April 3
	I'm back from vacation! California was beautiful and I saw all the people I wanted to see. Here are some photos: With my friend Kristin (left) and my sister Emily at the Getty Villa.    Me by the reflecting pool at the Getty Villa. With my daughter on the Topanga Beach (this is the first time I've seen the Pacific Ocean) I haven't seen my cousin Rick in 18 years! I'd have known him anywhere. He, on the other hand, didn't recognize me. Gee, surprise surprise! I love him even more because he said I look 25. Liar. But he's now my favorite cousin. And then there's Michael. I met Michael when I was half naked in a Macy's dressing room. He was the lead stylist for the Oprah show I was on in November. Michael lives in LA. We've stayed in close contact since the show and so I couldn't wait to see him again. He's lost 33 pounds, too! We met for lunch at the Ivy in Beverly Hills. It didn't matter that we didn't spot any celebrities. Laughing and talking with Michael again was all I really wanted anyway.

March 15 - One Year Goal Anniversary
	At my doctor's appointment on March 12, 2007, I weighed 138 pounds on my home scale and 143 on the doctor's scale. I said to my doctor, "So, do you suppose this is goal?" And she said, "I think you can stop now." And that boring little exchange was how I declared goal. No fanfare, no whoopla, no confetti shooting from the sky, no fireworks, no angels flying around the room singing "Hallelujah." Just me and my doctor and my medical file. Yesterday, March 14, I had a doctor's appointment and I weighed 128 pounds on my home scale and 130 pounds on the doctor's scale. While I'm in maintenance and not actually trying to lose weight, I lost another 10 pounds (13 "officially"). I said to my doctor, "So, do you think I'm too thin?" And she said, "No, but I don't want  you to lose any more." She said I might want to consider eating a little more food every day.  I never in a million years would have dreamed I'd hear a doctor tell me to eat more food! LOL Of course she means more vegetables or fruits or whole grains. It's not like I can go out and eat all the chocolate or animal crackers I want. But still, it's a big balancing act, this maintenance gig. There is so much information out there on how to LOSE weight, but very little in regard to MAINTAINING your weight once you get to goal. I hope to change that in the upcoming months. (Yes, that was a selfish plug for an upcoming project I’m working on. Stay tuned for more info!) On the home front, my oldest daughter turned 25 this week. It’s a cliché, but man it’s hard to believe I’m old enough to have a 25-year-old! I feel young, but then, I’ve never been 44 before so how do I know every 44-year-old before me didn’t feel young, too? Here’s our “official” Carly-Mom birthday self-portrait.   My youngest daughter, Cassie, mother of my beautiful grandbaby Claire, is now below her pre-pregnancy weight. I’m very proud of her! Here she is showing off her cute booty.   Random shot of Claire with her very proud grandparents.   On Carlene’s birthday, Claire got a new high chair and tried cereal for the first time. I love the look on her face. She had no idea what to think of that first bite.   Claire literally "devours" books.   Happy almost spring!

March 6 - The haircut
	I'm not one to plan personal changes too far in advance. When I decided to lose weight, I gave it a great deal of thought, of course, but in the end I jumped in on January 1, 2005, because I was tired of not nailing down that "some day." The same is true with my hair. For months I'd been saying, "Some day I'm going to do something different." But gee, that some day never happened all by itself. So last Monday, after the color was updated and my hair was getting rinsed, I told my hairstylist it was time for a change. "Some day" was that day. I wanted to go short. Really short. For years I let my face prevent me from going short. I preferred to think I was hiding behind my hair, even though hair couldn't hide my double chins or thick neck, or change the fact that my cheeks were so round that they caused my eyes to squint when I smiled. Short was something I wanted to try, but I kept my hair relatively long, even to my goal weight. It only took a few minutes to cut, but it's taken me all week to get used to. I'm  still a little surprised how "out there" my face feels. It feels so bold. It's a little scary not having that imaginary safeguard. My neck, my chin, my smile, my nose...my hair isn't in the way anymore and they must stand on their own. This new haircut is symbolic of how far I've come. It's a smaller change representing a larger change, both in my size and attitude. Here are some photos of what it looks like straight and curly. It's nice to still have a choice, at least on non-humid, non-rainy days. On humid or rainy days, you know what style will win out.

March 1 - Grandbaby Claire Update
	I'm such a negligent Grammy Lynn! Claire is 4 1/2 months old and I haven't updated any photos in awhile. Shame on me. Here are a few recent photos of baby Claire: Claire with Aunt Carly. Both have new glasses.

January 18
	I caught an interview with economist Richard McKenzie a few nights ago on NPR’s Talk of the Nation. He wrote an interesting op-ed piece in the Wall Street Journal Jan. 4 called Dieting for Dollars. He’s been struggling to lose 10 pounds for what he says feels like a decade. He lost 378 pounds 10 years ago, nine pounds short of his goal weight. He decided to come up with his own weight-loss incentive and signed a contract with a friend that said if McKenzie didn’t lose nine pounds in 10 weeks, he’d pay his friend $500. To read McKenzie’s op-ed piece, click here. For the Talk of the Nation synopsis and to listen to the interview, click here. I’m interested in your thoughts on this. Is McKenzie on to something? Would betting someone money that you’ll lose weight increase your chances for success? Post your comments in the comment box below. For me, the pressure would be too great to succeed. While personally I’ve done well with timed weight-loss goals, mostly because I don’t beat myself up if I don’t succeed 100 percent, it’s not something I recommend to most people. However, with money at stake, I’d lose track of my true goal – a genuinely gotten and permanent weight loss. I’d probably lose the weight from stress alone (I don’t eat when I’m stressed). I’m glad it worked for McKenzie, and it might work for others, too. I’m looking forward to hearing what you all think about it. Another weight-loss story and strategy I learned about the other day is called “The Writing Diet,” the brain child of artist Julia Cameron. Here’s a review from Publisher’s Weekly that I found at Amazon.com: “Unlike so many diet books, this cheery addition to the self-help shelves wasn't written by a nutritionist or a fitness pro, but rather by a ‘creativity expert’ who ‘accidentally stumbled upon a weight-loss secret that works’ while teaching a creative ‘unblocking course.’ While this might sound like so much snake oil, the optimism and common-sense attitude of author Cameron (The Artist’s Way) are winning. Her system is both simple and inexpensive, promoting exercise, food journaling, and something called ‘morning pages,’ which are stream-of-consciousness passages dieters record after getting out of bed: ‘A day at a time, a page at a time, we become mindful, acutely attuned to our personal feelings.’ The second half of the book is filled with exercises, some more goofy than practical (‘…if your museum has a gift shop, buy yourself five postcards glorifying the body type you've got’), and stories detailing chronic overeaters’ paths to weight loss success. These stories are sometimes inspiring, sometimes repetitive, but should motivate dieters to give writing a try.”  I think I’ll buy this book since I’m pro-journaling not only the food we eat every day, but our everyday experiences and how we relate to food and emotions and our changing bodies. This might be a book that will help me become even more in tune with maintenance. If any of you have read this or buy it soon and read it, I’d love to hear your reviews.

January 8
	It’s only Tuesday, but I’m awed by the number of folks who’ve visited my website after seeing me in People just last week.    A special thanks to all of you who’ve joined my site, and for all the great messages on my guestbook and for your emails. I wish I could answer them all and especially address each of your questions, but please know I've read everything you've written and that I hope to address many of these questions in the upcoming weeks here on this website.     I’m most excited to hear your own weight-loss journeys! I’m so glad that something I said or wrote has you implementing healthy changes to your lifestyle. One woman wrote and said because of what I said on Entertainment Tonight – that I ask myself before I eat anything how I’ll feel in five minutes after eating it – she said no to a brownie and yes to a glass of water. In her words:   “I didn't feel too good about it at the time (they're caramel pecan brownies), but when I woke up in the morning I felt great.  It was like, ‘I did it,’ I made a smart choice and feel better for it.  I always get the ‘guilts’ after eating what I know I shouldn’t.   “So now, I am sitting at my desk at work, eating an apple instead of a donut and looking forward to a small walk at lunch.”   Yay Karen!   When I got home from New York City last week, I was at my daughter’s house having dinner and we started talking about her stint in the Army Reserves. When she went to basic training in 2002, I weighed about 280 pounds. She weighed 117 and was wearing size 7 juniors in pants. She dug out her old army pants Friday night and I tried them on. You can see from the photo that, well, they fit. Talk about a mind-bending moment.   July 2002   January 2008

What a Start to 2008
	I celebrated my 3-year weight-loss journey yesterday, Jan. 1. "What a long strange trip it's been..." I sometimes wonder what my life would be like now if I hadn't decided, at that moment three years ago, to lose weight. Would I be halfway through my journey? Would I even be on a weight-loss journey? I mean this when I say that this website would mean nothing if not for the support you've all given me since I launched it in July 2005. Losing weight, while a solitary endeavor, is not something I can imagine doing alone. This website keeps me accountable. I don't post or publish it for anyone other than myself, but that it has drawn in so many wonderful folks who understand this path, I am overwhelmed at times, and always humbled. Thank you for giving me the space to vent and share.  I'll be on the Today Show on Friday, Jan. 4 (yes, this Friday during the 9 a.m. hour), the same day the People Magazine Half Their Size edition comes out. I blogged about it on my Zenbaglady site, but I thought I'd post it here, too. I've included a few photos from the Today Show shoot. Of all days to get a cold sore. The Today Show called this morning and I’m flying to New York tomorrow to be on the show Friday to promote the People magazine I’ll be in, which comes out Friday, too. Thank god Shari had a cold sore last week. Wait, that didn’t come out right. I’m not glad she had a cold sore, but I am glad she discovered Releev. I went to the drug store and bought a teeny tiny bottle that set me back 20 bucks, but I think Matt, Meredith, Ann and Al are worth it. I put out an email SOS to my friend, stylist extraordinaire Michael who dressed me for the Oprah show. Listen to me! “Dressed” me, like I’m “somebody.” But that’s what he did. What he really did, aside from the clothes, was give me confidence. And now he’s coaching me through this whole wardrobe thing for Today because they’re letting me wear my own clothes, of which I have none. Well, not “none” none, but nothing Today Show worthy. I tried to go shopping today, but I live in a small town with limited shopping options and the places I went to have lots of dresses in sizes that aren’t mine. There was, however, a skirt I tried on, a lined skirt, mind you (not a stretchy spandexy skirt, but one with no give) and it was a size 4. Fit like a glove. I bought it not because I think I’ll wear it on Today but because of the number on the tag. Yup. I’m vain that way. I also put in a call to my friend Ashley, who is also my hairstylist, who got me in for a last-minute manicure. As she painted my nails we talked about roasted vegetables and shampoo and short hair and we laughed a little about how insane all this People and Oprah and Today Show and CNN (another story for another blog) feels and I walked out of the shop feeling happy and positive. Anyway, I’m taking along some pants (leggings and jeans) and boots and dresses and my mini skirt and tights. It’s only a one-night stay yet I have to check a bag. I admit, though, that the best part of this trip will be the limo ride through Manhattan tomorrow evening. All the lights….mmmmm….and I don’t have to pay attention to traffic. I get to just sit back and look out the window. And then in my hotel, I’ll order some food, turn down the lights, and stare out my window. Kind of dull, I know, but I can’t think of a better way to spend a few hours before bedtime across the street from Rockefeller Plaza. I’ll write and think and maybe read a little. That’s heaven for a Zen bag lady. I’ll be on the show during their 9 a.m. hour. I’ll be at the studio by 8 to get “camera ready.” This means heavy makeup again. That stuff really creeps out my skin. I’ll certainly be washing my face in a LaGuardia bathroom before my flight takes off. Ten bucks says they straighten my hair for the segment. What do TV types have against curly hair? I’m going to ask the stylist that on Friday. I’m just curious. OK, I’m rambling. So much is going on in my head. I have a to-do list a mile long. At the top of my list is Kiss Baby Claire Goodbye. She and her mom will be in Clarion tomorrow so I’ll get to see my girls before I leave. That makes me so happy. To recap, the People Magazine Half Their Size issue hits the stands on Friday and I’ll be on Today sometime between 9 and 10 in the morning. I’m very excited about it actually. Losing weight isn’t easy. I don’t care if it’s 10 pounds or 300 pounds. It’s not easy. If someone reads this magazine, sees Today, reads my blog or the blogs of the people featured inside, and changes their eating habits, exercises just a little more, then it’s worth all the cold sore medicines, manicures, frantic emails and schlepping of clothes I may never wear on TV to Manhattan. As my friend Kristin would say, “//word.” I’ll try to blog tomorrow night or early Friday. As always, thanks for reading.