My motivation came from my DH last summer.

I had been having heart palpitations for ages, and was scheduled to go in for a stress test and echo. On July 27, a few days before the test, Tim, my wonderful DH, drove me over the hospital parking lot, and we sat in the car while he gently, lovingly read me the riot act!

He told me that he wanted a long life with me, that he wanted for us to both reach "old age" together, because otherwise, he wouldn't want to keep on going without me. He reminded me that, at my present weight, I have a good chance of having a heart attack or stroke, especially given my health problems with Lupus, Crohn's and MS.

I've packed on the weight since I've been ill and unable to work, and he's been very understanding about it. But the time had come for him to stop, sit down with me and encourage me to start working on getting the weight off, bit by bit.

I can't tell you how much this little talk meant to me. I went home, started immediately on the diet, and, except for some indulging at Christmas and a few "diet vacation" days here and there, haven't looked back. As a result, I've lost nearly 35 pounds.

I'm doing it slowly, because I believe that it's the best way to get it off and keep it off!