Just checked out the old before and after pics that Mal linked too. I had seen them before, but what an inspiration they are. You are really doing terrific now.

Yum I love nutmeg and will start using it in my pasta dishes. Thanks for the tip Mal.
Oh my goodness, a holiday. Sydney Australia and then New Zealand, wow! My neice worked in both countries and loved it. I think it's GREAT you're taking the kids, an experience of a lifetime for them. Mal could pretend she's one of your kids, especially if she wears her socks.

Ha Ha Ha - the joys of being a parent - LOL - However I take my kids everywhere and never really regret it - I love having a family

Im just seconding all of this!!!

I feel I should comment on those pics.

I like that people like them. Thank you all. I'm honoured that you would say they're inspiring, Cannon.

I was amazed at how dramatic the change was that they showed in the time. I was amazed at seeing how I looked in the first one. I didn't chose it as a purposeful bad picture. It was as good as I could get from then!

I was also grateful at the way photos blur out lines, especially as I got extras from losing weight and was less used to them at first, than I am now!! At first I liked the avvie I use here because it was the first photo I had of myself in a long time that I could bear to show anyone who hadn't met me already. I had a big hunt for one for another forum previously!! In the end I published a picture of much beautiful sky and scenery, with myself from a distance, in a hat and sunglasses with my son in front of my stomach!! Trying to just clip a photo to a pic of my face alone didn't help either!

After I had this avvie up for a little while I actually hated it because I thought it looked much younger than me. Like a mockery of my real face that I was still getting used to. Now something has changed. I am more used to the idea that my face does actually look something like the avvie. I am less resentful of the lines I see in the mirror. I guess I'm old enough to be entitled to a few. I do actually look a bit better now than in the before and durings. I think. A bit smoother shaped. Not a startling difference like the first one. In my first pic my BMI was 41, the second was 34.5 and now it's 31.6.

I doubt I will keep looking better from losing weight. Probably there is a turn around time for someone my age.

I feel better though. I don't expect that to change and I feel nooo ambivalence about it. That I do love. I ran down some stairs in my comfy runners this afternoon and it felt so good. I just loved the sense that it was a pleasure to be in my body and be able to control it.


The holiday. We will fly from Perth via Adelaide to Sydney, spend a couple of nights and a day in the city, drive up to the Blue Mountains and overnight there, then back to the city overnight and on to Christchurch in New Zealand. Then around New Zealand in a Winnebago. The Winnebago I am not sure about!! There's a lot I don't know about the NZ part of the trip, though we know lots of people who've been and I'm looking forward to it. I'm more sure of myself on home (ish) ground in Sydney. This was my add in to the trip because we pretty much had to go past it to get to New Zealand and I have only ever had a weekend in Sydney and I loved it, and wanted the kids to have a chance to see it for real. It was pretty exciting to start turning this from a bogey monster requiring me to learn to do things I haven't done, into something that's starting seem real and probably fun.

Thursday

Breakfast 10:00 2 weetbix,. 1C lowfat soy milk. 1/3 C tinned peaches. 1 slice wholemeal toast with plum and cinnamon jam. Boiled egg. 1 C coffee with 40 ml Hilo milk.

12:00 Diet coke.

Lunch: 2:30 ~ 1 C leftover spagheti bol, 1 tub diet apricot yoghurt, 1 banana. Coffee with milk.

Dinner: 8:15 150 gm sweetlip snapper. 1 slice wholemeal bread. Salad veges with 1 dessertspoon of light french onion dip. Broccoli, celery, cucumber, mushroom, carrot, snow peas, zucchini, bean sprouts. 12 fresh dates . 1 C green tea.

Exercise: 35 min walk. Almost missed it but not quite! I had thought to walk earlier in the afternoon but needed to hang around for the girl, then took my husband to collect his car from a new mechanic, not too close to home. Fingers crossed the engine saga is over. Anyway, it was a bit too late when I got home and I was pleased that I managed to remember my intention and get out there. The dog had already been for two walks with my husband by then and tried very hard to give up after about 15 minutes! I had to walk back to her and put her lead on. At which stage she turned so that she was facing towards home!! That is one opinionated dog.

The way you look is a result of all your hard work - remeber that my friend - You have done excellent!!! And you are beautiful!!! Inside and out!!!

I'm with Cerella! You look great inside and out from where I sit!!

I only had a brief moment to skim your post and from what I can see... you're a beautiful woman on the inside and out! You said "I doubt I will keep looking better from losing weight. Probably there is a turn around time for someone my age." What in the world woman! ? You're doing wonderful and we always see ourselves differently than everyone else does...and I suppose how we view ourselves is most important... And that's what I need to work on myself! So... I guess I really don't have much room to talk either... LOL... move on..nothing to see here!

the blue mountains are amazing.... I think it's in that area -- least it was on the coach tour I took - is the three sisters (are there still three?) rock formation that has a little waterfall - there's some sort of train that goes down the mountain and you can wander around in the canyon.. .there's also a cable car that goes across t he canyon and the views are extraordinary

the kids would probably love the train -it was a little hair raising

an american should probably never tell an Aussie what to do in thier own country but the two things in sydney I loved the most were the bridge climb (kind of expensive so it might be an adults only thing) and the Zoo.. I took some boat from Circular Quay to the Zoo and took a cable car up the mountain. the entire zoo is on the side of a hill and the views are amazing..

Well thank you all for the kind words. Now I'm thinking I may have given some of you a false impression. I was kind of aware of not censoring myself when I posted but didn't think enough of how that might seem.

I am really feeling very calm and happy about what I'm doing and what I look like and even who I am, just now. Realistically, that is imperfect, but I am ok with that. I am not fixating on my imperfections - even the fixable ones! I guess I don't like to push away compliments, but after a while of having that photos thread up, my more objective, analytical (honest?) side was getting desperate to poke its nose in (a little way at least). Sorry. Probably I am impatient to get to the stage where I have achieved enough weight loss for it to be worth putting up something more current! I do still feel very positive.

Hi mal. Yes, that's sounds like what I was expecting. We will do a whirlwind tour of something that deserves more. As it's inside Australia though, hopefully we will be back again.

I ran down some stairs in my comfy runners this afternoon and it felt so good. I just loved the sense that it was a pleasure to be in my body and be able to control it.

Wow, I love this sentence. I've felt more in control as well since I've lost it, but I am looking forward to the day I can feel this good. You're a beautiful woman Felici (both inside and out), seeing the pictures is a great source of inspiration for us, but there are so many great reasons to lose weight that have nothing to do with swimsuits.

Good day to you!! Hope you have a good one!

I was really glad to read this. Thank you very much, Cannon.

Thank you! I hope yours is progressing well too!!


Friday

Breakfast 10:00 2 weetbix,. 1C lowfat soy milk. 1/3 C tinned peaches. 1 slice wholemeal toast with plum and cinnamon jam. Boiled egg. 1 C coffee with 40 ml Hilo milk.

Lunch: 1:00 2 slices wholemeal toast with 100gm light tuna with sundried tomatoes and basil. A handful of snow peas. 1 banana.

Those snow peas are locally grown and so crunchy and curly and sweet. They taste like I picked them from my own garden - vastly better than flat little imports.

Snack: 2:30 Coffee with milk.

Dinner: 8:30 6 Grilled prawns with chilli, coriander and lime. Curried fish with spinach: 75 gm sweetlip snapper, spinach, yoghurt, spices. 1 naan bread. ~ 1 dessert spoon of rice. Watermelon & onion. Cucumber and yoghurt. Capsicum and tomato. Green apple and curry powder. 3 Snow peas. 2 slices of capsicum. 2 slices of orange. 2 fresh dates . 1 C green tea.

10:00 1 cappuccinos. 9 fresh dates.

This looked beautiful and tasted great – I didn't quite get the experimental fish and spinach right but overall it was very nice.

I'm still eating more dates at once than I should. I doubt it's doing me any physical damage, but probably suggests a little attitude slip, in that I've been letting myself eat enough at times to feel overfull and over sugary. I need to take the number I want out of the bag and leave the bag in the fridge! That said, after the unusual food days and disruption to my routine lately, I'm now feeling basically back on track as far as attitude and dealing easily with extra food temptations goes.

Exercise: 5:50 25 min local walk. It's still a challenge to plan properly for this, but at least I didn't actually miss it altogether.

Very good for keeping in that walk. Your right, at least you got it in. EXCELLENT JOB!! And Prawns, OHHHH you lucky girl~~ Enjoy your night!