Well it's a gorgeous Sunday afternoon. Birgie I talked with mom today and said are great you're doing and of course from your own words on the blog. Keep it up!

Angie, you're welcome to come up one night next weekend with Jenny; I never received any response from my email. Sus will be away from Wednesday until August 6 in Virginia with Sadie.

And Neenie-off to Europe, I am indeed envious. May you have all the great times, which I had that still remain imprinted in my memory. Those breweries are a great way to sample the finer parts of Europe at minimal cost! Mmmmm, maybe they do that at wineries too.

Well it was a great session at the fat man meeting today. Pastor Harvey (just kidding, he's actually jewish) talked about the Power of One today. That power being us as individuals; there is no one else like you or like me. But he talked a lot about our ancestry. As an example if you went back to 1500, we have about 1,500,000 direct ancestors. Everyone of them survived long enough to procreate and then another begot and so on, until we arrived at us.

He talked about our personal health being our personal responsibility as much as a debt to all of our foreparents, each of which nurtured their children in order to continue the lineage. And of course that discussion took us right back to the world of choices. We can choose to be fat or healthy. There is absolutely no one else to deal with our fatness except ourselves.

If you desire to lose weight and more importantly create a new lifestyle, then you will seek all the necessary assistance and it will become your reality. As Harvey says, "if you could lose weight by yourself, then you would have already done it". I am one who needs help and so far it's working. And I am eating normal food and I am not ever hungry. I just had a great toasted tomato sandwich on rye bread with a little margarine and miracle whip and it was delicious. Chased by a glass of skim milk and voila, no hunger.

I have deviated at times, such as when I had a ribeye steak on the weekend, but then I shifted back into gear and back on track. Since the end of May, I have steadily lost weight each week and have now lost 13 pounds as of today from the time just prior to joining Harvey on June 3. Another 60 pounds and then into maintenance mode. That should probably be some time next winter.

Remember you can do it, not with fads or gimmicky diets, but simply looking at what goes in your mouth. It is a choice and you are the master of that choice. So I have learned to say no to cake and cupcakes and muffins and doughnuts. There is nothing of value for my health therein at all. So if I say no to any of you at a family function, please don't be insulted but it is not good for me.

It is incredible to be in a room with fat men, many of whom are there for their families (they don't want to make their wives widows and their children fatherless); some for their health (it's amazing how many have and are no longer type 2 diabetics, now off of injections and pills) and others because they want to live a longer time. Imagine there are men there who had only a couple of years to live because of their obesity and now can contemplate another 30 years. All of this because we are being taught how to eat healthy and exercise-nothing more complicated.

So remember the healthier you become the longer you will live and I want all of my family with me for a long time.

Love,

Ham

PS Sus has lost about the same amount of weight as me because I'm the cook!