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Introduction Text Welcome to my Spark page! I can tell you how to lose weight but you'll have to wait a while to ask me how to maintain the loss (until I figure it out)! I went on my first diet when I was 8. I am now 60-1/2. My weight has ranged from 130 to 252. A few years ago, I went from 252 down to 170...and then up from 170 to 215. This is the first time I did not regain it all and then some. As we know, taking it off is one thing--keeping it off is something else! Most of us grew up in a dysfunctional home and I am no exception. Nonetheless, I believe that, together, and with the wonderful tools of Sparkpeople, we can grow into our respective, perfect lifestyle by giving each other joy, encouragement, information and a helping hand. After all, not only is the power in the present but, as James Agee states, we are all connected: "And this is the weaving of human living: of whose fabric each individual is a part: each is intimately connected with the bottom and the extremist reach of time: and not one of these things nor one of these persons is ever quite to be duplicated nor replaced: but each is a new and incommunicably tender life�" --James Agee "...each is a new and incommunicably tender life..." I joined May 4, 2008. When I first joined SP on May 4, 2008, it was all about me. Now, it is different: I want you to have a healthy lifestyle as much as I want me to have that. Now, it is December 24, 2009. I have been here a little over a year and a half. I have lost 25 pounds. Actually, I lost that much, gained some of it, and have now lost it again. I have joined and unjoined many teams...this is a blog entry, I realize so I will continue there. I believe we are all one and that we all go through the same struggles. What we can give each other is a hand, a hug, and words of love and encouragement. ---------- I have been married to my second husband for 27 years. He would be the first to acknowledge that this is a miracle! Our love for each other continues to grow. I am grateful for him every day. When we met, my twin boys were 2 years old and the three sons in his custody were 4, 6, and 8! Ho, boy! Now, I have five wonderful daughters-in-law, and five wonderful men with whom I love to spend time and who (insert another miracle here) love to spend time with us. I have eleven grandchildren. Grandparenthood is all that it is cracked up to be and then some. Love 'em and return 'em! I have the utmost respect for today's grandparents who are raising their grandchildren. You do what you have to do but, sigh, doing it again sounds really, really hard no matter how much love you have for them. I have a brother who is 8 years younger than me who is a terrific man and the father of my fabulous niece. Also, I have held the same full-time job for 40 years (executive secretary--a career I'm not sure exists anymore). Lastly, I have found volunteering extremely rewarding. I have advocated long and hard for the preservation and expansion of public libraries at the city (Friends of the Library), county (library commission), regional, state (state trustee organization), and national (American Library Assoc.) levels. For as long as I can remember, I have loved to read. For as long as I can remember, I have appreciated public libraries. ---------- NOTE: I was having trouble with calorie counts and finding the foods I needed in the food log so I put "food not listed" in the SP search box and, tada! up came a 9-page SP User Guide (PDF) which answered my questions and more! If I am not the last one to discover this, I highly recommend checking it out! NOTENOTE: There is more to the SP site than first meets the eye.

1. To do my back exercises every day. 2. To stretch often and take several walks a day. 3. When I want to eat, to wait 5 minutes; to leave food on my plate; to eat when I am hungry and to stop when I am not. 4. To be able to see my toes while standing straight. 5. To be a size 14 (or 12). 6. To run without anything jiggling. 7. To do my part in keeping myself disease free. 8. To have a bath towel go all the way around me. 9. To support and inspire others.

To love myself enough to 1. Eat properly; i.e., as little white sugar and refined carbs as possible. 2. Exercise properly; i.e., to move my body every day in an effective way. 3. Count my blessings every day. 4. Inspire myself every day; i.e., read SP success stories and other uplifting literature.

Some of my favorite inspiring quotes: "What keeps me out of whack is my unrealistic desire for perfection...(but) even the smallest movement forward will create momentum...the truth is we all make time for what we find most important." --Devin Steinberg in Successful Living Magazine, Spring 2009 "Belt out a song every once in a while about the things that bother you. Take your favorite sad tune and create lyrics about some of the things that drive you nus. If you're going to feel blue, you might as well sing the blues." --Loretta LaRoche in Squeeze the Day "...There is an inmost center in us all, where truth abides in fullness and to know rather consists in opening out a way whence the imprisoned splendor may escape than in effecting entry for light supposed to be without." --Thomas Troward I see clouds of white and skies of blue, the bright blessed sky, the dark blessed night, and I say to myself, what a wonderful life... --Louis Armstrong singing

Northern California starting weight: 215 goal weight: 150 (and I thought I was fat then!) I love to read, communicate and muse about life's mysteries. I am so happy to have Spark friends. I have alphabetized them for easy access.

Add a Link "Oh, earth, you are too wonderful for anybody to realize you." --Emily in Our Town by Thornton Wilder Sudoku Lovers: <link>tinyurl.com/d2czf6</link> Thich Nhat Hanh...and others: <link>tinyurl.com/yhl88x5</link> Accept Yourself: <link>tinyurl.com/ycqre9j</link> Click the six: <link>www.thehungersite.com</link> Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind. --Dr. Seuss
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