4. Study Up. Before you lift a toe, do some legwork. "You can learn about nutrition and diets on Web sites like howstuff works.com or through books like Nutrition for Dummies," says Bob. Preparation helps you train wisely, too. "You can'tjust jump into an exerciseprogram without knowing wehat your doing," says Jillian. "At best you'll waste your time; at worst you could get injured." Find a beginner class or trainer to teach you the nuts and bolts. Or use books, fitness magazines, and videos. "Crunch Fitness puts out some awesome books that show all the basics," she says. "including Beginner's Luck, by Brad Halmer, and Perfect Posture, by Scott G. Duke."

My thoughts: I have always believe that preparation and knowledge are key to being successful at losing weight.

Your thoughts??

Yep.Did that. Also talked to people here.

didn't do it as much as I should have probably. I joined Curves because I wanted to lose, and heard really good things about them. My first workout was supervised and then they leave you on your own.

the diet- it was supervised. I started the Low Carb Curves diet plan and met every Tuesday for 6 weeks with other women.

Then I found out about this...

You know I really don't think this is a problem for most overweight people. I'll bet we are all supremely knowledgable about fitness and nutrition, it is a matter of putting that theory into practice is where we fall flat.

I agree with Jen. I know most of us here, have looked into tons of ways to lose weight and exercise. I know for me a lot of it is trial and error--finding the things I enjoy doing and stopping the ones I don't.

Ditto to Jen and Dawnyal. I think that overweight people are often the most knowledgable about weight-loss. Now that's irony!

I have to agree with Jen, Dawnyal and Apryl. By the time I had reached my highest weight I had read every type of book on nutrition and diet. By the time I reached my highest weight I wasn’t in any condition to do anything but the basic walks, which every doctor will tell, you is one of the best exercises you can do. And while I worked my way down the scales I had the time to learn more about other exercise programs to incorporate in my day-to-day weight loss journey.

Melissa