Thank you stella, I will look that forum up. You have always answered my questions and commented on my posts. I really appreciate that!

it's not that your post was annoying, I was just wondering how realistic you're being. like, do u have a plan? you're absolutely right, all you can do is experiment and find what's right for you. and i feel ya, I'm 20lbs from my goal weight and i feel gross too. It's not comfortable having extra weight.

another thing that helped me early on was deciding that i like that hungry feeling. which sounds weird... but i've always hated that so-full-i'm-going-to-vomit feeling, and i used to get it all too often. so i decided one night, early on, not to feed the hungry feeling. it's a personal little accomplishment when I can go to the movies and resist the popcorn even if i'm hungry, and then make a healthy choice later. bc it's a choice and i'm in control. ya know? instead of focusing on 'wow this sucks' i've started to focus on 'i soo rock bc of this'.

keep going, don't give up, and you will get there! but it isn't easy. it's a conscious choice each time.

I know that as someone who was really overweight I had wiggle room to eat and drink out sometimes... I think the featherweights would have better advice for someone of your starting weight

I know that I personally can have an off plan weekend and still lose weight...

I also avoided situations sometimes because of the temptations because I'm just not always strong enough to put the friggin cookie down.

Its a battle...it never ends...if you want to adopt a new lifestyle it will be the rest of your life... I stopped calorie counting because I got crazy, obsessive...the numbers didn't help my OCD and I'm still losing weight... although I add stuff up in my head sometimes I'm not a crazy person anymore... Healthy people go out and eat like rabbits sometimes... healthy people dont stuff their face with the hugest meal ever and healthy people still enjoy drinks and dessert sometimes... balace is where I think you will find happiness

Aww thanks Haley and Shasha. Honestly both of your posts really helped. I totally agree with you Shasha with the hungry feeling. When you feel hungry, you feel skinny. When you feel so stuffed youre going to throw up, you feel huge. I guess I just let the obsession of it all get to me. I need to relax. Haley is right when she says I need balance. This is just what I needed to start off my weekend! I CAN do this and will do it Thank you again!

I feel 100% better eating healthy, whole foods than i do when i eat junk foods. I have more energy, I'm more focused, and I smile more. I think I'm generally a better person to be around.

I still have quite a bit of weight to lose, but I like the challenge. I like coming up with new recipes and new workouts.

Diane- I can relate to you. I have about 15 lbs to lose and feel like it is hard to be happy when I don't have any wiggle room in my diet. But I do go out. I just drink light beer or flavored vodka and club soda. It is beyond hard to pass up the free pizza and fried food at happy hour and the yummy foods my coworkers can always eat and never gain weight.

But I noticed that on days when I would give in and just eat crappy all day, I was happy that day but always regretted it and ended up feeling even more depressed later than I do when I am dieting. It is funny.. when I am dieting and restricting and hungry I am a million times happier than when I end up ruining my diet and overeat until I want to pop.

For me, it is trying to learn that the long term pay off is soo much more rewarding than the instantaneous taste of that cookie or brownie. I have never once regretted passing up a temptation or going to the gym when I really don't want to, but I always regret giving in and ruining my diet for the day.

We can do this... it isn't worth that brownie! Keep us posted!