This journal is about me, my family, my life. It may be poignant at times, and at others heart wrenching. There will be a variety of emotions, feelings, and lessons that I have learned throughout my mediocre life.

          If readers choose to read about me and want to get to know me better, that is fine. If readers choose not to read what I have written, or want to give negative comments or criticisms; that will be their problem. I would much rather have people get to know me. I am a nice person. There are times when I need to vent and need an ear of a friend. I just hope readers understand where I am coming from.

Good job on your initial weight loss and your dedication to lose weight.

There are so many diets out there. Some of which can do more harm than good. I"d gone to the doctor and told him I was not happy with my weight. He answered that can be lost by diet and exercise. Well, gee, I already felt tired so how would I want to exercise? As it was, I felt let down. He can't just say that and let it go.

I eventually went to another doctor, who told me what to do. This was where you get food that is 2 grams or less of fat. Read the labels on the food. Anything 2 grams or less is okay to eat, which meant, at first anyway, to not eat meat, no milk products (I think?), no margarine on toast etc. BUT I won't eat toast without something on it. I bought a margarine that tasted good but was healthy. And I bought 1 percent milk. It's not bad at all. I could eat all of what foods I wanted. no measuring. I stayed away from even lean looking meat. If I made spaghetti, I used 1/2 lb of meat in it rather than a pound. This is mainly because I was feeding my family too and they didn't need to lose weight, plus the meat gave it some flavor.

He told me not to eat fruits or nuts either. I love eating fruit. But hey to get that fat to fall off I'd stick to it. Also I needed to get moving even it it was just a walk around the block. As it is, you reach a plateau after the second week. You're body thinks you are starving and wants to save up. So then I'd take a rest, yet was wary of what I would eat.

I did start dropping the pounds. After those two weeks, I added a few things back into my diet. yet not alot. After a month or more, I saw big changes in the way I felt (energetic) and how my clothes felt (loose). Here's the thing once you go back to your regular diet, if you're not careful you can put those pounds back on. Eventually, I did. I'm not considered obese, but I seriously need to lose weight. I have this exercise machine in my back yard. You don't pedal, but pull yourself up and then back down on it. It's hard to explain here. If I go on the train, and my back isn't aching, I walk to the next stop, if it's not far and it's not a bad neighborhood.

I don't do this often enough, but I do try. On my really bad days, I might have a problem walking from my living room to my kitchen. I'm not sure why except my back feels like its broken. I also do this mild exercise even if I'm sitting. I pull in my belly button several times repeatedly. It sounds silly but you really start noticing some changes there too.

I'm not big on ice cream. I rarely buy it, and usually it's for my son. Recently, I found an ice cream that isn't really ice cream, instead it's frozen yogurt. Its' got cherries and chocolate chips in it. And if I remember right, only 200 calories or less and not even 1 gram of fat. per serving. It actually tastes good too. That to me is a reward. It also takes care of the dairy part too. I'm thinking it might have a lot of sugars.That I have to be careful of too, so that I don't end up diabetic.

The brand name is Eating Right. Just thought I might pass that on to you.

Shadow sounds like a dog I'd like to meet.

Great! Thank you for sharing of your personal and family experiences!

Another excellent entry, and I applaud your willingness to share of your personal experience. Thank you.

This is a wonderfully written tale! I particularly liked the line "to bring it to its eternal sleep," I think that's very original! Wonderful tale, so great that you have these passed on to you like oral history of your lineage.

I agree with you on the lack of brain use these days. Too easy to get info, accurate or not, too easy to ignore we are given our brain capacity for a reason.

Your courage speaks volumes too, Shadowpup! An amazing life! You can be very proud of your own courage, stamina, faith, and determination.

My personal thinking on writing one's truth is that sometimes it can be written as fiction, not as fact. Just a thought.
Thank you for an enjoyable entry; I didn't know, for example, that she had lost a son to suicide. How very sad.

What a precious and emotionally moving experience! It's wonderful that this event happened to you, and even more so that you could share it with your mother. How cool is that? Thanks so much for sharing it with your readers too.

Have you ever tried ground turkey in the sauce? It's really good.