I haven't posted, except for an occasional response, for the last year since I wrote about my success with Atkins. Thought I should tell everyone that after losing 70 lbs., I've kept it off for a year. I don't stick to Atkins as relgiously as I did when I was trying to lose weight, but I weigh myself daily and as soon as I gain a couple pounds, I'm very careful. As a result, my weight hasn't varied more than a few pounds over the past year.

I'm exercising now using Curves, since my doctor thought that would be the best place for me because of my back problems. It looks like I am facing a knee replacement too, punishment for being heavy for about 15 years, I'm sure. But I know that the surgery will be easier since my weight is now under control and with the new techniques (they can do it endoscopically), my doctor says I should recover quickly.

Meanwhile, I can and do play with my now 2.5 year old granddaughter. We have circus tickets in a couple weeks and I can hardly wait to see the look on her face. She told her Mom this week that "Gaga is really pretty." (She's called me Gaga ever since she could talk and whle she can say grandma now, she sticks with her original name for me.) I doubt she'd say that if I weighed 220.

I've been on three trips, to London/Scotland, to visit friends in Illinois and stay in a bed and breakfast there, and on a Panama Canal Cruise recently. Each vacation, I gain a little weight (never more than 3-4 lbs.), but the minute I come home, I go back on Atkins and within a week or two it's gone. Atkins is a way of life for me now and my doctor and husband continue to be thrilled with the new me.