What is this obsession we women have to be thin? I wonder if there is anyone unaffected by the trend to look a certain way. I know even in my mom's time, the girls wanted to look certain way. In her mind, she was too thin and hated it.

I am not immune to this mentality but what I really want is to feel good and feel strong. I want to be able to run 5 miles without dying. I want to be able to take my kids out and not have them be embarrassed. I say this, because I had feelings like this once in a while with my mom. I don't really think it was because she was over weight but because she wore those stretchy, thick polyester pants with the seam down the front and a shirt that accuntuated all the wrong places!

I sure love and miss her but the truth is, she had no sense of style! Anyway, I want to be the kind of mom who has energy and feels good about herself.

I have put myself on a new eating plan. I don't consider it a diet but I am losing weight and working out and I feel so good. This is a plan I can stick with the rest of my life and it is the first one I have been able to stick with without "feeling" like I am on a diet.

Let me tell you how it started. I was talking to my sister and complaining that none of the diets have worked and that I was eating healthy and working out yet.... no change.

She said "it's all math. You have to burn more calories than you eat. Plain and simple" She said that if I eat only 1200 calories a day, I WILL lose weight. even without exercising. So this is what I did. Weight watchers has a similar thing with points but it is too flexible for me. I want to know exactly what I am eating.

I have a food counting book I bought a couple of years ago that has EVERYTHING in it. and I just subtract the calories in my day timer as I go.

At first. I was utterly amazed!! Did you know that a pbj has 500 calories??? Anyway, I have gotten smart in the last month so that I eat what will fill me the longest that has the fewest calories.

I am a 100% ranch girl but 1 tbsp. has 150 calories! Now, if you only get 1200 a day, that has got to go! So I bought one of those salad spritzers and it is really good. I snack on my favorite Gouda cheese. It has about 150 calories but it tides me over longer. I will eat fat free cottage cheese with fruit and I love grapefruit. I use stevia as a sweetener because it is natural and not full of chemicals like splenda and others. I eat a great combination of food and feel really good. I do not feel like I am starving and in the last month, I have lost 8 pounds. It is slow and steady but that shows me I am doing it the right way.

I will lose a pound, stay there for 3 to 5 days usually, then go down another pound. Just yesterday I went down 2 1/2 pounds which really surprised me but I was sick yesterday and didn't eat or do much.

Anyway, It is working, it is healthy, I feel energetic and good about myself. I work out 4 or 5 times a week and I am not so strict that I don't give myself treats once in a while. I do not want to go through life missing out on favorite foods. I don't feel deprived and well....I am just happy that I have found something that works for me. I do fluctuate between 1200 and 1500 but I always try to stick to the 1200.

Those pop cycles that are sugar free only have 15 calories and are really good! You ought to try them!

Anyway, this is what I do and have loved it.