Hi, I have a similar problem in that I only need to lose about 15 pounds, but am having difficulty doing it. When I quit smoking, I gained about 10 lbs and my appetite increased. Bummer! I also recommend the fitday.com web site. When I started tracking everything I was eating on that site, I realized that I was having a chocolate-covered caramel after lunch and dinner, which added about 110 calories to my daily amount, plus my daily glass or wine or bottle of beer. Bob Greene, Oprah's health and exercise guru is very emphatic about cutting out alcohol while you are trying to lose weight. When Lent started, I gave up alcohol and any sweets or desserts. Guess what - I started losing weight! I also exercise on the treadmill about 4 or 5 times a week. Plus DH and I have cut back on our portions and we have become used to the smaller portions and are not hungry. I do get hungry for a snack in the evening, so I either eat 2 or 3 pretzel sticks (the oat ones), a dill pickle, a small apple or the 100 calorie cheez-it packs. I would definitely replace the frosted mini-wheats with the Shredded Wheat and Bran cereal. You don't need that extra sugar. I would check the nutrition informatin in the granola bars, too. Sometimes the so-called healthy snacks are filled with sugar and fat. Wherever possible replace white bread, pasta, etc. with the whole wheat versions. They are healthier (also better for weight loss) and I think they taste better, too. I wouldn't replace your dinner meal with a salad, you will not satisfy your hunger. Protein is the thing that really gives one that full feeling. I know that if I have eggs for breadfast, I don't get hungry until early afternoon, whereas if I eat cereal, I get hungry mid-morning. So do you eat eggs and cheese? Cheese can be high in fat and calories, though, but it is a good source of protein for vegetarians. If possible, I would add fish to your diet. Some vegetarians do eat fish, I'm not sure if you do or not. Keep up the exercise. Is it possible to do it in the morning? That seems to be more beneficial for weight loss, but if after work is the only time for you, that's fine. Exercise increases the metabolism which helps your body to burn calories more efficiently. Good luck.

lydia -- the 100+ food Elisa test sounds very interesting. I may give that a try, eventually. I'm convinced that I have quite a few food allergies. I used to throw up when I was given white milk as a child. Never drank any once my mother figured out the cause. Except in elementary school when I was forced by a teacher and I threw up. Funny how I was able to drink chocolate milk, though. I read later (as an adult) that in fact the chocolate in chocolate milk reduces the allergic reaction. Anyway, regarding food allergies, I know I'm sensitive to wheat though I'm not a celiac. I am also sensitive to dairy. (Ask me why I can't give up my goatsmilk yoghurt, this is the last frontier for me, hope to give it up eventually.) I subscribed to the test at http://www.enterolab.com/ which is where I got the results about wheat and dairly. The test was expensive. I think over $300.00. Glad I did it though. Sounds like the Elisa test may give you the same results plus some. This food allergy thing is tricky, I think. One of our dogs now it seems has food allergies. I asked the vet to test and she said that testing for food allergies is not very reliable (for dogs). I wonder if this is true for humans? A food elimination diet was the only thing she could recommend plus eating only a particular type of dog food that was "engineered to have a small enough molecule size so it doesn't trigger the allergic reactions" (her words). I was amazed and am wondering if raw food has "smaller molecules" than cooked food, HA, HA. Perhaps moite's methods that she got from her doctor about measuring her pulse rate may be the best way. I'm going the simple route with this raw food diet (for now) because it meets many other needs also. I had a great day yesterday. I went the whole day without the "wave of tiredness" that comes over me every day after lunch. I hope it wasn't an anomaly. Bad news is that with the raw food diet, there is a "detox phase" initially where some claim that you are ridding your system of toxins. The detox phase can produce acne which is what I just got yesterday. I haven't had a pimple on my face for many years but I have two now. Oh well. If my energy level stays good, I'll have to add that as one more reason why I'm glad I found this diet. I was craving cooked food day before yesterday but managed to get by without it. Hopefully those days will get less in number. This was kind of like craving a cigarette after quitting, as I remember it many years ago. Keep us posted about your food allergies. I'm becoming more and more convinced that for some of us, they are literally killing us or are reducing our quality of life (for some of us) to a very very large extent producing chronic problems and diseases that mainstream medicine doesn't have a clue. In my case, I definitely feel like I've become a guinea pig for trying out different "cures". I'm hoping that raw food will by my answer. I realize that because there is no definite proof, I could be wrong on this but as my DH says, it's gotta be better than being so overweight and hungry all the time. We were killing ourselves eating cooked food so how could this be any worse.

Well this is timely as I'm having a colonoscopy tomorrow morning. I've been limiting my food intake since mid-January so I think that helped. I am used to eating less. I don't usually eat at night but I ate a turkey sandwich before bed last night. I wasn't going to bed hungry. Today I ate sugar-free lemon jello, white cranberry juice, sodium-free chicken bouillon, and tea (I can't drink black coffee). I sucked on hard candy too. I had to drink half-lytely which was a half gallon. That is the part you should be worried about - it was nasty! Took me over two hours and I still tossed about 2/3 cup at the end. I was gagging by then. The outcome itself wasn't that bad - there wasn't much to flush out. I'm not really hungry right now and I can't sip another drop of liquid either.

What a healthy group we are! I can't eat right away, but I need caffeine right away. Cup of black tea with a dash of milk. Then, depending on my schedule, it might be 20 minutes or an hour later, I have one of the following, depending on how much time I have: One piece whole grain toast w/ PB. If I have this, I usually also have a banana later in the morning. Or, I have a banana before I exercise, then have the toast later. About a cup of 2% greek plain yogurt, topped with a drizzle of honey and a lot of berries. (Discovered this breakfast at my hotel in London in April and became addicted.) Sometimes sprinkle sliced almonds on top. Scrambled egg or omelet, sometimes w/ one piece of toast. Occasionally, a Think Thin bar.