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Introduction Text Sept. 14, 2016--Once again I'm updating, as since the last update in August, I have reached my happy weight of 150. As of this morning, 148.8!! I feel so good again, self-confident and happy about what I have accomplished. I'm going to do my best to stay Focused so as not to experience yet another regain, but I know now, to "Never Say Never." August 16, 2016--Had to update to reflect my success this summer against my latest regain! I'm down to 158 lbs. this morning, below my original 160 lb. goal, but still 8 pounds to go to get to my "Happy Weight" of 150 lbs. I've got about 7 weeks until "W" Day (youngest son's wedding), and my goal is to get down to 150 lbs. by then. I'm feeling good about my chances now, since I'm so close! I've got my focus back and that's 99% of this battle! Wish Me Luck!!! June 27, 2016--No need to change that title, even though it's over a year old. ONCE again I'm working hard to lose the regain! I wrote my last update to this section in April last year, I had just joined a 6-month (expensive) Diet Bet, and it was a complete failure. Or I was a complete failure. I'm sure some people won their money back, but not me..... It was another year before I got back on track firmly, committed to losing that regain and, indeed, the weight is coming off again. SLOWLY, for sure, but the scale is going down and that's the important thing. I know how easily it could have continued going UP UP UP til I hit that 328, and who knows, how much further I might have gone? We are all "works in progress," and every day is a chance to get it right. Weight Watchers helped me find my FOCUS this time, and now I'm counting POINTS instead of CALORIES. Down to 165.6 as of this morning and on my way back to 150 lbs. WISH ME LUCK! ONWARD and DOWNWARD!!! April 1, 2015--After being on this journey for over five years and being fairly successful, you'd have thought I had it all figured out. NOT SO MUCH! Once again, I lost my way and regained 30 pounds in a short period of time (just since Christmas!). That is scary indeed. I know if I keep on the way I was going, I was on my way back to 328 pounds quickly! There is no way I'm going back there EVER. My youngest son who has been successful in his own weight loss battle was experiencing some regain himself. Last year I got him on track by having him join one of my Diet Bets with me. It worked (for him AND me), he got to his goal, met a girl, bought a house and moved out. His life was starting! Like me, he has experienced some regain recently, so he encouraged me to join a long-term (6-month) Diet Bet with him. It started today. It feels good to once again be proud of my choices. I think if I find myself craving a sweet treat late in the day (there are none left in my house now), I will avoid it, not only by not having it around, but by the fact that I don't want to ruin my hard work of the day. Who wants to mess up 15 hours of hard work by giving in that last hour before bedtime? I even tracked my food today for the first time in years. I won't be back at my goal weight by April 15 (which is my goal anniversary date,) but if I have been successful in making good daily choices until then, I know I will be back to goal by the end of the Diet Bet. For that reason.....I will still celebrate my maintenance anniversary, because it is a very important day to me. It represents the day I returned to a normal world. A great day indeed!!! Come join me in this journey once again!! November 2, 2014--I am about to finish up my fourth Diet Bet in a row (Final weigh-in is Nov. 4), and have so far won every one. It really helped motivate me to lose those 32 pounds I put back on over the holidays last year and the first six months of 2014. So far I am down 27 of those 32 pounds and feeling much more confident with the holiday season once again just ahead. Only five pounds to get back to my 150-lb. "Happy Weight." September 8, 2014--Although my ultimate goal was, and remains, 160 lbs., I really want to get back to that 150 lbs. that I maintained for two and a half years. This morning I weighed 163.2, so I'm getting closer. I joined a couple of Dietbets this summer which helped me to finally reverse the gaining trend I was on for seven months, and that is a very good thing. So far I'm down almost 20 pounds from that high point of regain (182.6 pounds!). I'm so happy to have my losing weight mojo back and don't plan to ever lose it again. Follow along as I get back to my ultimate goal (although I will celebrate as well when I get to 160 lbs. again!), and live life in a normal-sized body, after 30 years of morbid obesity. Jan. 3, 2014--I thought I had this weight thing licked, but I lost control a bit late last year, and as a result 25 pounds piled back on quickly. I have a new goal to lose the weight and get back down to my magic 150 lbs. by Mother's Day 2014. Join me on my journey to get healthy once again!! April 15, 2013--Celebrating TWO years of maintenance today. The statistics for regain have dropped to only 50%! I can live with that. Actually I am finally confident that this weight is gone for good. I really have added motivation to stay strong and slim now, with hubby's cancer battle looming. Wish me luck. November 26, 2012--I have just returned from a trip to NYC where I was inducted into the Joy Fit Club on The Today Show. It was the experience and trip of my life. I managed to get back under 150 lbs. before my trip, so when they introduced me on the show, and said I weighed 150 pounds, it was NOT a lie. Now my goal is to stay there! April 14, 2012--As of tomorrow I will have been at or below my goal weight of 160 lbs. for ONE YEAR! This morning I weighed in at 149 lbs. This date is a big milepost in my weight loss journey and one I am very proud of. Maintenance continues to be tough, but it is so worth it, and I am up for the battle! Jan. 26, 2012--I need to update my page, since I seem to be unable to lose the approximately 5 pounds I put on over Christmas. That is the bad news. The good news is I seem to be maintaining around 147 now. I liked it when my weight hovered around 142 and I'm leaving the picture up on this page that shows the scale at 139.2, cause that was my ALL-TIME low weight and I will not be satisfied until I get back there. That being said, the scale is not budging right now, so as always, I am a work in progress. I think that might be the state of mind I need to keep in order to just maintain. If I am actively working to lose weight.....,maybe I won't gain weight. Being a food addict is a life-long affliction I have learned and one that I am battling day by day, hour by hour, moment by moment. As I have said here often, it's a struggle, but it is SO WORTH THE STRUGGLE! Oct. 16, 2011--Time for another update. Today I start my second six months of maintenance. You can bet that on April 15, 2012, upon the celebration of ONE YEAR of maintenance, I will throw a BIG PARTY! I'm sticking in the low 140's for the last several months, fluctuating between 142 and 145 lbs. I still weight every day to make sure it's not going up, and also do a lot of walking. I also watch every single bite that goes into my mouth. THIS IS FOR LIFE! I wanted to take this opportunity to thank every one of my Spark friends, for their encouragement and the motivation they have provided me as I have lost weight and maintained these last six months. I am completely sure that without Spark and my friends here, I would not have been able to do this. My advice to everyone who might be reading this, is do not delay starting on your own "get healthy" journey. Do everything you can to get there and stay there, because it is so amazing to at long last be a normal size and feel SO GOOD. Thanks everyone! June 18, 2011--Hit my 140's goal this morning. Officially 149.8--just barely in the 140's, but I'm happy with that. Enjoying my journey, life is so great now! Updated June 2, 2011: So far....so good. Still maintaining. Hit 155.6 lbs. a few weeks ago and trying to hang on right there. Have decided to set a new goal, however, I want to get to 149 lbs. by July 4. I think I weighed in the 240's last July 4th, so it would be fun to be down 100 lbs. from last year. AND....if I could ultimately get to 145 lbs., my BMI would be normal. That would be a miracle. I feel like I have my mojo back, I'm motivated and inspired again and DETERMINED to get to that goal. Once I am determined--nothing can stop me! Updated April 28, 2011: I thought I should add that I DID hit my goal weight of 160 on April 15. I have stayed pretty close to 160 since then, dropping as low as 157.8 at one point. I had surgery earlier this week (minor hernia repair, although the pain in my stomach doesn't feel very minor!) and didn't eat much for a couple days--and was hoping to see a major drop when I got home from the hospital. Instead I was greeted with a 2-lb. gain. So now I'm waiting to see if that comes back off, and wondering if the saline IV I had didn't attribute to some water weight. I got into a size 10 pair of jeans at Kohl's the other day but am afraid to buy them. Size 10 is just beyond my scope of imagination. However, I did get a bunch of old fat clothes bagged and ready to give away. I think I have 6 garbage bags full, that is a huge step for me. Wish me luck as a lifetime of maintenance begins! Added March 17, 2011: I used to lie in bed at night before I fell asleep and make plans to start my diet the next day. I was going to lose weight. I was going to get healthy. And then when tomorrow came, I just kept eating the same junk I always ate and OVERate, and just got fatter and fatter. Starting might be the hardest thing to do. I started Dec. 14, 2009. Sticking with it becomes easier the longer you continue your healthy journey. Maintaining that weight loss??? Well I'm not there yet but very close. I have heard that maintaining is MORE difficult than losing the weight. But in order to get to maintenance, you have to START. When you have Spark, you're NOT on your own anymore�your Spark friends and teams are there to help, to provide encouragement and motivation when you need it. My advice to everyone would be, �Make today the day you start to get healthy. You will never regret it!!� 2/14/11 Update: It's been two months since I updated this part of my Spark page. At my last weigh-in yesterday, I was 175.8! Only 15.8 pounds from my ultimate 160-lb. goal, and only 11.8 pounds from another milepost--at 164 lbs. I will be exactly one-half of what I weighed at my heaviest. Life is good! 12/14/10 Update: It's been exactly one year since that fateful doctor's visit, when he told me, "The EKG seems to show you've already had a heart attack." Which of course later proved to be false. But still those words motivated me to lose over 100 lbs. in the year since then, and I'm still losing! My goal to get below 200 lbs. by my 60th birthday has been surpassed, this morning I weighed 188.8, and my birthday is still 2 1/2 weeks away! I feel motivated and strong and ready to continue this journey.....for the rest of my life! Thanks Spark!! Oct 2010: I have been a member at Spark since March 2010, but for personal reasons I took down my page in October 2010. Less than one day later, I realized WHERE would I track my food, and weight and exercise and get support from everyone else who's trying to lose??? So now I'm starting over with a new Spark page. I never went off my healthy eating plan. My weight in July 2009 was 328 pounds. I am now down to 204 and trying like crazy to get below 200 lbs. by my 60th birthday in January, 2011. Currently the scale seems to be stuck. I weighed 206 for 3 weeks before seeing 204 this morning. I know it's going to come off more slowly now, but I'm determined to get there! WISH ME LUCK!

1/3/14--New Goal: To get back to 150 lbs. by Mother's Day 2014. My goal now is to maintain a weight in the area of 145, with a plus or minus 5 pounds fluctuation allowance. Since my goal was 160, I will still be at least 10 pounds below that! My ultimate goal was 175, but have decided I'd like to get to 160, because that would be less than half my starting weight. I have never reached a goal weight before and the last time I dieted was 1980. So for the last 30 years I have been at least 150 pounds overweight. I have a poor family heart history, but have had thorough check-ups and my heart seems to be fine. I want to live to see my grandkids grow up, so decided NOW is the time to get healthy. I set an interim goal of getting below 200 lbs, by my 60th birthday on Jan. 1, 2011. (Met that goal on Nov. 4, 2010, almost two months ahead of schedule!) I am now only 4.4 pounds away. I really really want to at least make this interim goal.

7/21/11: I'm trying to maintain my current weight, but it is a real struggle. Trying to keep my calories for the day between 1500-1700 and see if that works. March 2010 - I am counting calories and trying to walk at least 5 days a week. I don't walk very far and I don't go very fast, but for someone who couldn't walk across the room without getting winded before, even to walk one mile is amazing to me. 1/5/2016: It's hard to admit, but after maintaining for a good period of time, I am struggling. In 2014, I regained 35 pounds but managed to get back on track in June, and on Christmas Day 2014, I was so close to my goal weight, but of course I lost my way again, and in 2015, I regained 35 pounds plus 10 more. So in 2016, I am determined to return to my goal weight and stay there!

Lincoln, Nebraska

Nothing tastes as good as being able to fit into a smaller size feels! I want to be able to dance at my 7-year old granddaughters' weddings. That means I need to take care of myself!!

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