hell did I do that?” I also wonder if I can ever do it again.

The simple answer is “Yes. I can do that again.” The hard truth is that it will take a lot of time, energy, pain and dedication to accomplish that goal. Luckily, I can learn from my own successes and get the inspiration I need from watching others succeed.

Even if getting off the cane was the only thing I accomplished from the Lake Placid Diet in 2019, it will be worth it. But there is still plenty of time to accomplish more. I have six months to get my act together.

I’m interested to see what I can really do when I put my mind to it. Perhaps a 10k or a half marathon in October? It’s a stretch, but it’s not impossible.

One step at a time.