Hi Guys:
   I went to a birthday party for a two year old yesterday.  My niece
and the "favorite" grandbaby.  It was amazing.  The whole table was
covered with food and the whole bed was covered with presents.  You
haven't experienced anything until you have seen tiny, little kids
bashing the crap out of a purple dinosaur pinata.  (No it wasn't
Barney.. sigh).  I am coming to the point.  I was a little concerned
about my resolve when I saw what there was to eat.  Chips and spinach
dip. Manwich sloppy joes.  Meatballs of unknown origin.  Cake. Ice
cream.  Crackers.  Salmon dip.  And some crudite (raw vegetables). Diet
soda, beer and coffee.  See my dilemma?  Well, for the first time in my
life I wasn't even tempted!  It was easy.  I haven't lost hardly any
weight since I got really strict about 3 weeks ago, but I feel so good
that "cheating" wasn't even a consideration. I drank water, had some
celery and carrots and two hard boiled eggs pilfered from the fridge.
This is not a testimonial to my virtue but an example of what happens
when you get really serious.  I think it was easy because I gave up
coffee and artificial sweeteners.  I had convinced myself that such a
little cheat wouldn't hurt, but it did.  Since this is a support list I
thought my experience might be of interest.
P.S.  The amazing part was the amount of sugar and garbage those little
people put away in the course of one afternoon.
Beverle