A little late but I hope everyone had a decent Xmas Season this year. It was a year of major (and unexpected) change for me in that I lost 100 pounds since the end of February of 2012. I had become a member of a Weight Management program that would have ultimately led to Lap-band surgery to lose weight. To make a long story short, I did so well losing weight on my own (I had to lose 5% of my total mass as part of a qualification to the program) that when the program reached its end, I had lost about 40 pounds and decided to just continue what I was doing as opposed to getting the operation (there were only a limited number of such operations available per year for this situation and there are more people wanting them than can have them). Anyway, since then I have reached my mid-term goal of losing 100 pounds and in the New Year will continue on to losing the second 100 pounds I need to shed. BTW, I started the program weighing in at 437 pounds.  Now, I can sit in normal sized chairs, walk, stand for appreciable amounts of time; things ordinary people do every day but don't think anything about it.
   I was effectively crippled for about 10-15 years (of my own doing; I don't shirk the responsibility there) but after I hit 50 years old, I realized that I might not reach 60 if I didn't do something about it right away.
   Anyway, there's your not-so-short story so far.