Ok, I don't believe it! I haven't been on the scale in three weeks. I decided I would begin to rectify the damage on December 26th. However my husband had to put another hole in my new belt so he said get on the scale let's see why I'm adding yet another hole to this belt. Sure enough I've dropped another pound. Amazing and 1.5" off my waistline. Such a nice Christmas surprise. Hope you all have a lovely Christmas. Sandie

This picture is much more to my liking than the one I took a year ago! Now I'm trying to get through the holidays without slipping up too much. I'm being careful and staying on NS except for Christmas Day. It's difficult with all these wonderful goodies that find their way into the house from friends who mean well and want to share the bounty of their marvelous baking skills. I'm maintaining pretty well. Hope you all have a wonderful Christmas! Sandie

I am so happy that I've lost not only the weight I gained at Thanksgiving but an extra .5 pounds! Yea! Now I'm staying on NS strictly so that I can enjoy Christmas Dinner in moderation. I had to cut another hole in my belt so probably by the end of December a new belt will be required, another Yea! I was hoping to be 169.0 by Christmas but I'm not sure if that's a reasonable goal for me. I'll just keep plodding away. I've started line dancing and it doesn't knock me out like it did a year ago. I'm getting more exercise and I'm hoping that it will help. I just had my blood work done so next week I'll find out if my numbers will remain good or if they have gone up a little due to the Holidays. After Christmas things should settle down a little better because all those things I love to eat will be gone and out of the house! My jeans are getting looser and that is always a good sign. 169.0 (mini goal) here I come! I'm 174.0 right now and I haven't been this low since March 2003. The goal is still 150.0! If I look ok at that weight then I'm going to lower my goal to 140.0! Haven't been that weight since 1978. Wow...that was a long time ago. Sometimes as you get older you don't look good too thin. The best I ever looked was 126.0 pounds but I don't know if that will work now that I'm 62 years old! OMG where did all those years go? Keep on losing and keep that smile on your face. Sandie

Well, here it is day 3 after the Thanksgiving slide. I'm back on NS and already have lost .5 pounds of the 3.0 I gained while eating my favorite foods: Pumpkin Pie, Mashed Potatoes, gravy and homemade stuffing. I think the stuffing did the most damage. Jeeze: I love the stuff. I don't believe Christmas will be any easier. We're having Crown Roast, baked potatoes and veggies....lots of veggies. This time I'm going to try to avoid the dessert table and definitely shoot for getting rid of all the leftovers! Send them home with the relatives. The Crown Roast won't be a problem because I can order it per serving and ready to pop in the oven. I want a stressfree Christmas dinner with a minimum of clean up! My NS shipment came just in time and I'll be using the box to send Christmas presents up to my grandkids in NJ! So there are other perks to being on NS, LOL. I'm looking forward to the next couple weeks with two dr's appointments. First time in years that I'm actually looking forward to seeing my doctors. I'll see if my numbers remained as good as last time. If I can keep my cholesterol at 137 and triglycerides at 149 I'll be very pleased. Of course I won't have the answer to that question for a few weeks. Hope you're all doing well during the holidays.

I haven't Blogged in quite a while. Life's been keeping me hopping. Had an intrusion into my computer on a Friday night so I couldn't use my computer all week end and it took the computer tech 3.5 hours to clean up the mess, then a fake insurance company sold me a policy that is worthless and hit my credit card for $441.00 thankfully my credit card company is on my side and just asked me to write a letter. I reported them to the State of Florida, who tells me they're not licensed in this state to sell any thing. I dropped off a note to the Florida Attorney General, Dept of Insurance, the Better Business Bureau and my congressman. Then along comes Thanksgiving! I went off NS for the day and now I'm having difficulty getting back on it. I don't know if I'm tired of the food or all that good stuff I ate on TGD spoiled me. Wish me luck getting back on the horse. I have 24.5 more pounds to go and was hoping to be below 169 (4 pounds to get there) by Christmas! Only have a couple weeks to go. Hope your Thanksgiving was memorable. Sandie

Today I spent 7 hours at the Magic Kingdom in Orlando and didn't go over 375 calories. I didn't think I could do it but here it is"success'!!!! I had a salad at a restaurant near Peter Pan's Adventure with a Diet Soda. Later in the afternoon I had an NS Chocolate Peanut Butter Bar and took a huge thermos of Iced Spring Water to drink. We had a great time and no one noticed or commented that I was dieting. Yea! My total calories after supper at home was 1090 and I still have calories left for my fruit later on this evening. I have an apple to help with my glucose around 9p so that I don't go too low over night. By the way I had a wonderful day with the grandkids and Hubby!

Well, our newly renovated Walmart opened up and it's a doozey! Ugly duckling to a swan. However that's not my story. I went to buy another pair of jeans. Frustration in the making. First I went to the plus sizes...just can't get out of the habit. Once there I smiled as I realized "I don't shop PLUS Sizes anymore" so I moved over to Misses. I tried on a 12 hoping that would fit since my last pair of jeans purchased a a month or so ago was a 14 Misses. The waistline fit perfectly however the butt look like a half empty potato sack,not a flattering look, LOL! I kept moving on down the racks until I ended up where the sizes were running in "Odd" numbers instead of even. I tried on a size 15 thinking they looked a little small. Too big! OK, back to the rack and picked up a 13 and lo and behold they fit except that the waistline was a tad too big. Trying on jeans is such a trial, either they're too big in the butt, or too small in the waist, or the cut is to short or too long...this was getting ridiculous. Finally the gal who lets you in the dressing room told me to try a LEI brand, size 13, low rise, short. I did and presto they looked great. Thank you to the gal who helped me. When I got dressed the next day I went over to my neighbor, who's 86 years old, to show her my new jeans (I bought two pair)! Since she's one of my biggest cheerleaders the conversation went to sizes. I told her the size and cut and she started giggling. She said you must be very proud of yourself. I of course said, I still had a ways to go. She, still smiling at me, says....but your in a JUNIOR size not even a misses! I didn't know Junior sizes come in odd numbers. Yea! Yea, even if it is a 13! I'm wearing junior size clothing. I'm as happy as a Clam! Thanks NS. I'm sticking with you. 25 pounds to goal!

I was worried that getting down to 177.0 was just a dream and I'd be back up to 178.5 again. I've been bouncing up and down for over a month. But I'm not, not only that but I've lost another one of those pesky, hang onto your gut, jiggle when you walk pounds! Yep, I'm one pound away from my mini goal of 175! I've cut out dairy for the last few days and I think it's helping. More protein instead. I'll stay on this regimen for another week and a half then I'll start re-adding the dairy one serving at a time every other day. I want to be at 175 by November 1st when my Step-daughter and her family come to visit. Will they be surprised, they haven't seen me since I was tipping the scale at 206! I'm pretty sure I'll make it. Maybe the dreaded plateau has been busted. Shhh, don't say that too loud, LOL!

I'm down a pound after bouncing up and down between 178 and 180 for the last month, I've finally hit 177.0 and hope that this marks the end of my dreaded plateau. I've cut out all dairy for the next two weeks and I'm making sure that I get 1200 calories every day. I am following the plan to the letter. Here's hoping that the next weigh in Saturday will be at least one-half pound down. The Mini Goal I set in September is still 175.0 and I'd like to be that before my family comes to visit on November 1st. That gives me two weeks. Keep your fingers crossed.

My last post was on 9/22 and here it is October 9th. I can always tell how I'm feeling by the length of time between my blogs. This has been a long one. I've hit that dreaded plateau! I can't get below 178.0! On top of this I have no appetite...not a good thing. Have to keep my metabolism cooking and "not eating" is definitely not the way to do that. My doctor, who I saw this last Monday, is tickled pink because she says I'm only 2.5 pounds from losing 30 pounds. I must have heard her wrong in June. I must have been 207 pounds when I saw her then. It's funny how you only hear what you want to hear. I could have sworn she said 204. Anyway...she's happy. My numbers are still great with BP at 116/60 and the rest just as good. I want to be 165 by Christmas, but I don't think I'll make it because I've been at 178 for a few weeks now and the scale isn't moving. I know part of the problem is my inability to exercise and that problem won't go away until my heart decides to stop giving me chest pains. Losing weight hasn't helped in that area. It's helped everything else but not my angina. Maybe if I can lose another 15 pounds it will help, but there's no guarantee! I'm pleased that I've lost as much as I have, I got my 20 pound bear in my last shipment. My weight with NS doesn't reflect all that I've lost according to my doctor. I think I'll steal her scale. It weighs me lighter than my scale here at home, LOL! This weekend I'm going through my closet and getting rid of everything that is too big and there's a lot to get rid of. Today I wore a pair of white slacks and they were so big on me my friends were laughing at my baggy butt! So I guess it's time....new clothes. Yea! Well here's hoping I get past this plateau and start losing again. I see a lot of new faces on the blog...welcome!

Yes, I have and it was a big deal for me. I had been stuck at 180.0 to 181.5 for over a month. Following the plan but still stuck. Got on the scale today and lo and behold it didn't groan when I stepped on it! The numbers kept climbing I thought it was going to pass the target but it stopped. It stopped at 178.5!!!!!!!!! Two successes in 24 hours. Size 12 jeans and 1.5 pounds that broke the "0" in 180 pounds. I've been smiling all day! Wohooooo! The next mini goal for me is 175.0 pounds and I am so looking forward to it. I get my 20 pound bear with my next shipment tomorrow so I am really jazzed. I hope you are all doing well, hang in there, be patient and positive. Keep on keep'n on! Stay 100% NS. Wishing you lots of weight loss and good health. Sandie