One year on Spark! Whoo Hoo! I had terrific results and terrific will power for the first 8 months last year - and lost over 50 lbs. Then I got busy, quit exercising started eating more carbs, then more fats, in that order, and now I've gained about 17 lbs back. New Year and new commitment. I want to lose 35-40 lbs this year, AND KEEP IT OFF - which means I've got to make peace with exercise and low carb eating as a lifestyle. I CAN do this, and I will. -------------------------- I'm happy to have found this site. My goals are to lose shame, sadness, fear and 75 lbs and to gain freedom, power and joy. I look forward to being happy, healthy, strong and fit. My dog Jasmine is my most dependable, cheerful workout buddy. She loves to get out and run and my goal is to be able to keep up w/her! Favorite Quotes (collected from various SP member signatures, feeds, blogs, etc) Nothing tastes as good as being fit feels. Never tell yourself “I’m not motivated.” That’s not the real problem, unless you really don’t want to lose weight or live a healthy lifestyle. As long as you do want these things, you have all the motivation you need. It may be true that sometimes you don’t want to exercise, or that you really want to stop and get fast food rather than cooking dinner. That’s understandable, but it doesn’t mean you’re not motivated. It just means that you want two different and opposing things, and you have to make a decision. Telling yourself that you lack motivation is just a way of denying that you really do have a choice. It makes the problem seem mysterious and out of your control, and it makes you feel less powerful than you really are, because you lack something (the motivation) you need. Not true! In the long run you’ll do better if you acknowledge that the choice is yours to make. You can choose either option, without making excuses or inventing a theory like “lack of motivation” to justify it. Then, pay attention to how you feel about the choice you made, and decide whether that is how you want to feel most of the time. Motivation is not something you find or lose, have or don't have. It is the product of how you see yourself in the world: active or passive, effective or ineffective, powerful or victimized, normal or pathological. If you want to be able to motivate yourself, you need to begin seeing yourself as active, effective, powerful, and normal. The story you are telling yourself at any moment is the foundation of your motivation, or lack of it. Make sure you are telling yourself the story you need to hear.

Lose shame, sadness, fear (and 75 lbs) Gain freedom, power, joy Goals 200 -begin (Dec '10) 181 = 25% of the way! (2/25 met!) 175 = 1/3 of the way 3/11 met!) 169 = BMI is overweight, not obese (4/12 met!)_ 162 = half way mark 4/28 - hooray! And again 5/20 after a yo-yo plateau month. AND AGAIN, 1/10/12 after several months off plan. 154= broke the barrier! Whoo Hoo!! I finally did it - Aug 1. After a crazy long plateau, finally losing again!!! 150 = 2/3 of the way - Sept 2. Hooray! 143 = 3/4 way to goal 140 = BMI considered normal 135 = home stretch! 125 = I did it! (should I keep going down to 115? let's see how I look and feel)

I am a strong proponent of low carb eating and always feel better when I'm doing it. In addition I'll be going to the gym, walking my dog, and making time to do aerobics every day and strength training at least 3x/week

I live in Finger Lakes region of NYS.

I like hiking, photography, cooking, dogs. I oppose fracking.

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