What a difference a year makes.

Lady o' the house wrote:
What a wonderful story, JJ! You made me cry, too! I can
relate to
how you feel. I'll bet that your daughter was very proud,
too. I'm
so happy for you!

Now, go get ready to 'cut a rug' with your oldest
daughter!

;-D


Thanks Linda. All these folks crying...if you're gonna do
that I'm going to quit posting ;-)

Seriously, I share these emotional moments on occasion just
because, for me at least, they have been very powerful
motivators. I hope that at least a few people can read
them, and read into them, their personal motivations.

Normally I would say that there is no magic to all of this,
that hard work and diligence pays off in the long run. And
I believe that this is true so far as weight control and
becoming as healthy as one can be goes. But I was wrong,
there is much magic in this...as evidenced by many magic
moments.

I'm not a tearful guy but I suspect that I will shed a tear
or two at the wedding. I've been sharing both ends of the
spectrum, my oldest working hard to become a mature woman
and applying so many of the lessons I have worked so hard to
teach her over the years. My youngest girl, who is as
unlike any other human being I have ever come across in my
life--I've never known anybody else who has the connection
with animals and nature that this child has and I struggle
to nurture this because it is so different from me. But I
don't know that I've ever shared any stories about my son.
Perhaps I will do that next week.

What does talking about my children have to do with low-carb
dieting and support? Nothing, I suppose. And everything.

--
JJ.

Cheri wrote:
What a great story. Congratulations and continued success.
:-)


Thank you Cheri, Rebecca, Lybbe, Nicky and Sandy (and please
forgive me if I've left anybody out.)

Please keep up your good efforts, one and all.

--
JJ.
275/175/180 - as of November 1, 2004 (adjusted target
weight)
Atkins since Sep 1, 2003
http://f2.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/jjsmythe/my_photos
1, 2, 3...98, 99, 100. Done!

JJ wrote:
I just returned home from my annual father/daughter dance.
snip
In two weeks my oldest daughter gets married. I'm looking
forward to dancing with her at her wedding too.

To all here who have been so helpful, a continued thank you.
For those still working to their weight loss or other health
related goals, please keep after it. For me it has been
more than worth all the effort, I hope that you can each
have goals that make it worth your effort too.


You write the nicest posts. Congratulations on your success and the
rewards that go with it. Bet your girls are proud.

April.

--
"Things that try to look like things often do look more like things than
things. Well known fact." Esmerelda Weatherwax. (Pratchett 1988)

JJ wrote:
I just returned home from my annual father/daughter dance.
snip
In two weeks my oldest daughter gets married. I'm looking
forward to dancing with her at her wedding too.

To all here who have been so helpful, a continued thank you.
For those still working to their weight loss or other health
related goals, please keep after it. For me it has been
more than worth all the effort, I hope that you can each
have goals that make it worth your effort too.


You write the nicest posts. Congratulations on your success and the
rewards that go with it. Bet your girls are proud.

April.

--
"Things that try to look like things often do look more like things than
things. Well known fact." Esmerelda Weatherwax. (Pratchett 1988)

What a wonderful post!
Congrats.

On Sat, 13 Nov 2004 04:45:42 GMT, "JJ" wrote:

I just returned home from my annual father/daughter dance.
This has been a ritual I have looked forward to for many
years, but one where I typically would squeeze myself into a
suit, drag myself to the dance, dance twice with my
daughter, then spend the rest of the night wheezing in the
corner.

That was last year, and every year before it in fact. By
early November of last year I had lost about 30 pounds so
while I was making real weight loss progress I was still
grossly out of shape, and by no means certain I was going to
be successful. This year, I am 100 pounds down, have been
diligent in going to the gym up to 5 days a week every week
since last April, having worked hard on both weights and
cardio.

Tonight, I fit perfectly into my nice new sports jacket and
slacks...and didn't cringe in disgust with myself. Upon
arrival we began dancing as soon as we walked in the door
and continued non-stop until the dance was over two hours
later. (Visualize a gymnasium with 200 8-12 year old girls
going crazy and a bunch of middle aged fathers trying to
keep up to understand how frenetic this all is.) As hard
has I have worked this year I am still surprised that I
never became winded or tired the entire time. Sweated like
there was no tomorrow, but no difficulty whatsoever.

I don't know if any of you will appreciate what this means
but it means the world to me. For too many years I sat on
the sidelines, thoroughly enjoying being out with my
daughter on her special night, but unable to really
participate in a meaningful way.

Any of you who have been here long enough to have read my
early postings with my goals may recognize that being able
to do what I described above, as I described it, was one of
my goals. This felt good. This felt very good. This makes
it worth it.

In two weeks my oldest daughter gets married. I'm looking
forward to dancing with her at her wedding too.

To all here who have been so helpful, a continued thank you.
For those still working to their weight loss or other health
related goals, please keep after it. For me it has been
more than worth all the effort, I hope that you can each
have goals that make it worth your effort too.



----== Posted via Newsfeeds.Com - Unlimited-Uncensored-Secure Usenet News==----
http://www.newsfeeds.com The #1 Newsgroup Service in the World! 100,000 Newsgroups
---= East/West-Coast Server Farms - Total Privacy via Encryption =---

I haven't been around since your early days, JJ, but this post was so
very inspirational. I have a little boy, and one of the reasons I want
to lose the weight is to have the energy and stamina to be a real part
of his life.

Thanks for posting!!

Nicole
(290.5/208/137)


On Sat, 13 Nov 2004 04:45:42 GMT, "JJ" wrote:

I just returned home from my annual father/daughter dance.
This has been a ritual I have looked forward to for many
years, but one where I typically would squeeze myself into a
suit, drag myself to the dance, dance twice with my
daughter, then spend the rest of the night wheezing in the
corner.

That was last year, and every year before it in fact. By
early November of last year I had lost about 30 pounds so
while I was making real weight loss progress I was still
grossly out of shape, and by no means certain I was going to
be successful. This year, I am 100 pounds down, have been
diligent in going to the gym up to 5 days a week every week
since last April, having worked hard on both weights and
cardio.

Tonight, I fit perfectly into my nice new sports jacket and
slacks...and didn't cringe in disgust with myself. Upon
arrival we began dancing as soon as we walked in the door
and continued non-stop until the dance was over two hours
later. (Visualize a gymnasium with 200 8-12 year old girls
going crazy and a bunch of middle aged fathers trying to
keep up to understand how frenetic this all is.) As hard
has I have worked this year I am still surprised that I
never became winded or tired the entire time. Sweated like
there was no tomorrow, but no difficulty whatsoever.

I don't know if any of you will appreciate what this means
but it means the world to me. For too many years I sat on
the sidelines, thoroughly enjoying being out with my
daughter on her special night, but unable to really
participate in a meaningful way.

Any of you who have been here long enough to have read my
early postings with my goals may recognize that being able
to do what I described above, as I described it, was one of
my goals. This felt good. This felt very good. This makes
it worth it.

In two weeks my oldest daughter gets married. I'm looking
forward to dancing with her at her wedding too.

To all here who have been so helpful, a continued thank you.
For those still working to their weight loss or other health
related goals, please keep after it. For me it has been
more than worth all the effort, I hope that you can each
have goals that make it worth your effort too.

I haven't been around since your early days, JJ, but this post was so
very inspirational. I have a little boy, and one of the reasons I want
to lose the weight is to have the energy and stamina to be a real part
of his life.

Thanks for posting!!

Nicole
(290.5/208/137)


On Sat, 13 Nov 2004 04:45:42 GMT, "JJ" wrote:

I just returned home from my annual father/daughter dance.
This has been a ritual I have looked forward to for many
years, but one where I typically would squeeze myself into a
suit, drag myself to the dance, dance twice with my
daughter, then spend the rest of the night wheezing in the
corner.

That was last year, and every year before it in fact. By
early November of last year I had lost about 30 pounds so
while I was making real weight loss progress I was still
grossly out of shape, and by no means certain I was going to
be successful. This year, I am 100 pounds down, have been
diligent in going to the gym up to 5 days a week every week
since last April, having worked hard on both weights and
cardio.

Tonight, I fit perfectly into my nice new sports jacket and
slacks...and didn't cringe in disgust with myself. Upon
arrival we began dancing as soon as we walked in the door
and continued non-stop until the dance was over two hours
later. (Visualize a gymnasium with 200 8-12 year old girls
going crazy and a bunch of middle aged fathers trying to
keep up to understand how frenetic this all is.) As hard
has I have worked this year I am still surprised that I
never became winded or tired the entire time. Sweated like
there was no tomorrow, but no difficulty whatsoever.

I don't know if any of you will appreciate what this means
but it means the world to me. For too many years I sat on
the sidelines, thoroughly enjoying being out with my
daughter on her special night, but unable to really
participate in a meaningful way.

Any of you who have been here long enough to have read my
early postings with my goals may recognize that being able
to do what I described above, as I described it, was one of
my goals. This felt good. This felt very good. This makes
it worth it.

In two weeks my oldest daughter gets married. I'm looking
forward to dancing with her at her wedding too.

To all here who have been so helpful, a continued thank you.
For those still working to their weight loss or other health
related goals, please keep after it. For me it has been
more than worth all the effort, I hope that you can each
have goals that make it worth your effort too.

Nicole {Freezing in Wisconsin} wrote:
I haven't been around since your early days, JJ, but this
post was so
very inspirational. I have a little boy, and one of the
reasons I want
to lose the weight is to have the energy and stamina to be
a real part
of his life.

Thanks for posting!!

Nicole
(290.5/208/137)


Thank you, and you are welcome.

I suspect that your son will have many opportunities to be
very proud of you.

--
JJ.