First of all, put the criteria for the delete in the delete statement and do it in a set-based manner, not a RBAR (Row By Agonizing Row) method.
Here is a very simple example:
create table dbo.MyTable (
MyTableID int identity(1,1) primary key,
MyTableData1 varchar(10),
MyTableDate1 datetime
); -- create the test table
insert into dob.MyTable(MyTableData1, MyTableDate1)
select 'Joe', '2007-10-01' union all
select 'Sam', '2008-10-01'; -- insert some test data
select * from dbo.MyTable; -- show the data
delete from dbo.MyTable
where MyTableDate1 < '2008-08-01'; delete some data
select * from dbo.MyTable; -- show what's left
drop table dbo.MyTable; -- drop the test table