OTTUMWA — Choices. Our waking hours are filled with countless choices.

I can’t write about all of them so I’ll limit this to food and exercise. Most likely many people just turned the page.

After all, Thanksgiving dinner is on the horizon. Who wants to hear about diet and movement? We all should, but a lot of the best food we get all year is coming up.

Moderation might be the best course to follow. Have smaller samples of what you like. Or, go for the gusto but include walking or some kind of exercise in your holiday weekend.

Please keep in mind I’m not here to preach. I’m here to testify.

I’ve dropped 15 pounds since March 2009. A 20-minute walk three or four times a week has made the difference in my effort to eat better and lose weight.

My campaign to improve started in March 2008. I gave up dairy products — milk, cheese and ice cream. You should have heard me scream about ice cream. No cheese? I sobbed.

I love Pepsi-Cola. Too bad. Some of it had to go as I varied what I drank (substituting Diet Pepsi, bottled water or green tea) and limited my trips to convenience stores with Pepsi on tap.

But, the weight wasn’t falling off. After several months, I did feel better but I’d only lost maybe five to eight pounds. I was frustrated.

Then along came the Red Dress Runway Affair in February 2009 at Quincy Place Mall. Leslie Heemsbergen of Ottumwa Regional Health Center’s cardiac unit was my contact for this assignment. She said the focus was heart health for women.

I listened to the medical professionals and women who offered personal testimony about how walking is a simple exercise for any able-bodied person. Two weeks later I started walking at the mall or in my neighborhood.

That was about eight months ago and lately I’ve been thinking I need to add something more to my improvements list. A few days ago I spotted a weight-loss book on the “new arrivals” table in the newsroom. I haven’t perused weight-loss books for years but this one caught my eye.

The book is “Doctor’s Orders: 101 Medically Proven Tips for Losing Weight” by Kent Sasse, M.D. He’s reportedly one of the foremost experts in obesity medicine and surgery.

I’ve never heard of him and I haven’t read the whole book, but a lot of his information matches my own experience and that makes him credible to me. For example, Tip No. 4 is “Park farther away.” I know this one because of a Weight Watchers group years ago, and it does work.

Sasse said to “park at least an extra two rows away from the entrance to your work” or “the entrance to your gym or grocery store or any other place you routinely visit.”