by Lynn Marie

Created on: January 17, 2009

Since I was a young girl, I have been "exposed" to dieting and many various diets. My mother was always overweight, and joined a T.O.P.S Club, when I was only about eight years old, and then was one of the founding members of two other T.O.P.S. organizations. I know of all of the different diet pills, the different diets, the different exercise machines, and watched as my mother religiously counted her calories, would lose several pounds and then regain them. Today, at age 79, she is still a T.O.P.S. member and still counts calories, and is still overweight, although, in the past few years she had dropped over 30 pounds from her "record high weight". After watching all of this, one would think that I would have had a handle on how to master the art of eating sensibly! After all, I was nicknamed, "skinny Lynnie" when I was young, and managed to keep my weight down, but my love for food and eating, finally caught up with me. I find myself also the proud owner of several diet books, and I also religiously count calories, but the bathroom scale still records the increase of my weight, and I sadly pack away some of my favorite suits and sweaters, with the vow that soon, I will be wearing them again - out of style or not!

Even though I have not seemed to find the "magic formula" to lose my weight, I sincerely believe that my energy has diminished not so much because of my age, but because of my girth. I also feel that my dark moods are related to my weight gain. I can feel the difference in both my attitude and my energy levels when I have had what I would call a "Good Day". A "Good Day" means that I have followed a sensible diet and also have been able to exercise. I do no live in a city close to a gym, I have the perfect "gym" in my back yard and my front yard. I live in the northern woods of Wisconsin, on the shores of lake. In the summer, I can swim as often as I want and bike the beautiful curving and hilly road that leads to our house. I can walk out the back door and find old logging roads that wind through the forest. In the winter, I can dig out my cross country skis and ski across the lake, or follow some of the logging roads. Or, I can just lace up my hiking boots and walk down the road. I have no excuses for not exercising, as I even have an old "ski machine" exerciser that I can easily set up in my basement.

It is appropriate that I am writing this article so close on the heels of the past holiday season. Our son came up for a long Christmas Weekend, and

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