Thanks for the link JayEll. Even though it was a study of only 78 women, I'd like to point out that "At the start and end of the study, total cholesterol and systolic blood pressure were in the normal range for all the women." --Gasp! 45yr old Obese women with normal cholesterol and bp? With all the hyperventilating about the obesity epidemic, I wouldn't have thought any existed.

Sorry, OT...sometimes I just feel myself needing to take a step back from the weight loss hysteria. Don't get me wrong, I like counting calories...maybe I just need to remind myself that I'm doing this for my own reasons, not bc some bureaucrat in a lab coat somewhere is telling me I'm "too fat." /vent.

I believe that one of the reasons I am succeeding in ways I've never done before is taking the focus off the scale. By being health-focused, instead of weight-focused, I've given up crazy ways to lose weight (such as the all-fruit diet, or as I came to call it, the diarrhea diet).

My weight loss is much slower than it's ever been before, but I really only gave myself one hard-rule "no backtracking." This winter, I wasn't able to meet that promise, because of a bout of pneumonia. Several courses of steroids (pills and inhalers), and antibiotics, and the physical stress of the pneumonia set me back in strenght and endurace, and I gained about ten pounds. During the illness, physical activity was understandably limited, but I didn't realize how much strength and endurance I had lost because of the illness. "Use it or lose it," really has even more meaning for me.

It was pretty demotivating to feel like I was "starting over." Losing the small amount of weight gain was the easy part. Rebuilding my activity level has been a lot harder. I'm just now starting to feel like I'm getting back to the ability level I had before the illness. My doctor had said that it could easily take me six months or more to recover completely, and I have to admit I thought he was exagerating. It's been about five months, so I guess he was more on target than I gave him credit for.

ForestRoad, great point--I second that vent! And I had to smile at seeing Kate Harding linked here. :-)

I have lost almost 30 pounds counting calories. I am able to eat whatever I want and the funny thing is, is that I am making healthy choices and don't miss the junk at all. I am able to go off plan occasionally (like a summer cookout) and get right back on when it's over. It has TOTALLY WORKED FOR ME!!!

I use an app on my iPod touch called Lose It!!! It's GREAT!!! Check it out!!!