Hi everyone....My name is Paula. I am 28 years old and currently weigh right around 240. In September of last year I weighed 278 pounds and got serious about losing weight and got down to about 215, I have gained back the 25 pounds over the last two months and it's time to get serious again.

I am working with a very good friend at my church to try to start a program through the church...we are looking at The Weigh Down Workshop, First Place or Prism and would love any suggestions concerning each.

I also know that I am going to need a lot of help on this....I did the 60 pounds by myself (with God's help of course), but have started putting that back on very quickly.

I have struggled with my weight my whole life. I now have a 4 year old daughter that goes 90 miles an hour....I can't keep up with her, when we go to the park, she goes and plays while I sit an watch...

I am also having some health problems that I think would be in better control if I had better control of my weight.

I'm not praying to be a size 6....that's not practical for me I know...I do think I could be happy in a 12 though!!

The scales themselves don't bother me that much....I don't care if I weigh 500 pounds, if I can fit that 500 pounds into a size 12 dress at Talbot's!!

Hi Paula.

I have done the Weigh Down Workshop and the First Place and really both of them were good. I was just not motivated at the time to do anything about my weight. I guess I really liked the Weight Down better because you could get tapes to listen to in your car. I believe the First Place had more scripture to learn and memorize. It has been a long time since I did them. But if you are really motivated to lose, any plan you use should work.

I have lost 22 pounds by exercising and counting calories. This has worked for me so far but sometimes I just get so tired of having to count calories. But I take it one day at at time. Oh, I have also been to Overeaters anonymous and found that very helpful too but I did not like the fact that they do not weigh in. I really need accontability by weighing in every week. I enjoyed Weight Watchers but did not enjoy the expense! So I decided to do it "on my own". I have found this place very helpful and encouraging for me. I just wish I had more time to read all the posts and reply more often than I do! I wish you luck and enjoy this site. It is really neat!

Betty