My mom gave me a pair of pants for Christmas last year. I smiled, said "thanks," made a wisecrack about how "Wrangler butts drive 'em nuts," and then stashed them away in my closet.

They didn't fit.

If you think this is a success story about how those tight pants that only drove me nuts because of their snugness now suddenly fit after four months of hard work and smart eating, well, you'd be wrong.

The darn pants don't fit.

But now it's because they're too big.

Feel free to thank my wife for giving me a belt as a gift, too. Funny, when she gave me the belt, it didn't fit, either. (This means my mom and my wife either were horrible at guessing my size or had wishful thoughts when they bought the pants and belt.)

At the rate I'm losing weight, I might need a new belt or a leather hole punch soon. The combination of training for triathlons and eating healthfully really has my metabolism furnace fired up.

A driving force behind my revved-up mojo is a concept that's been on my mind a lot lately. That being: I've seen what I can do TO my body, now I'm trying to see what I can do WITH my body.

So far, I'm loving the results. Since New Year's Eve 2007, I've lost 43 pounds (and 139 pounds overall), about two pants sizes and one X before the L on my shirt tags.

Something I haven't lost, thankfully, is my motivation. It just seems to keep getting bigger as my body gets smaller. Though supportive friends call me "Skinny" or joke about my baggy clothes, I still have quite a ways to go. My ultimate goal is still 68 pounds away. I'm really focused on getting under 200 pounds, a number my scale hasn't seen since second grade or so. (OK, 12th grade really. Point is, it's been a long, long time.)

I did reach a huge milestone this past week, though. I'm now "skinnier" than I've been in about 17 years. This means I've finally atoned for my Great Weight Gain of 2007, which sadly saw me go from 233 to 275 in about seven months.

It was around this time last year, though, when my dieting drive faltered. I lost my willpower and couldn't find it again until this year. That's why I'm making such a big deal out of exercise. And, heck, after you see how hard you have to work out to lose a few hundred calories, suddenly a candy bar that's packed with that many fat-laden calories doesn't seem so tempting.

Usually, of course.

Along with health benefits, I also chose to go the triathlon route because it seemed like such a great challenge. Being challenged is something my body hasn't been used to — that is, not counting challenges like finding clothes that fit me at regular stores or seeing how serious restaurants are about their "all-you-can-eat" policies and such.

Training for three sports that I'm not at all good at has certainly been a challenge — and continues to be one. We'll see on May 31 if I'm up to it. The countdown for my first "tri," the Shark Attack Triathlon at Crystal Hot Springs, is now only (gulp!) T-minus 23 days.

It's just a good thing I don't have to compete in my now-oversized pants.

The bad part? I might be forced to wear Spandex in public. That might be enough to drive us all nuts.

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Jody Genessy's weight-loss column runs once a month. E-mail: jody@desnews.com