Maybe last Saturday's missed walk didn't help. No change this week. Hope to drop again next week.

Sorry to be so absent. The volunteer task I have taken on is taking far more time that projected because we had nearly triple the number of applicants expected. Sign of the hard economic times. I have been glued to my computer nearly all day every day this past week screening applications. I took time out to celebrate the 4th of July with a barbecue for French friends. We even set off firecrackers, which must have had the other neighbours wondering. It was the first time in our 30+ years in France that we have done this, largely because both of us were always working on the 4th.

Down .2 kg this week. If only typing on a keyboard would absorb more calories! I am doing this about as slowly as the slugs that creep out each night to feast on my basil and other herbs.

On the positive side I am keeping off what I have lost and slowly, slowly, slowly creeping down the weight chart. At this rate, I definitely will need to live to a ripe old age to see it all come off.

The FitBit has not resurfaced, so am mulling over whether to splurge and get another.

My one other highlight this week was receiving a traffic fine in the mail for an infraction committed in Paris by a car with my licence plate number. It wasn't the same model car, mine is a Toyota, the offender a Fiat. We had to go to the police to declare the problem. It is current enough that they even have a category for false use of car identity plates. We now have to go to the office that issues plates to get new registration papers, order new plates and change the info with our insurance company. We also have to write to the national authorities to declare that the car was not mine and that I have never driven in Paris. I had heard stories about this on the news, but did not think it would happen to me.

I guess I may need to change things up a bit. No change again this week.

Hi Dave,
Don't get discouraged! You have lost an amazing amount of weight these past six months. Hitting a few plateaus is normal. Even the Tour de France cycling race takes a few pause days.

I read an interesting article from the Mayo Clinic on diet plateaus - http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/weight-loss-plateau/MY01152 - The first page talks about why and the second page gives tips. Although one of their suggestions is that you increase activity and I cannot imagine more than 20,000 steps in a day! What they are saying about shifting to more muscle-building activity makes a lot of sense.

Didn't change my routine this past week, and dropped 2½ this week to sit at 17 st 13½ pounds. That's now 48 since the get-go, and only about 3 stone to go! I think this is the first time I've been under 18 stone since working where I do now.

Edit to add: I played the Wii yesterday, and when I was at my heaviest, I was huffing and puffing after about 10 minutes. I played 24 yesterday without a huff or a puff.

Congratulations! I think the Wii experience is even more exciting than actual weight loss. It definitely shows that you are getting healthy.

I am still slugging away - down .3 last week.

Sigh, I seem to have hit a plateau (not a gateau ) lately. I've been really, really good, and still only nine stone eleven and a quarter pounds It's a special little boy's birthday over the weekend, so going to have to be ultra good until Friday, enjoy myself until Sunday, then back on the "diet wagon" on Monday

Not as much of a drop, but still a drop of 1½ this week to sit at 17 st 12 pounds.

Dave, it sounds good to me! Keep up the good work. It is great that you are getting near your goal.

Jane, hope that it was a lovely birthday celebration - with a gateau!

I caved in and had ice cream for dessert three times this week. It was delicious, but the combination of that and sitting at the computer all week on my volunteer job cost me .7 kg. Funny how it goes up so much quicker than it descends. I'll try again this week.

Dropped another 2 this week to tip the scales at 17 st 10 pounds. The person that cuts my hair noticed that my stomach isn't near as big as it once was, but after over 50 pounds dropped now, it's not hard to notice. I am the lightest I've been in almost four years.

Another two off this week to sit at 17 st 8 pounds. I have about 2½ st to go!

My diet schedule has been a little "iffy" but finally back into gear, I'm now nine stone twelve and half pounds If I could get to about nine and a half ... or, even better, nine stone! ... for Christmas, I'd be very happy

Great news Dave and Jane.

Sorry to be so absent. No loss or gain in my last weigh in. I have been glued to my computer between my volunteer project and planning for a kitchen makeover (After seventeen years of not touching anything in the house, we have a lot to tackle.)

I know I have to get serious again, but am finding it difficult to motivate myself these days. Hopefully I'll begin to show progress again soon.

Just one off this week to fall to 17½ st. Getting closer to my goal!

Mid-week update: broke the 55 pound loss barrier today!

Congratulations! You are amazing.

And again, another milestone date. August 22nd is always a special day for me, it marks the date that I turned my life around, and started cutting down on "goodies". Nine years ago, August 2003, I was 13 stone ... probably more! ... and my quality of life was pretty miserable with no energy. I was told I was borderline diabetes. So I changed my eating habits. Today I'm nearly 10 stone - about half a stone more than I was this time last year, but a vast improvement from nine years ago I would love to lose another half stone and keep it off over the next few months, so I can enjoy December celebrations

That is inspiring, even to a slow poke. I hope to be able to say something similar one of these days. Intellectually I know that I must, translating this into my everyday routine is another story.

Reading that you made that decision, lost the weight and managed to keep it off is a big help.

Didn't post anything last Sunday, so since my last update, I've dropped another 2½ to sit at 17 st 3½ pounds. That's a total of 58 pounds lost since December 1! I have 2¼ st to go!

Yet another week at 2½ lost. Might be under 17 st next week, since I'm at 17 st 1 pound, and have now dropped 60½ pounds.

No change from last week, so still just over the 17 st mark. We'll see what happens next week.

After a week of even-ing out, down another 2½ this week to put me at 16 st 12½ pounds. Less than 2 st to go!

I had a challenge from my boss (the office got some "el cheap-o" pedometers for a walking challenge and he put one on lol**) saying he could outwalk me on a Thursday. Since I had to get off early that day, as we had cut back on hours, by the time I got to Stonebriar at 4:45pm, I was already at almost 20,000 steps. I ended Thursday at a new record (that will probably stand for quite some time lol) of 26,392 steps, or 12.1 miles. He couldn't get close to that! I crossed the 1,000 mile level last Tuesday. I took two days under six months to do that. My next goal is to do that in fewer days.

As for the weight loss, only ½ pound this week to sit at 16 st 12 pounds. I'm at about a seven year low.

**edit to add: the pedometers we got last year were the same and that's what started me even doing anything about weight loss in the first place.

A big well done to you Dave, I admire your determination and hard work which has paid off!

Even with going a little high on Monday last week (Chili's St. Jude Donate Profits Day - ate there for both lunch and dinner to help the kids that day), I still dropped 1½ this week to sit at 16 st 10½ pounds. Now down a total of 65 pounds!

No slipups this week, and yet another 2½ this week. This week I'm at 16 st 8 pounds. I'm a mere 1½ st away from my goal now!

Am I the only one posting now?

Still plodding away, and still almost ten stone. I'm still happy about that, but would love to lose another half stone

Well, after last week's drop, I couldn't pass muster, and stayed the same...16 st 8 pounds.

This week did what I did two weeks ago, and have now dropped 70 pounds, sitting at 16 st 5½ pounds. I'm less than 20 away from my goal!!

I have been very absent from the forum for several weeks. We have been travelling and our live has been incredibly hectic between kids and house renovations. I am starting to think that building a house from scratch would be easier. For a little while I feared that I might end up in divorce court over the kitchen counters. We did not hire someone to coordinate the work and are finding that it is not so easy to do it oneself. We have had workers not show up and others show up when not expected. The best was when they delivered and installed the new fridge and freezer in the middle of preparations for a big dinner. It did not help that the oven bit the dust a few hours later.

Dave, congratulations on your continued progress. It is truly amazing! I have not made any real efforts lately and actually added back another kilo. Things should be a little better and I hope to get back in the swing of diet and reporting.