Maybe we could all post a little about ourselves, since I'm still kinda new, and I know some others here are new too. I know we've probably given little bio's of ourselves before... but if we could bring it together in one thread, it might be a nice point of reference to get to know each other. Here's a little about me....

I'm in my mid 30's, married with two kids. (Girl who is 3, boy is 1) My DH's is an average weight guy, and my daughter has bizzare allergies. (Can't eat poultry or nuts) So, basically, I'm Sonomaing it all alone. Not too big of a deal though. I've always been that girl who "needed to lose a little weight". I haven't been "thin" since my teens. I was "average" in my twenties... and my thirties have put me overweight! After my second child, I just couldn't lose the weight. I was probably in the 180's for the longest time, but I refused to step on a scale. Finally, on Mother's Day, I weighted myself... I was 178 lbs. That's pretty sad, seeing as how my four brothers, mother and husband all weighted LESS than me. Yes, five men weighted LESS than me, and they are all quite a bit taller. (I'm only 5'2") So, when my three year old neighbor child asked me, "are you fat?", and I responded, "yep, a little bit", I decided it was time to lose this weight from child # 2, and all the weight I gained up until I had him. I would love to be 125 lbs, but at this point, I'd be happy to weight 150.

I found Sonoma, and it really is a good plan, as the foods are tasty. My biggest downfall is dessert. I love it. I know I have to find "healthy" desserts, as I know my lifestyle will never allow me to be "dessert free". I did great on Wave 1, I lost ten pounds. I "thought" I lost my sweet craving on day 10, but I didn't. I'm sorry, but being a chocoholic for 20+ years does not go away in 10 days.

So, each day I struggle, as I keep trying to remind myself to be a little more disciplined, and stay away from the cookies. I've given up the rich sauces, began eating salads and veggies daily... but I still have to work on making fruit more dessert friendly, and rely on that to curb my sweet tooth.

So, here I am, trying to lose at least 18 more pounds. I will get back on that wagon, I just need to find my strength to pull myself back up on it!

I hope you all post a little about yourselves, as I'd love to get to "know" the names around here better.

Hi Luv,
I like this idea about posting a little about who we are. I think is nice when we connect a name. I feel like I know Angela even tho I know very little about her,she sounds like my type of gal.Hey Angela,come on over and talk a little.Luv,thank you for sharing a little about yourself. Well here goes mine

I am 71 years young and full of life. Its wonderful being of vintage age of course when I was younger I thought boy thats and old lady. But a number is just that,its all about how you look at things. I live in Florida for the past 35 years with my DH and 2 wonderful daughters ages 45 & 47 (LOL) these are my babies.I was born and raised in the NorthEast(NJ). I love to travel now that we are retired and can do so. When the girls were young we did a lotof camping all over the country to educated them about the beauty and nature of this wonderful land of ours. They both were much into history.
I belong to the Red Hat Society (Old Bats in Red Hats)its a fun group. I too have had a long battle with weight(since 12 yrs. old). I have done many programs and worked in the field of weight loss for many years. I can lose but its the maintaining that gets me. I love Sonoma because of the variety and being able to have the choices wo feeling guilty. I'm looking foward to succeeding not only to losing but to a successful maintaining.I have over 60 pounds to lose but am not looking at it in that respect. I take one day at a time one meal at a time and go from there. Nice meeting you and much success. Hope others follow us,this is a nice idea.

What a great idea Luv. Thanks for thinking of it. Some days I just have too much going on inside my tired brain to come up with ideas.

I am in that decade past 30. A comedienne once called that age to be
2020s.. If you can be 25, 26 27... etc why not 2010, 2011 2012. I am single and happily owned by the furball in my avatar. I work full time, am pretty involved with my church and volunteer activities and am on a hiatus from the male species because all they do is annoy me. Yes my cat is female.

I lost my weight doing the Med diet which Sonoma is based upon. I counted calories with the help of DietPower software. Still have those last pesky few to go and they are being a real thorn in my butt. I love to cook and try new foods, hence the abundance of recipes from me in the recipe subforum. I have been lax posting those lately and I do have several to add. I need the remote control from the movie Click to put everyone on pause for awhile so I can catch up.

The one thing that I don't like about the Sonoma book is the very limited focus on exercise. I told Suzanne when she asked me to Mod this forum that exercise was not going to be optional around these parts. I work out 5 days a week at 4:30 am for anywhere from an hour to a hour and 15 minutes. aerobics, step aerobics and upper and lower body weights. Saturdays are gardening days and I get lots of exercise then. Fridays are my no exercise at all days and I love them!!


For those that are still on the fence about the Sonoma/med thing.. my medical tests don't lie. Along with the 87 pounds gone , my Bad chol has dropped from borderline high to even lower than normal. I am optimal. My Triglcerides were 149. Now they are 49. My HDL, good stuff, has gone UP, which is what we want. My BP has dropped, but not by too much because I am a sodium addict. Still runs 120/80 but i would like it lower. My bad knees are better, my hair is better, my skin is better and I have more energy than most of the women I work with. And I can walk and work all day long doing physical stuff and NOT feel like I want to die when I get home. I wish we could bottle how this feels because if you knew for one minute what it really felt like, no one would stay overweight!

And that's me.

Luv. chocolate isn't evil, but with anything portion control is the key. I keep a bag of the Dove Dark squares in my fridge and savor one or two pieces a few times a week. Hope you can get to that point someday, but we all have our "red light" foods that we just cannot have in the house. mine is cookies!!

Sissy.. good for you for taking control of your health. Too often I hear people over 40 saying " Oh, its too late to change" You are living proof it never is!

Luv and Sissy, I'm all for it. It helps to know a bit about people to understand their

Here's my book!

I am 61 years young (just like you Sissy) and 2 1/2 years ago I decided that life was too short and it was time for DH and I to enjoy each other again. So we "retired early", moved south (originally from Boston) and haven't regretted it. We have two children (a boy and a girl) and 3 grandchildren. Both kids are married. Our son is in SC and our daughter is up North....we visit frequently.

I love to travel. DH and I have been on 14 cruises (Sissy...maybe we've met) and for the past 10 years we travel to Mexico each year. We both love to read and cook and we are still exploring NC. There is so much to see.

I have had a weight problem since my early teens and have been up and down for years. Decided the up and down was probably doing more harm than good so have just "maintained" my overweightness for the past 8 - 10 years. . I have about 40 more pounds to loose. According to the charts, it's probably much more but I know how I look and feel at my desired weight. The Sonoma diet caught my eye because the cover said a "trimmer waist" in 10 days and DH had gained right around the waist since we retired. It is definitely a healthy diet for me. I had pretty much decided that we were "carb a holics" .....love that bread, pasta, potatoes, cakes, and pies. Since we love to cook and will eat just about anything, the variety in vegetables using herbs and spices fit us to a "T". We are definitely not bored and since I lost 10 and DH lost 15 in the first 3 weeks....we are quite comfortable.

Well, I have a feeling that the server is going to freeze up on me....that's such the pits . I better "submit".

Talk to y'all later.


It did knock me out.....learning to work around.

What a cool idea - THANKS LIGHTHOUSE!

My name is Angela. I live in Edinburgh, Scotland at the moment. I am here working on my Master's degree and am with my DF, who is also working on his. I spend alot of time at my computer working on my thesis project so that's how come I can check 3FC so much - it's my favorite disctraction !

I am originally from Salt Lake City, Utah and often miss the Western U.S. - I LOVE IT . The beautiful, lonesome, star-studded desert just attracts me something fierce! I am not huge into outdoor stuff like camping and hiking (can't stand the bugs!), but I love beautiful scenery. I had a stint after high school where I lived in Montana and worked at Yellowstone National Park. B-E-A-U-T-I-F-U-L!

I am currently engaged to a sweet and wonderful guy. I often think I've found my soulmate - if there is such a thing. We met in Salt Lake but he moved to Boston for a job just 3 months into our relationship. We did the long-distance thing for 6 months before I just decided to take the leap and move to Boston to be with him. We spent a year together there before coming back to Salt Lake to finish up college. We enjoyed Boston and may end up there again someday (I see you're from there Retired - what part???).

After college I worked as a social worker for a period. During this time I got sucked into some local political issues and became sort of an activist. That's part of what led me to get my Master's. I study public policy which is a basically a mix of sociology and political science. I am passionate about the world and have crazy and lofty dreams of leaving it a better place than I found it .

My birthday is in 10 days, I'll be turning 28. My fiance likes to harass me about it because he is a little younger than me. He says I am "officially entering my LATE 20's". I feel good, I look pretty good, and every year I get older I learn more and life gets better and better - so it doesn't bother me one little bit .

My weight loss battle has been going on since my early teens. The first diet I remember doing was a "coke diet". Bet you won't find that on 3FC - Ha!! I wasn't even overweight, but I developed early so I thought I was. The diet was a teenage fad that entailed drinking coke (not diet, the real stuff) and eating saltines - real healthy, huh!! Surprise, surprise, it was a hard plan to stick to and after about a month I just became obsessed with anything fat-free, sugar-free, low cal - you name it. Everything I ate came from a box, I ate undersized portions, and went to the gym religiously. I was thin, but I felt so much pressure to be perfect. I've always had hips and a bigger bust so I felt fat compared to all the other teenage girls. The year after high school I got a steady boyfriend and quit obsessing and just started having a good time. In 2 years I gained so much weight, it was just unbelievable! I think my body went into a shock from all the pizza and late-night fast food stops. It spun out of control and before I knew it I was at my all time high weight - 193.

To lose the weight I did Atkins for 6 months and got down to a comfortable 140ish. I couldn't maintain though because I never really learned principles of wholesome eating. I did learn to eat my vegetables, but I wanted them smothered in cheddar and served up with a bacon-wrapped steak In the last 6 years I have gained and lost, gained and lost, gained and lost. In trying every single diet program out there I think I have finally figured out what healthy, nutritious eating means to me - and that's why I love Sonoma. It follows all of those principles. I have been around my same weight for 2 years and have been "maintaining", just at 25 pounds more than I want to be!!

Other than that, I like to read, follow the news, cook, take midnight strolls, lift weights, and play online. My wedding is in September, it gives me extra motivation to do this. I am so glad we are all here together, it gives me lots of warm fuzzies inside .

And Sissy thinks SHE's longwinded - Ha!!!!

Angela

yay!! ok now this board is getting moving...

I'm Gaela. I'm 35 and am married to my wonderful (most days, lol) hubby who is also younger than me, Wish4fit. We've got 2 boys-Tyler 6 and Calvin 2, high energy and lots of fun.

We are currently living in Richmond, VA and plan to stay here indefinately. We moved here just a year ago from western MA where we both grew up. Neither of us are cold weather people so this was a great move. Hubby works as a manager for Chili's so I could get fat just eating their southerwestern eggrolls all day, mmmm dipping them in the avocado ranch...side note, I have concoted a recipe that taste like the eggrolls minus the "eggroll" and fried part but the same black bean, spinach-y goodness. I'll have to double check but I'm pretty sure it's Sonoma friendly. I'll post it later.

I have lost about 20lbs since Jan which actually puts me in a good range but I'd like to drop a few more. I am 5'1" but really have enough spine to be 5'4" but have bad enough scoliosis that I'll never get those 3 inches back. The problem with this is that it gives me a very short torso and makes me look chunkier than I actually am. I've always had a few extra lbs(esp that baby weight) that I could lose but it's not until recently that I actually started doing the exercise and eating thing to be healthy and look healthy rather than to "skinny" myself up.

Now I like the fact that my belly doesn't stick out past my boobs and that my abs are rock solid under that top soft layer, lol. I like all the nutrion info that I've learned. I like not eating crap. I just have to remind myself these things on a regular basis. And I really think that the Sonoma plan(I like this term better than diet) is gonna be great. South beach did what it was supposed to for a while but I got so tired of hearing about these crafty little desserts made with sugar free this or that, Splenda out the wazzoooo, Ijust think a natural approach has got to be better and I never did see a Cool whip tree...

Hello, what a great thread....I have lived in Chicago for 2 years now and love it. Have lived in several different states but most of my childhood was in North Dakota. ( I am pretending that white dancing thing is a snow man in freezing North dakota) I love moving and meeting different people and seeing different places. I would love to travel more, but since my divorce 6 years ago I have just been busy trying fo figure out what I want to do with myself and what I want to be when I grow up After several years(5) of going to college and changing my mind a million times, I have finally finished a totally different program just recently. I am now a licensed massage therapist. Now I just have to find a job

I never really had a weight issue until 2 years ago when I got lazy and forgot that exercise was good for me and ate like crap. No more late nights of studying and eating pizza and chips at 2 in the morning!!

I have 2 daughters (25 and 21) and 2 cats. adorable I might add on both the cats and daughters! I love reading, music, traveling, and drinking wine!!

Linda..it is so great to hear of all the great health benefits this diet has provied...very inspirational!

Wish....congrats on your upcoming wedding and birthday!!Sounds like you have had quite an adventure so far with your studies and travels.

Retired and sissy...I am jealous that you have traveled so much..I so want to be able to do that every year!!

Luv, I hear you on the cravings for dessert, although mine is bread and cheese, basically dough..yummy and wine. I love that red wine..thank goodness we can drink on this diet. I already messed up wave 1 and drank on day 4 I couldn't wait...I felt bad, but not that bad

batmomm lol I wish there was a cool whip tree..that's funny and sounds delish

That's about it for me, I am glad I found this board...I love reading recipes and watching the food network....I don't know why since I haven't been much of a cook for the past 5 years, but that is going to change!!

OK. I'll play!

I'm NY Nan. My dh and I live at the foothills of the Adirondack Mtns. in upstate NY with our tabby cat and Keeshonde dog. Between us we have 4 grown children and seven grandchildren. I'm 54 and my dh is 61. Which means he is going to get to retire before me. BLECK!

I work at a vocational rehabilitation workshop for the mentally, emotionally, and physically challenged. It's been my career for over 30 yrs.
I currently am Director of Production for the workshop.

I have been gaining weight steadily after my fortyith birthday. I'm a carbaholic. No doubt about it. With me it's bread, potatoes and corn, with lots of butter, of course.

I had lost 20 lbs. with Atkins and kept it off for about 2 yrs. until I quit smoking and started eating everything in sight. When I went back on Atkins to lose the weight I had gained back I couldn't even get through induction. I got so sick of all the high fat meat. (Unfortunately, I didn't stay smokefree. )

Then I read an article in June's issue of First magizine entitled "Lose more belly fat!" The Sonoma Diet made easy. Well, I have a belly the size of a volleyball, so I thought "That's the diet for me!". Ordered the book and joined thesonomadiet.com website.

I'm currently in wave 2 and loving all the good healthy choices and recipes this way of life offers. And it IS a way of life, not a for a little while diet.
It just makes good sense to eat lots of veges and grains with a small amount of proteins and fruits. I'm lovin it!

I've lost 5 lbs. while on Sonoma. I admit that I've been having more than one glass of wine at night. Love my wine. LOL I still would like to lose another 9 lbs. and have no doubt that I will eating this healthy way.

I will begin exercising after July 1st. I joined the local gym though work and my membership begins then. I have a treadmill, but it gets little use. It's just so BORING walking inside. I enjoy walking outside, and we have a nice railtrail that runs in front of our house, but it has been the wettest spring and summer here! We've had major flooding for this area with most of the NY State Thruway closed due to all the rain we've had this week. Hopefully things will dry out soon and I can get more outside walking in.

Tomorrow we leave for four days in Quebec City. I'm sure it won't be hard finding Sonoma friendly food up there. I just need to remember to stay away from those creme sauces. LOL

That's it for me. Probably more than you wanted to know.

I'm so enjoying reading all of your stories. Great thread!


Strength to all!

NY Nan

I am Jill Maria and am from the southwest corner of Kansas. We lay claim to Dorothy's House and the Land of Oz. Every Octobre we have some of the Muchkins come in for the Oz Fest. Also, on Shove Tuesday, the city has a Pancake Race with Olney, England. Having been raised around all the above activities it is one of those been there and done that so what.

I am one of the lucky people growing up and until I out to ol' menopause. I am small frame and never weighed over 97 except when I had my two boys. I feel I was a type A personality, on the go all the time with the boys and activities. Then ol' men o pause came around at the age of 40 something the clothes started getting tight and getting a bigger size. I got up to a size 14 and the weight of 150. I just let it creep up on me. People say I look good when we are talking about weight but I don't in my mind and my medical numbers tell me the same thing.

I am about 2 points from going on medication for high blood pressure according to last years blood work-up. I have scars in my lungs from smoking for so many years which I stopped 11 years ago. Still miss them.

When I joined 3fatchicks in 2000 there was around 20,somthing members if that high. In fact, I had read about them in some magazine and when I got my computer hooked up to internet that was one of the first web sites that was put on my computer when they were showing how to do all that stuff. In June my husbands' life got turned upsidedown. They found brain cancer, melanoma, on the left side. Luckily it was right under the skull. He has had two more bouts with the same cancer but in different areas. We got a future d-i-l that summer and a grandson that summer.

Well, I have rattled enough. I am looking at the exercise equipment and really need to get some shoes on and walk over there and put some time on at least one of them.