Hey there, OK, I'm a bit of a lurker on this site, but I do post occasionally, and I read a lot of the messages...so, I hope you won't be offended if I put in my 2 cents... First, let me tell you a little about me. I'm 36, was overweight from the time I was 4, NEVER was a normal weight, (the very lowest I got in grad school was 170) and have been truly addicted to food for all of my adult life. I'm 5'1", and when I went in for surgery I was at 240. After 17 months (almost) I now weigh (and have maintained for 5 months) 125. I'm 25 lbs below by surgeon's goal for me, and 5 lbs away from what is considered my "ideal body weight" (If i never get there, I don't care). OK, here's my 2 cents. Your menu for today scares me a little bit! It's a "DIET" menu, and you're not on a diet! My motto through all of this has been "I can eat ANYTHING I want, just not EVERYTHING". Don't cut out ALL of the fun snacks. If you want cheetos or something sweet, eat them. Just learn how to do it in moderation. OK, I know that is REALLY hard, and if you have a bag of chips in the house, it can be really hard not to eat the whole thing. But, if you are always depriving yourself of the things you enjoy, you are MUCH more likely to binge...not just occasionally, but more and more frequently. I know, I've been there. It's really easy to say "Well, I screwed up yesterday, so I may as well do it again today". When you start on the strict diet again, you will just end up feeling deprived, and are then more likely to fall off the wagon. Balance is key. I truly believe that I have been successful on this because I learned how to be satisfied with less. I enjoy EVERY mouthful I eat. Eating is a social thing, and I don't skip going out with friends because I have to be careful. If I eat two bites of my meal, I enjoy it, and enjoy the time with friends. If I order something that isn't great for me, I eat enough to satisfy my craving, and then ask the server to take it away!!! (Don't feel guilty about wasting the money - remember how much you used to spend on food???) If I fall off the wagon at one meal, I make up for it at the next. Sometimes you just HAVE to have pasta...or chocolate...or...whatever....my next meal will be ALL protein to help balance me out. OK, I'm done "sermonizing" now. Does what I've said make sense, or do you think I'm just crazy? Well, I hope this helps encourage you, because that truly is my only intention. We all have to do what works for us and helps us to be successful - what works for me may not be the best for you.... Let me know if you want to chat more, or hear more of my experience (I didn't even get into the whole "breaking the food addiction" thing!) Blessings to you! Kate Lawson 240/125/120

Mary Anne, So glad to hear from you and that you will be joining Rebecca and I here Hey Kudos to you for throwing that bag of chex mix away!! Hopefully by becoming supportive to one another, we can get back on track with our eating habits. I'll look forward to reading your post with you plan Take care! B

Here it is Tuesday and yes, I am tired but I did get out of bed and got a half hour workout in. If I can do this, anyone can It sometimes takes an act of congress to get me up and out of bed especially once I have fallen asleep (still have major insomnia issues). I am still...STILL able to get a nap in before work. I think it is helping me post here because I feel like I'm being accountable for something. Oh and yes...my meal plan I made yesterday, I stuck to it! NO DEVIATIONS even though I wanted to but I thought it and I wasn't hungry so I just drank a few sips of water and went about my business. Today...this is what I have planned... Breakfast Oatmeal (haven't eaten yet and I'm not hungry but I'll eat this when I get up from my nap) Snack hardboiled egg Lunch Luna Bar and some apple snack baby carrots (I didn't eat the full bag yesterday maybe three) Dinner piece of chicken snack atkins snack bar Exercise 30 minutes on stationary bike Let me know how things are going for you! We can do this!!

Thanks for joining me here Rebecca!! Thanks for not flaming me either ;) and I'm not going to say a word abot yourbad food meals either. It's so so hard to not eat the bad stuff. And bad it is..it's just crap without any nutritional value period and why do we keep reaching for it? It doesn't keep us full that's for sure. I think we just need to focus on some goals and objectives..maybe start off small..per snack? Like goal..to eliminate bad snacks each day. Obejective...to maybe have half of that bad snack and then half of a good food choice? I don't know?? I know for me it's going to have to go slow. I've incorporated so many bad things in my diet that it's going to take me awhile to get rid of them....I love popcorn (I'm sure you've noticed) and ice cream. I've done good on the ice cream part. I don't buy the tubs of ice cream like I was. I found that I would find an excuse to go and open it up and have a bite every few hours. If I buy a single serving then that's it and it's not in my house. Popcorn, I used to keep the big serving bags in the house and I would eat the entire bag. Now, I buy the single serving bags so I'm not eating serving upon serving. Movie theater popcorn is quite a challenge for me. I can't seem to resist that temptation. I'll work it on it though. I'm proud of you for making that big step of getting rid of the cookies..I'm sure that's hard!! I hope you have a good day and a great week if I don't see you here! Take care! Bridgett

Believe me, I'm not going to say a word about your bad-food meals!!! Lets see, yesterday was a typical day, food-wise. I'm never hungry, but I still want crap. Breakfast- diet green tea Lunch- diet green tea Dinner- corndog Snacks- cookies, all freaking day long! Vitamins- all Water- none, but LOTS of diet green tea! So the cookies are gone, I'm not making any more! There's no more candy, no chocolate, only Little Debbies for the kid's lunchboxes and I cant stand those, so I'm safe. If I can conquer the chocolate/sweet cravings I'll be doing better already, so that's where I'm focusing my attention. Next will be the "crappy" food craving, I'm going to try to stop eating so much processed, preservative-laden food and get us all eating better... Have a great day! Rebecca