Sunny - Connie
September 14, 2013
Hi! My name is Connie or Sunny on the SOP thread. I am 60 years old and I live in Henderson, Nevada with my husband. I have a strong faith in God, and I sing in my church choir and lead a women’s Bible Study group. I also enjoy reading fiction novels, movies, foreign films, Downton Abbey, antiquing, and Shabby Chic is my decorating style! I am currently unemployed and my husband, John, is a Licensed Drug and Alcohol Counselor, which he became when we moved to Nevada 17 years ago.
I grew up in Bloomington, Minnesota – a suburb of Minneapolis. John grew up in a suburb West of me. I met him just two weeks after my high school graduation at a teenage dancing place - a converted old barn painted lavender and called “The Purple Barn.” (It has long since been torn down.) In the Fall I attended college two hours away and roomed with my best friend. I only attended college for two semesters when my boyfriend (John) proposed. We both left college (he was a bricklayer working for his Dad since age 8 and attended different colleges part-time on and off. He attended my college for the winter semester to get out of the cold.) We came home, he went back to bricklaying for his Dad, and I got a full-time secretarial job. (I’ve been a Secretary/Admin Asst all my career, sometimes part-time and sometimes full-time.)
We got married that next summer in 1973, one year and one week after the day we met. I was 18-3/4 years old and he was 20. Most of the older generation, including my parents, were skeptical and concerned it would never last, with us being so young. 41-1/2 years later we are still married! All I ever wanted to be was a wife and Mom. We have two grown sons, Jason (40, Chef) and Jeremy (36, Software Engineer) who are living in Minnesota. No marriages yet, but Jeremy and his fiancée are engaged and are planning a November, 2016 wedding. They have already told me they do not want kids. Boo hoo!
After 17 years of living in the Las Vegas area, we are moving back to Minnesota in the Spring of 2015. My husband will be 62 this March and will retire. Both sides of our families are there along with our sons and we miss them all. I really thought some of the family would come to visit and fall in love with Vegas and move here, but no one ever did. We are not looking forward to the weather and the cold, but the family and all the social activities will warm our hearts. My Dad passed away last April at age 88 and now my Mom will be 90 in May, 2015, and I want to spend as much time with her as I can. (My parents were married for 63 years!) Also, my nieces and nephews are all getting married now and having babies, and I want to be around all the fun of watching those babies grow up.
I have always been non-athletic, so growing up with a thick waist, chubby arms and legs, I always felt fat, even though I weighed around 102. I really remember dieting after my first child was born, to get rid of the baby weight. I think I’ve tried every diet there is, plus WW in the 80’s. My sweet tooth and all the carby, junky snacks piled on the weight. I joined WW when I was 49 and lost 33 pounds in 13 months, then quit, thinking I could lose the last 6 pounds on my own to get to goal. We all know what happened with that! My highest weight was 180 on my home scale 4-1/2 years ago. I had to buy size 18 jeans, and believe me - at 4’10.5” – it did not look pretty. They do not make size 18 petite! So I lost 8 pounds on my own then joined WW. I didn’t take it seriously for over a year - I’d still buy bags of candy right after my WW meeting and bake sweets and eat them warm from the oven.
When WW gave us the Monthly Pass here in Vegas, online WW came with it. Tracking on etools was so easy for me and I found the Say NO to Sweets thread and joined them. They helped me lose a significant amount of weight and to learn that there IS life without sweets. I was also lurking on the SOP thread for over a year, and finally joined them on Sept. 14, 2013. I lost my last 22 pounds with them and made goal in November, 2014, and Lifetime on January 3rd, 2015. I went from that hated size 18 to a wonderful size 6! I feel great at this weight and have kept it off for 2-1/2 months. With the help of Leather and all these wonderful ladies on this thread and the Say NO to Sweets thread, I believe in myself and the empowerment I feel to choose the right foods 95% of the time! I will stay slim and I will WOW them at my son’s wedding!
2-5-15
I grew up in Bloomington, Minnesota – a suburb of Minneapolis. John grew up in a suburb West of me. I met him just two weeks after my high school graduation at a teenage dancing place - a converted old barn painted lavender and called “The Purple Barn.” (It has long since been torn down.) In the Fall I attended college two hours away and roomed with my best friend. I only attended college for two semesters when my boyfriend (John) proposed. We both left college (he was a bricklayer working for his Dad since age 8 and attended different colleges part-time on and off. He attended my college for the winter semester to get out of the cold.) We came home, he went back to bricklaying for his Dad, and I got a full-time secretarial job. (I’ve been a Secretary/Admin Asst all my career, sometimes part-time and sometimes full-time.)
We got married that next summer in 1973, one year and one week after the day we met. I was 18-3/4 years old and he was 20. Most of the older generation, including my parents, were skeptical and concerned it would never last, with us being so young. 41-1/2 years later we are still married! All I ever wanted to be was a wife and Mom. We have two grown sons, Jason (40, Chef) and Jeremy (36, Software Engineer) who are living in Minnesota. No marriages yet, but Jeremy and his fiancée are engaged and are planning a November, 2016 wedding. They have already told me they do not want kids. Boo hoo!
After 17 years of living in the Las Vegas area, we are moving back to Minnesota in the Spring of 2015. My husband will be 62 this March and will retire. Both sides of our families are there along with our sons and we miss them all. I really thought some of the family would come to visit and fall in love with Vegas and move here, but no one ever did. We are not looking forward to the weather and the cold, but the family and all the social activities will warm our hearts. My Dad passed away last April at age 88 and now my Mom will be 90 in May, 2015, and I want to spend as much time with her as I can. (My parents were married for 63 years!) Also, my nieces and nephews are all getting married now and having babies, and I want to be around all the fun of watching those babies grow up.
I have always been non-athletic, so growing up with a thick waist, chubby arms and legs, I always felt fat, even though I weighed around 102. I really remember dieting after my first child was born, to get rid of the baby weight. I think I’ve tried every diet there is, plus WW in the 80’s. My sweet tooth and all the carby, junky snacks piled on the weight. I joined WW when I was 49 and lost 33 pounds in 13 months, then quit, thinking I could lose the last 6 pounds on my own to get to goal. We all know what happened with that! My highest weight was 180 on my home scale 4-1/2 years ago. I had to buy size 18 jeans, and believe me - at 4’10.5” – it did not look pretty. They do not make size 18 petite! So I lost 8 pounds on my own then joined WW. I didn’t take it seriously for over a year - I’d still buy bags of candy right after my WW meeting and bake sweets and eat them warm from the oven.
When WW gave us the Monthly Pass here in Vegas, online WW came with it. Tracking on etools was so easy for me and I found the Say NO to Sweets thread and joined them. They helped me lose a significant amount of weight and to learn that there IS life without sweets. I was also lurking on the SOP thread for over a year, and finally joined them on Sept. 14, 2013. I lost my last 22 pounds with them and made goal in November, 2014, and Lifetime on January 3rd, 2015. I went from that hated size 18 to a wonderful size 6! I feel great at this weight and have kept it off for 2-1/2 months. With the help of Leather and all these wonderful ladies on this thread and the Say NO to Sweets thread, I believe in myself and the empowerment I feel to choose the right foods 95% of the time! I will stay slim and I will WOW them at my son’s wedding!
2-5-15