It hasn't bothered me that my weight loss stopped. In my first year on the BTD my weight dropped below any ideal weight I had ever dreamed of.

It does bother me that the muscle building that was once so noticeable seems to have stopped also. It's pretty obvious why. My body has become accustomed to the amount of exercise that it found extremely challenging 16 months ago. I hardly notice 1 and 3 pound weights any more. I can do more than 25 repetitions with 5 pound weights without feeling a burn in my muscles, though the 5 pound weights do still increase my heart rate.

There are parts of my arms and legs that are still not as firm as I'd like. To start building muscle again, I'm going to have to up the ante on exercise. I really wanted to join a gym, but after pricing the ones reasonably near my house, I've decided that none are within my family's budget. I'm going to have to do this on my own.

Today I ran at the park with the hill. Instead of climbing over the top, I ran all the way up the path. I could feel it in my legs as I ran. If I can feel it in my muscles tomorrow morning, I'll know I'm on the right track.

I've just downloaded the Royal Canadian Air Force XBX program for women (http://www.statesa.com/gettingfit/5bx.php). Heidi has recommended it to several people in her columns. It is designed to improve muscle tone, not to build muscle mass. That is what I want.

I came across an interesting statement on the website where I downloaded the Canadian Air Force program. "When you do some exercise your body doesn't start burning fat before at least 20 minutes. That's because it burns first the glycogen from liver and muscles and then carries on with the deposits of fat." I don't know if that statement is true, but I usually exercise 30 - 40 minutes. That would mean that I'm only getting 10 to 20 minutes of actual fat burning. I guess I'll need to up the ante on time as well.