Thank you Angela, for sharing so much of yourself on this forum. I especially needed some deeper, more focused motivation this morning.

Thank you everyone, for your kind words of support and warm wishes. You make me blush...I don't feel like I'm doing anything special...just hanging in there like a whole lot of other people on this website are.

Hope it's not too late to also say that themain reason I've lasted so long with LC is because of the support and friendship from people here. This is truly an amazing community.

Now, about the anniversary dinner. It..um..didn't happen. We ended up spending the evening mopping up a flood in the basement from some burst plumbing. Pretty par for the course on our anniversaries. We got married on a Friday the 13th (the only couple to marry at city hall that day), and while we have been blessed with a wonderful marriage, have rarely had the opportunity to spend a normal anniversary. Something always crops up..illness, business travel, family emergency, something. On our 10th we planned 3 times for a romantic getaway, and when it finally happened the hotel was horrible and we ended up having dinner at a Wendy's. It's become a game to try to predict whether or not we will actually be able to celebrate on the real anniversary day.

We'll be going out for dinner at the end of the week...after I get home from this business trip.

Hang in there everyone! And thanks again for your kind thoughts.

hehehe Angela that sounds about like what happened to us.

We got married and had planned for a honeymoon two weeks later. The week before my boss asked me if I could go to Argentina for 3 days to set up some systems. I said sure no problem as long as I am home by Saturday because that was when we were scheduled to fly out to Belize.

Well, turns out I spent two weeks in Argentina so I wasn't home for our honeymoon. So far 3 years into it we have yet to take one. Something always seems to pop up if we plan to spend more than 4 days together somewhere

December 11th ( I think) will be a year for me.

I weigh 10lbs more.

I started LC with Atkins in mid-March. 8 months later, I've lost 53 lbs. I have my goal weight set for Sept 30, 2004 - over a year from now. According to FitDay, this will require a loss of approximately one pound per week. I thought that was fairly reasonable - much moreso than expecting to lose 98 lbs by Sept 30, 2003, for example.

So, how do we know if our goals are actually realistic? Is one lb/week too high an expectation? I don't plan on going off of this wol, even if my goals are not met when I expect them to be, but I'd like to know what is possible.

Every person's actual loss is as individual as they are. There are so many factors to consider, things that will affect you over time. No one can predict for certain what they will lose and at what rate.

It looks like you have some nice long term goals set, at a steady and reasonable pace, and you have the patience to wait this thing through. That's a major part of the battle.

Don't get discouraged if you don't lose a pound per week. Some weeks you may lose more, some weeks not even that. The body goes through periods of rest and adjustment between bouts of losing.

Congratulations on your loss so far. Looks like you have the right mindset to persist!

I have been absent from the forum for a few weeks now, due to homework, classes, work, and so on...and when I return you are the first I read, and I want to thank you...I too have sometimes a hecktic schedule and it would be so easy to fall of my plan...your idea of staying on maintenance during stress is encouraging to me...
I'm glad I stopped by on my surfing hour...
take care too

I just wanted to bump this wonderful post to the top. It's where I am and I was inspired! Thanks Angela...wherever you are!!

In the end, that outfit WILL fit and then perhaps you can have another celebration to add to your life--- like an Atkins anniversary or GOAL party?

Jan

What a wonderful post. Angela you've given this newbie LOTS to think about.