Granted, we are a nation of overweight people of all ages. It seems to me, though, that some states are worse than others. Take Wisconsin, for example. You may associate Wisconsin with dairy products, and you would be right.  But it is a state that is also a… Read full post »

    I was walking through Target the other day when a pair of Converse sneakers in the shoe aisle caught my eye. I was instantly transported, as though by magic, back to my childhood.

    School's out and summer is just beginning. I have a new pair of red C… Read full post »

    Week 14, but I started the journey at week 1. So that puts me one pound behind my goal of a pound of weight loss a week. The pitfalls are many and varied.

    When I began, I weighed 170. Now I am down to 158. That sounds so… Read full post »

    When I was a small child I asked the nun who was teaching our Sunday School class if my cat, who had been hit by a car, was in Heaven. She told me that Heaven was only for human souls. I was crushed.

    As  students at a Catholic… Read full post »

    Just when you are starting to dream in yellow, the color of daffodils and forsythia blossoms, you get hit with a late winter snow. As soon as I woke up and opened my eyes this morning, I knew it was snowing. The early morning light had that certain quality of being… Read full post »

    Now that winter is waning I've been thinking of what I like about this difficult season. Much of what I enjoy involves auditory input. I like the crunching sound snow makes underfoot when I walk through the  woods. The crackle of a real wood fire delights th… Read full post »

    I was doing so well, but there are many pitfalls on the weight loss journey. This week it was a simple head cold. I think it's called post nasal drip, that feeling that there is mucus stuck in the back of your throat. You keep trying to swallow it,… Read full post »

    One day, when I was very small and still in a highchair, my parents came to view me in a very different light. It happened like this. I was sitting in the aforementioned highchair busy scribbling with crayons when suddenly I began laughing helplessly.

    My father a… Read full post »

    My weight is slowly creeping down, but today I have chocolate to deal with. Quite by accident, I discovered that the recipe for chewy brownies with walnuts on the package of Nestle's pre-melted chocolate is the best I've come across - anywhere.

    You… Read full post »

    Millie's cat loved nothing better than sitting on the windowsill and watching the world go by. When I passed Millie's house on my way home from school every day, there would be Fluffy looking out the window. Millie would always put out bird seed in feeders to give Flu… Read full post »

    I am happy to report that I have finally fallen off the plateau. I'm wondering, though, if I'm going to plateau after each loss of ten pounds. My progress is slow. After 11 weeks of trying, I'm down by only 11 pounds. Still, a weight loss  averaging a pound… Read full post »

    It's been more than half a century since John Steinbeck published Travels With Charley. The author was suffering from heart disease and decided to see America one last time with his French Poodle, Charley, for company. The pair took off from Long Island in a kind of r… Read full post »

    I seem to be suffering from a curious affliction. It may be partly a function of winter and partly due to being retired. My problem is that I can't seem to stop rearranging the furniture in my apartment.

    I'm trying to achieve feng shui perfection so that only goo… Read full post »

    The plateau is proving to be long and wide. I shall have to try harder. As with many people, my struggles with my weight began when I was in college and fighting to keep awake to study for exams or finish term papers. I was a slender child and teenager.… Read full post »

    Yep. You guessed it. After only ten pounds of weight loss, I seem to have plateaued. Grrrrr! All that suffering in the form of hunger pangs for nothing. Nevertheless, I shall soldier on. I was expecting to fight this battle for maybe a year, anyway.

   … Read full post »

    Grim, really grim. I have only half a pound of weight loss to report this week, and I have no one to blame but myself.

    It happened like this. I consider Tuesday to be my weigh-in day so that I can report the week's weight loss on my post. The… Read full post »

    Did you ever sell something and then immediately regret it as soon as it's gone? That happened to me when I sold my mandolin. I was low on funds, so I placed an ad in the Lakeshore Weekly. As soon as the edition came out I got about a dozen calls,… Read full post »

    I can report only one pound of weight loss for this past week. But it's better than nothing, I'm telling myself. Sometimes the tortoise wins the race. I started at 170. This morning I am down to 160. Farewell to the first ten pounds, but there are many more to… Read full post »

    I was born with curly hair. That all changed, though, around the time I turned thirteen. Suddenly, For no apparent reason, my hair turned frizzy. Although I have no memory of having done so, I think I must have inadvertently stuck my finger in a light socket. I don't know… Read full post »

    I am pleased to report that I have lost 9 pounds so far. The amazing thing is that I did it during the season of indulgence and excess. I lost weight in spite of spiked eggnog, pinwheel cookies, chocolates, and English trifle. I have often gained 5 pounds during this… Read full post »

    Alas, I can report no weight loss this week. I blame it on the Christmas feast. The good news is that I feel extra motivated now.

    It was the tradition in my family as I was growing up to make pork and sauerkraut for the New Year's Day dinner,… Read full post »

    It's Macy's now, but before it was Macy's it was Wanamaker's flagship store in center city Philadelphia. Every Christmas Dad would pile us in the family Buick for a trip to the city to see the light show at Wannamaker's.

    I always felt a little like… Read full post »

    I am pleased to report six pounds of weight loss during the first three weeks of dieting. I think that's about average and the best I can do. Even if I lost only one pound a week, by this time next year I would look like my avatar photo. My… Read full post »

    Perhaps it is simply the steam rising from my cup of hot chocolate. It may just be that I am watching drifting snowflakes through this veil of mist rising from my cup that has put me into a state of revery.

    I am remembering my childhood when Dad… Read full post »

    I have made it through the first two weeks of my weight loss quest and am happy to report five pounds of weight loss. I'll admit to experiencing hunger pangs. The wolf is at the door, so to speak. The awful truth is that I weighed 170 when I began.

    Eati… Read full post »