Spark people was a huge help to me in learning how to get the weight off. I have hypothyroidism so it is doubly hard. I'm not using them now, but I do keep a food diary. That is the most consistent thing you are going to here from people who have lost weight: they keep a food diary. Just knowing you have to write it down when you swallow it is a huge help. and you need to be willing to write it down immediately too, not at the end of the day. Too many things get forgotten that way. I have a food diary that goes back to last July. I print it out every month. I don't even expect it will ever get read by anyone. Here is a sample: 3-17-09: [165.1] 9am: 2 oranges. 10:30am 6 oz. baked ckn, 4 oz baked sweet potato, 6 oz steamed cabbage. Like others, I'm became a complete sugar/empty carb/ white flour addict when I quit smoking. I just changed addictions. So that is an all-or-nothing thing with me, and I had to go with 'nothing'. I don't have it in the house. I also don't use any sugar substitutes because they are worse than sugar (most of them) and ALL of them set up the same chain reaction in your body that sugar does. What is surprising is that you really can get used to having a life of no sweetener except what is naturally found in fruits & veggies. I second the comment about how your cloths fit. Muscle is heavier than fat and is a boon to good metabolism, so you have the hardest part under control. I WISH I could exercise like that. Half is won't, half is can't. Between worn out knees and weak wrists, and general age & wear, there is a lot of exercising I just can't do. Even more that I won't lol. Go to sparkpeople.com. It's free and is the greatest place on the web for all kinds of support and education. Another good site is radiantrecovery.com (I think. Google it if not) where they can help you detox from sugar. Don't give up, you've got more than half the battle licked, being as active as you are. j

Me too. This is my 40th year (Will turn 40 in Nov 2007) and I really want to get back in shape. DS#2 is almost 3 years old and I still haven't lost weight after the pregnancy. It's been much harder this time compared to my first pregnancy 11 years ago. I am short (5'2") and small built and I really look like a ball right now :-(. I'm not officially overweight according to the doctor's chart but I know I am because I just don't feel good at all. My goal is to lose 15 lbs before Nov. I've had a hard time losing any weight at all for the last 2 years. Here is what I've started since new year: Watch everything I eat. NO JUNK FOOD. Cut carbs and increase protien(very hard since I'm vegeterian). I'm also exercising atleast 4 days a week - weights, toning, aerobics. I got my whole family to help me this time. DS#1 does toning exercise with me. DS#2 likes to dance with the aerobics (very funny!). DH "reminds" me to exercise if I'm too lazy or if I open the bag of chips to snack :) He is also trying some creative recipes to work in more protiens in a veggie diet. So far in 10 days I've lost just over a pound. Will keep you updated. I feel good reading about your success stories. Vasu

rob333 it really is that simple 12 flights! That's awesome!! I usually try to fill out my food log in the morning for the whole day. That way I can see what fits my plan before I eat it. (there's a mobile app too) If somebody treats cupcakes, I will look at my food diary and see what I want to give up to eat it - or not eat it. I usually decide it's not worth it. (a Panera vanilla cupcake is 450 calories - I can eat a whole meal for that - or walk 6 miles to make up calories. But the idea is to burn more than I eat, so....) I fully expect this to someday be a normal habit. As it is right now, I do put a good deal of thought and energy into planning. I usually walk 2 miles on my lunch break and if weather is bad, I go up and down the back set of stairs at work for 20 minutes. I usually put on a t-shirt and change back before I sit down again. I try very hard to not eat back any exercise calories. Another bonus is I am definitely more fit and firm in all the right places! So far it is working for me.

Very depressing middle of the week. First, I had to "purge" for a colonoscopy. So on Wed. I only was allowed to drink, and my calorie intake was under 300. Then the day of the procedure, I only ate 916 calories, so my two-day total was just over 1200. And yet when I stepped on the scale this morning, I had gained almost two pounds, erasing almost three weeks of dieting. I know it is just a temporary spike, but of all times, this would not seem to be the day I would spike like that. It is also depressing that weeks of dieting can be erased in two days. Imagine if I had eaten a lot those two days! It just drives home the point to me that it is going to be very difficult for me to lose a lot more weight and keep it off. I'm happy I stopped gaining and my clothes still fit, but I really wanted to lose about ten more lbs . . . and keep it off. It's clearly not my calorie consumption . . . I also got depressing news on the gut end. Well actually not just the end, the whole GI system. I have acid reflux, even though I had no symptoms, but it has affected my esophagus. I have gastric ulcers (probably payback from using so much NSAIDs for migraine) and diverticulosis. So my diet is going to have to be even more restricted. I am very hesitant to start taking acid reducing pills every single day. It seems so extreme. But I can't imagine limiting my diet much more. Well, for now, out totally with caffeine and alcohol, no spicy foods, but tomatoes onions and garlic? I don't eat huge amounts of them, but I love Italian and other Mediterranean food and they are pretty ubiquitous for that . . . The treatment for diverticulosis is to eat more fiber, which I can hardly imagine since I eat whole grains and beans and vegetables and fruit every single day . . . more greens, boo rah! I love greens thankfully. It's just one more frustrating thing in my life.