Hi!
 

Are you taking any herbal supplements? I've lost two stone in the last two months by counting calories, taking Acai Berry capsules and walking briskly for an hour and a half each day. Not starving either. Eat 1200 calories spread over five meals and not eating carbs after 2pm.

Good Luck with the weight loss. I have never been one that has had any success with the fad diets myself. I recently decided that I needed to lose 60 lbs. (this would get me out of the obese classification) I also decided that I was going to do this before my 30th birthday. I recently found this great site that teaches you how to change your relationship with food. I am an emotional eater so this was good for me. I eat with every ebb and flow of emotion. Happy, sad, stressed, bored... whatever I want to eat. Well with learning what this site has taught me and following their program I have lost 19.5 lbs and 15.5 inches in 30 days. Which for me means that I am 1/3 of the way to my goal... which is in October. If I can do it!! So can you. I run my own business out of my house and spend a fair amount of time on the computer, sitting..... I added just a little bit of exercise to my routine and have found great success!! If I can do it.... so can you!!!

ann--you don't have to be hungry--if you can post a two day food journal it would really help us help you---You CAN do this..I started my own journey in May '08...

Hi there.. sometimes we feel like this journey is too big.. a lot of people here break it down into small goals.. five pounds at a time.. I find that helps..

also, there are a few things that I find help with my weight loss.. 30 mins of exercise every day.. I use the Walk Away the Pounds DVD.. its amazing.. only 30 mins and I can do it every day in my pajamas while my kids watch sesame street.

Then for food, I try and stick to whole foods as much as possible.. when I started using some of the products with aspartame it slowed my weight loss.. and not eating any breads/pasta/rice after dinner..

Water is very helpful too.. I'm not so good at that but it when I do drink a lot of water it makes a difference too.

Good Luck and keep us updated.

Ann I would be more than ecxited to jump on board with you and loose the weight together...I am wanting to drop about 50lbs as well before august. My husband is coming home from being deployed in the Horn of Africa

Hi Ann - how have you been doing?

I started a few weeks ago with a similar goal - although mine is between 30 and 40 pounds by that date.

And I've always felt frustrated - that dieting and my weight is some sort of mystery thing - and hated calorie counting, but I've found this time with the use of an online fitness log (I use Fitday but there are many different ones out there) that lets me track calories, activity and nutrition it's all working exactly like "they say". I've been losing exactly with my target.

The rule of thumb is that to lose 1 pound you have to burn 3500 calories more than you take in. So you can see that's a lot - anything more than 1.75 lb a week may just be too extreme. You won't be eating enough nutrition to keep you walking upright and healthy. The tool I use lets me determine how many calories I naturally burn with a sedentary lifestyle, and then choosing a date and how many pounds I want to lose it shows me what my daily deficit needs to be (in my case 972 calories a day) and what my diet needs to be (again, for me 1280 calories). If I exercise it's more of a bonus (then I can have that glass of wine if I want ;-). Because there are days I just feel I can't drag myself out of bed, much less go for a long walk. All I have been doing is one good 45 minute walk with the dog every morning - another fifteen minute one in the afternoon (that one is a stroll). And then every third day or so I do about 15 minutes of dumbbells and yoga stretches. Oh, and don't forget housework counts! An hour and a half of moderate household tasks can burn like 341 calories! I no longer dread washing the car...and I discovered giving my partner ah hour body massage burns similarly!! Now that's good for both of us ;-)

I have set goals for myself to add in more activity as I lose weight - tennis, yoga classes, swimming, learning to run. The awesome thing is even those days I gain weight (yeah, I weigh daily - I want to see the patterns) I "know" it's water weight because the numbers don't lie. Emotion no longer controls my feelings that I'm failing.

But that's for me - I have a friend doing points and Weight Watchers and it works great for her. You have to find your own unique solutions I think...

And 8 lbs is a lot! My fav trick is to go get 8 lbs of something and carry it around for a bit. Then put it down when you get tired. That's exactly what you aren't carrying around anymore :-)

Oh and about being hungry - I've been a little hungry, but try to keep calories aside for things like apples and oranges. High fiber things give you more bang for your buck so to speak. You can also try things like "fullbars" or the equivalent (they are expensive but seem to get decent reviews).

Very best wishes to you! Feel free to email me if you have any questions or just want more support. I'm in there with you!

:hug:

PS - Almost to ten lbs - I have a cute hulu girl ticker on a beach but can't add it for like 20 days, sigh.

wow, how good are you guys at motavitation i feel like i can really succeed this time i've lost 8lbs and feel good i did have a shaky start and i must admit i was on the verge of quitting, but then i took a throat infection and realised that it was'nt food i wanted becos i was hungery i wanted it becos i felt down but then i logged in and read all your wonderful replys and i know i can do it and my hubbie now knows that a bar of chocolate is not the answer to all my ills' in fact he has joined me on my quest to shed the pounds he's lost 7lbs i can now vioce my worries and feelings about my weight and i think he now sees where i'm coming from so today i'm mentally thin and i hope that i will soon start seeing myself physically thin ,one day .

Definately go to gym, not only for the exersize, but for the time-spend too. Also a hobby might help. I find it that I eat less when I keep busy. It is the boring moments infront of computer or TV that make me slip towards the fridge.
Other than that, jsut follow the basic rules:

Eat meals, every 3 hours
Eat nothign between meals!!
pick healthy choises

if you only do that, it is actually difficult to eat too much. And if you get a graving (that I am sure you do at some point), just wait for your next mealtime and THEN fufill the graving. It is possible that the graving is gone by then. And even if not, you can afford a piece of cake or a pastry as your meal. As long as you sit down for it, have it from a plate and enjoy it as a meal. Sophisticated european style. :)

Keeping to mealtimes and portioned eating, and giving away snacks between meals is the key.

hanging in there 8lbs lighter but a little frustrated that its taking so long but i have a goal and it's longer about being 50lbs lighter but more about feeling good about myself and getting a bit of cheer back into my life becos i feel i just got stuck in a rut and i don't laugh as much as i used to, i used to enjoy a good laugh especially with my husband ,he can be great fun, but i think i just smile now and i know i have to change that. isn't it strange that you don't notice these things until you really stop and think about. so heres to laughter

Ladies I completely know how you feel!!! I know how frustrating it is to lose the weight. I started out at 202 and am down to 181 in just a matter of 6 weeks. I have also lost 15.5 inches. The other day my hubby told me that my hiney was getting smaller and he wasnt sure that he liked that ( my hiney is my WORST feature!!!) So that got me motivated even more! Get rid of the Hiney!! I found this great program online that I have started and stuck to. My goal is to lose another 40 lbs before October. Which is my 30th birthday. I also want to look good for my step sons high school graduation. I have always considered myself young. But to be around all of those skinny girls.. not looking forward to it!

What is a hiney?

Hiney: aka hind quarters, rump, bottom, tuckus, tushie, badonkadonk, booty, junk in your trunk, rear end, bum...:D
Kira

danced my way through my house work and feel great
 

:dancer::broc: " I FEEL GOOD DODIDODIDO"
Had a great day today my son bought me a mp3 player for mothers day last month and today i used it and boy i haven't enjoyed house work so much there was i dancing around, making beds, hoovering, doing laundry and singing on top of my voice(apologies to the neighbours) and when i'd done i hopped on my exercise bike for 30 minutes and it really is true exercise makes you feel good. even my husband commented in how much better my mood was today (been having a few mood swings lately must be getting old) but today i feel on top of the world and happy mummy=happy family so my tip for today is dance and sing whenever and where ever you are it has worked wonders for me so all together now" I FEEL GOOD DODIDODIDO":dancer::dancer: