Well, it seems that some of you out there in cyberspace actually are reading this here blog! Yikes! Thank you for your comments. Actually, that 22 pounds came from 194, which is where I started. Yeah. Man. And it has never, ever taken me so long to lose 22 pounds. Back in college (during the ice age, actually…perhaps cold weather had something to do with it?) I could go a week eating just a bag a day (big bag) of M&M’s and lose ten pounds in a week. After I had my last kiddo - and had gained 50 some-odd pounds - I went on Atkins and took off all the weight and a little more in maybe three months. Kept it off for seven solid years, and then ate a hot fudge sundae, and the rest is history. Moved from the sundae right into fried clams, onion rings (we were on vaca at the beach) clam fritters, and inumerable bowls (not dishes, BOWLS) of ice cream, which isn’t even my favorite dessert! So sad. By the time our two week vaca was up, I’d gained about 15 pounds. Since then, I’ve been up and down more times than I can even count. After divorcing my ex-husband in 1995, I started walking around a park near where I was living, ate very little, and weighed in at @ 130 pounds. I THOUGHT I looked marvelous until I saw the black & white pictures a friend of mine took of my daughter getting ready for a high school prom. I was doing her nails. My collar bones are standing out just HORRIBLY! I mean, it’s nice to have well-defined collar bones, but mine were ridiculous. So, I ate a bit more. Weighed in at avout 145-150 when I met and started seeing my current DH. This last few years has been the worst, weight-wise. When I finally got on the scale, I nearly had a stroke (so bad for someone my age!) and I made up my mind then and there that this crapola had to stop! I am SO not into exercise….have never been the athletic type, that’s for sure. When I took off all that weight with Atkins, I wasn’t exercising. It was a great diet for me, because I (was) a real meat lover, and being able to fill up on protein…meat, chicken, fish, eggs…was perfect for me. I would’ve gone back on Atkins, except I never really did the part where you add carbs back in gradually and end up with a fairly balanced diet. I stayed nearly 100% carb-free (under 10 grams a day) for the whole seven years. By the time I went off it with that freaking sundae, I was DYING for a piece of fruit (and I’ve never even LIKED fruit all that much!). And, nowadays I don’t seem to enjoy red meat the way I used to. I’m much happier with chicken, and I’m loving my steamed broccoli and Fiber One cereal and such. So, no more Atkins for this old chick; now I’m jes’ tryin’ to eat healthy, exercise, and keep the grim reaper at bay for another few years. Okay, maybe ten. Ten years seems reasonable. Fifteen ONLY if I haven’t got Alzheimer’s disease or something. I READ a lot and WRITE for a living; supposedly, people who keep their minds active don’t get the big “A”. My mind is very active…too active, sometimes. I HAVE noticed that I’ve become something of a grouch, the older I get. People where I work sometimes have a tendency to tip-toe past my office. Yeah! There are SOME benefits, after all, to getting older. You can scare young, impressionable people. Tell the truth. You KNOW that on some level, you find that appealing.

 That’s all for now.

E!