All my life I have wanted to be fit, healthy and relatively good looking. 36 years on wanting it and not knowing how to get it or achieve it.

Then I made it...I lost about 170 pounds, I wear a size 10-12 (my happy curvy size).

So whats next?

I have had this goal for so long, and then it became a reality. I spent last year working every inch of the sleeve and my body to get here and I did it!!!

But now I dont know what is next?

The world really is my oyster, but I am having a hard time figuring out what I want...does anyone else wonder where to now?

Next is a trip to the US so all the guys can go nuts over your sexy new body ant extremely hot Aussie accent, while you just kick back and enjoy all he well deserved attention.

OTR I wish that was true

Spent 10 weeks in Sept/Oct last year travelling the US, bit of attention not too much.

Will be back in Feb in New Orleans for Mardi Gras, and then NYC.

Lets hope there is more attention then

I do like the US and the accents over there too

But when we (Texans) travel everyone hates our accents.

I love accents any and all but Dang if I could just lose my own.

I have a really bad country accent

But when we (Texans) travel everyone hates our accents.

I love accents any and all but Dang if I could just lose my own.

I have a really bad country accent

Wa choo tawkin bout? Texunz ain't got no aksient.

Exactly,I try tellin' people I don't but I sound exactly like that lol

Ya'll have accents but I like em

I love the Southern accent and the texan cowboy the best hehe

Git alon' lil doggie.

You know, I'm sort of questioning the same thing. I love being a mom so I half think I chose to have another little one right now so that I could put off long-term personal goals and achievements for myself! Not that I don't "achieve" something with my kids. I'm a pretty good mom and I love spending time with them. But it's not quite the same as going out there and doing something solely for me, you know?

For ten years I have followed my husband around the globe and we'll likely do the same for the next ten years. Usually I'm perfectly content with this. I enjoy our work, I enjoy the travel (though I miss the states sometimes) and I love my husband so much it doesn't really matter where we are so long as our family is together.

But there are those times when I feel like I haven't done anything "mine" in a really long time and I'm left wondering what that thing would be if I had the time/money/perfect location to do it.

I've spent so long focusing on external and internal me that I kind of lost sight of the rest of the picture. Being married and having children makes it easier for me to say, "I'm happy here and have enough." But sometimes that feeling nags...like I could do something else. What should I focus on next?

I suppose for the next five years it will be the next child! But then what?

So I understand, to some extent.

I just don't have an answer, either!

I will say that in my years of moving around/traveling I shake any accents unless I'm back in the town were I picked them up. I naturally mimic the way people around me talk - I don't mean to, it just happens. So when I'm home in the Chicago area I find after a few days that I'm talking differently. Same goes when I visit family in Texas. Can't help it! The rest of the time nobody has a clue where I'm from, and that works, too.

I have a dear Kiwi friend here and every American in the community loves her accent to bits. She always tell us, "I'm not the one with the accent - you are!"

~Cheri

Have you ever seen the movie, "The Princess Bride". My favorite character is the spaniard who is seeking his fathers killer. At some point he realizes that he has given his whole life to this pursuit... to slay the man who hurt him so badly... then when it is done... he has nothing. this is the classic "adult child of an alcoholic" that rages against that painful history but I think can sometimes apply to the formerly morbidly obese too.

The Spainiard found a new life and I guess in some way, we all need to do the same. It doesn't mean leaving your family or going crazy, but it does mean finding a life that not only feels comfortable but perhaps more importantly supports a lifetime of fitness. I don't have the answers myself but i keep finding small building blocks of happiness and contentment and adding them to the construction material for the "new life" I am building.

for me, the potential is huge. i have been stalled in my career. I think I can fix that.... I need a new career life!

Girlfriends - well, a couple of my closest ones moved away. I still have alot of friends and activity partners, but I need a bff - I am looking for one and finally actually OPEN to one.

Husband/partner - I have significant issues with mine (not weight loss related) but he is a good guy and I am trying to work them out.

Activities - man, I just don't even want to hang with the TV watching, restaurant eating crowd even though I used to be their leader...lol. I just make small choices everyday that are slowly building a different way of living.

Harsh reality is that even skinny people have to do their dishes and pay their bills - dammit and here I was hoping to be swept away like a princess once I was skinny (not really, but you know there is still that tiny fantasy of an easy life when skinny).

The main advice I give myself is to just not go nuts and radical since sometimes my ENERGY is just so huge it won't fit in my regular life. I find outlets for that energy (60 minutes of spinning is an outstanding choice for that!)

but it is still something I watch to not find a transfer addiction or something. Shopping has the potential, but I keep it in check...lol

I find myself needing multiple outlets for my energy and desire to explore the world as a skinny person - I think that as time goes on I will settle into some sort of calm and boring routine like most people...lol

I don't know...I like to think once my journey is done..and will it ever really be done until I draw my last breath... anyway...once my journey is done and since there are movie references used here I will use one too....Remember in the LOTR when Frodo, technically Golem, destroys the ring in the fires of MT. Doom and says.."it's done". I think that's how I will feel..it's done..my task is finally done..relief..great relief that my task is done. To me, I am not sure if my journey will ever be over and then what to do??? Well for damn sure..I will go back to San Antonio, TX, pay the over priced admission to Six Flags, crappiest theme park ever IMHO, and ride that damn roller coaster with or without my daughter just so I can sit down and not embarrass myself in front of 300 people waiting in line just because my fat arse wouldn't fit..and then after that...heck..I may just go to Disney because I can..that or Hawaii just because I have always wants to go there...might aloha for me..

Dang (said in my best Kentucky aksient)... I always miss the true meaning of movies. I had no idea that's what The Princess Bride was all about... I just never get it... symbolism, metaphor, all that...

Loved the movie anyway.

HaHa - first time I saw that movie was at a self discovery type seminar. Maybe the leader made it all up... but i found the characters in the fairy tale to all have their own little message. The spaniard's obsession actually mirrored some of what I was going through back then, really trying to overcome some of the pain of my childhood with a big ole chip on the shoulder... It was pretty sad when he killed the bad guy right, i mean what the heck was he going to do next? Luckily, they needed a pirate! My path was a little harder to find...

The giant - he just "did" he pushed through no matter what. The pain, the difficulty, and even if it was really worth it didn't matter... he just plodded along. How many of us have lived that way?

The sicilian - he spent so much time in his own head that even seeing the facts in front of him couldn't sway him - it was "inconceivable" that his well devised plans could somehow not be working even as he watched them fall apart. I didn't like that guy at all, but reminds me of every diet I have been on...

Buttercup who actually seemed pretty useless at times, represented true love.

Wesley of course was the hero. I believe he is intended to be the vehicle to move the story forward....lol... without a lot of special meaning but how could you not like Wesley?

I think it is a great movie too!

My favorite line still remains "Have Fun Storming the Castle!"

Dang (said in my best Kentucky aksient)... I always miss the true meaning of movies. I had no idea that's what The Princess Bride was all about... I just never get it... symbolism, metaphor, all that...

Loved the movie anyway.

Dang (said in my best Kentucky aksient)... I always miss the true meaning of movies. I had no idea that's what The Princess Bride was all about... I just never get it... symbolism, metaphor, all that...

Loved the movie anyway.

Inconceivable!!!!

HaHa - first time I saw that movie was at a self discovery type seminar. Maybe the leader made it all up... but i found the characters in the fairy tale to all have their own little message. The spaniard's obsession actually mirrored some of what I was going through back then, really trying to overcome some of the pain of my childhood with a big ole chip on the shoulder... It was pretty sad when he killed the bad guy right, i mean what the heck was he going to do next? Luckily, they needed a pirate! My path was a little harder to find...

The giant - he just "did" he pushed through no matter what. The pain, the difficulty, and even if it was really worth it didn't matter... he just plodded along. How many of us have lived that way?

The sicilian - he spent so much time in his own head that even seeing the facts in front of him couldn't sway him - it was "inconceivable" that his well devised plans could somehow not be working even as he watched them fall apart. I didn't like that guy at all, but reminds me of every diet I have been on...

Buttercup who actually seemed pretty useless at times, represented true love.

Wesley of course was the hero. I believe he is intended to be the vehicle to move the story forward....lol... without a lot of special meaning but how could you not like Wesley?

I think it is a great movie too!

My favorite line still remains "Have Fun Storming the Castle!"

Geez!! All THAT was in there?? I missed every last bit of it... sigh...

I must confess I've been obsessed and busy with this fat thing for so long that now that its almost done I often find myself wondering about the same thing.I recently decided my next "thing" (as weight was my thing) would be plastics.Started researching like crazy and then decided stop.Not to have a thing anymore.To just relax and smell the roses for at least a year.But to do everything I couldnt for so long.Go skiing.Maybe climb Mount Kilimanjaro in November,run a half marathon.Play league squash against much younger women.

I do have a little restlessness that irritates my family though.So I am taking this year to become more greatful content with my really really great life! (ok,this is the plan...lol)