'He wrapped himself in quotations …'

At least that's what Rudyard Kipling said, although I don't know to whom he was referring.

There were a couple great motivational quotes posted in the comments yesterday … be sure to check them out. I love reading quotes; the one that greets me every morning from the bulletin board above my computer reads:

Everything works out in the end.
If it's not working out,
it's not the end.

I like quote books, too, and ours run the gamut from the big Bartlett's compendium to Byrne's 1,911 Best things anybody ever said to The Music Lover's Quote Book. On my nightstand is a slim volume called The Change-Your-Life Quote Book. I swear to God I used to have a book of quotes about food. You're not at all surprised, are you? That was back in the Dark pre-Internet Ages, when writers had to Look Things Up in Books, and I was writing a Valentine's Day food article for a magazine.

[Interesting that I can remember so specifically why I had that book in the first place. Good thing the Spousal Equivalent is a shrink. There's lots of analytical fodder there!]

I used to have a ThinkExist daily changing quote box in the sidebar. ThinkExist is a great quote site, and you can organize your quotes into 'books' by topic. When you add quotes to your blog or website, you can choose which book to use; mine was supposed to be from my Accomplishing Goals book.

I never changed the settings, but things would go a little wacky from time to time. The last time was one too many times, and I took the code off my blog template. I could just pop over there every week or so and grab a quote to post here. Maybe on Fridays … something to think about over the weekend, when everyone's health-and-fitness rules seem to go out the window.

Another quote site I'll be mining is BrainyQuote, which I found by reading the comments on this blog. I haven't gone back to read everything yet, but this group blog seems to have a large readership and lots of support. [And they linked to me! I have no idea who these brilliant women are, but thank you!]

Vickie [thanks for reading and commenting, Vickie!] recommended the book Thin for Life when it's time to think about maintenance. C'mon now, show of hands: How many of you have this book on your shelf already? It was originally published in 1994, and reprinted in 2003. I have the earlier version; perhaps I should have read it more carefully the last time I lost a significant amount of weight.

I lost 47 pounds in 1997, getting down to a low of 128, which lasted about five minutes. I stayed at 135 for quite a while, and then started packing all those pounds plus more back on. How many times have we read and heard about people doing this? How many times have we done it ourselves?

This is my third significant trip down the weight-loss path. I've said it before and I'm sure I'll say it again:

I never want to lose this weight again!

You can absolutely bet money on my rereading Thin for Life. And perhaps using the line above as my new daily quote, posted on the pantry and refrigerator, thankyouverymuch.

Another thing I'll keep reading are weight-loss blogs. Especially the ones where the bloggers are actually losing weight or maintaining a loss. My favorites are in the sidebar, and I'd love to hear about others you enjoy.

Finally, I hope to continue blogging myself. I commented on an e-mail list yesterday that blogging about my struggles has been as helpful as anything else I'm doing. Of course the weight wouldn't be coming off if I weren't exercising and hadn't discovered the key to eating properly for me. But you know what's been said about sharing the good and the bad in your life:

“A sorrow that's shared is but half a trouble, but a joy that's shared is a joy made double.”