Walked about yesterday in 50+ degree F weather - more like April than February. Our sidewalks are clear; our driveway is clear; all's right with the world.

Our neat experience was taking our 16 month-old DGD to use a sled in the nearby park. She'd have nothing to do with it. Wailed like we were trying to torture her. Couldn't figure out what we'd done wrong. Later her mom told us that the DGD had seen her father go down a hill on the sled and tumble out. Father was laughing and fine, but DGD freaked.

Sounds cute, Bill!

Our weather is atrocious. Rain, rain, rain. I'm so over it. The dogs don't want to go out at all and I don't blame them. Our yard is getting pretty flooded.

I wonder if that rain is headed our way. I was thinking of washing my car today.

While away this weekend, DH started a list of things to ask our employee who wants a bigger part at work. We're hoping he wants to eventually buy us out. We're going to ask them to dinner or lunch (he and his wife) sometime soon and get a better idea of their thoughts.

Forgot it was Monday yesterday.

We had a gorgeous 3-day weekend of glorious sunny weather. Warm for the first 2 days too.

Back to reality - winter temps and rain - today. SIGH.

Dagmar

Good afternoon! I reached "goal weight" yesterday. By "goal weight," I mean the number I chose for my ticker when I created it again in 2012 and thought that I might some day get to 160 and then make a decision as to what I want my weight to actually be. I am pretty sure I want to go lower, but I think it might be useful for me to try to actually figure out what maintaining looks like before I do. I also have a lot of loose skin, and want to give both my body and my mind time to adjust to this weight. (I was at 278 in May 2012, 201 in January 2013, 240 in May, 2014, 190 in February 2015, 268 in April 2016.) Every fiber of me is screaming that I don't belong on the maintenance thread. That's probably the best reason of all just to post this and get it done rather than continuing to debate it in my head. 160. Size 10 pants / skirts (mostly) and a M or L top (mostly). It's a good place to be. I need to make sure that my yo-yo has a much smaller string so that I can actually have a wardrobe that does not include both size 8 and size 20. All right if I join your thread?

LaurieDawn, of course you belong here! If you have lost even just one pound and kept it off you are welcome here. Thanks very much for joining us. We are all going to benefit from what you have to say.

Welcome LaurieDawn! Stay for a while and see if your yoyo string shortens!

Welcome Laurie Dawn!

LaurieDawn

Dagmar

Looks like the p**p is going to hit the fan Friday re work. Always too much or too little - never a balance. Oh well, good thing I had those 3 gorgeous days off.

I will be staying in the house with all of the alcohol right up until the day before my 60th birthday. On my birthday I will be doing 7 dogwalks.

It will be a challenge to get through all of this without dropping into self-pity and overeating but I'm going to rise to it.

Dagmar

Well done, Dagmar. And sympathy. Last year the DB had a major chemistry exam on his birthday. We all celebrate in our different ways ....

There is one of these in my future - chocolate with hazelnut buttercream - but it will be postponed for a bit.

Dagmar

Welcome Laurie Dawn!
How did you lose the weight? And how do you plan on keeping it off?
Looking forward to getting to "know" you!

Dagmar-- your cake sounds yummy! I also have my birthday around the corner. I'll be in Napa and will definitely be celebrating! Just hope our rains/floods have subsided by then!

Thank you everyone for the welcome! I am really looking forward to getting to know everyone in this group and to gaining some good insight to this new "phase."

Michele asked how I lost the weight. I lost it just by restricting calories and working out. Pretty standard, though I did VLC, so it was monitored by a physician. I have no idea how I will maintain. Right now, I'm in data-gathering mode. I don't actually plan on changing anything about how I'm eating or exercising for the next month or so while I figure out how this 160-pound body handles calories. I actually anticipate that I will continue to drop some weight, though that is not currently my explicit goal. I am also training for a half-marathon in June, so my long runs are slowly getting longer. (I ran 10 miles last Saturday -- going to run 11 this weekend.) My biggest fear is that I will be up 100 pounds in a year and talking about how, in February 2017, I was down to 160 pounds and could run 10 miles. Trying to stave off that panic, though, and just enjoy being smaller and continuing to develop strategies to keep the binge monster at bay.

Welcome LaurieDawn! No need to regain if you monitor your weight every other day or so. If your weight is up, you need to take action, such as doing a few low calorie days until it goes back down. I find that maintaining isn't much different from the slow method I used to lose the weight. I still restrict treats except for something occasional. If my weight is up 2 pounds, no treats until it goes back down. I'm never hungry, although I sometimes crave junk food. It still requires daily diligence for me to maintain. Once you accept that fact, you'll do fine!

My dog Cooper is finally healed up from his perineal hernia surgery. I sure hope the repair holds. Last time it lasted 3 years. I bought some miralax as suggested by JayZeeJay, but so far 100 grams of pumpkin in his breakfast and dinner is doing the job to prevent constipation.

No other great goings on here. More rain is in the forecast. I'm trying to take advantage of the non-rainy periods to hike a little and do the ever-needed yard work.

Shannon, I hope you are doing okay and continuing to heal mentally and physically!