Thank for the warm welcome
Gidget--I wish you the best on your Ip Protein Diet. I haven't used that one. I did Atkins (for a few weeks) years ago and I remember it physically hurting and feeling really dizzy. That was befere they overhauled it and it was absolutely zero carbs. Is IP like that?
gidgetonsweets--I hope the WW works for you. I absolutely love it. I actually did WW a little over a year ago for several months and was really having good results. Then, I tore up my knee and was off my feet for weeks, then surgery. I totally weenied out and am back to it now.
I am following some lifestyle changes with the whole foods. They are very simple. I am accustomed to a lof of pre-prepared and package food so it sounded really hard, but I am finding it to be easier than I thought. Here it is: no more simple starches, no refined sugar, no milk, no artifical sweeteners (stevia excluded) and no eating after dinner til breakfast. I have a couple of books that go into the scientific reasons that these are the things that made me fat and keep me there. They were referred to me by my father who is diabetic and was having a rough time with it (I am not diabetic, but its only a matter of time at this rate). He used (is using) this system and lost 57 lbs in 6 months so I ordered the books.
Diabetes Without Drugs and
Cure Diabetes in 30 Days.+ I am not following the book to the letter at all, just using the premises. The books called for a no carb diet for 10 days. After 1 1/2 days of that I felt horrible--like I was getting the Flu. I did dome research and found that people with thyroid dysfunction should not do no-carb. They actully need some to function normally.
So, I cut out anything with white flour including durum wheat and semolina (unless the package says
100% whole wheat), white rice, potatoes (sweet, yams, and purple potatoes in limited amounts I left in), milk and milk products (real cheese is OK), and refined sugar. this sounds hard, but really I just cleaned out my cupboards and made a trip to Whole Foods. They have scads of alternatives, most of which have turned out to be really good! its more expensive for each item--no doubt, but I am buying less. So much better tasting than I had imagined. I am eating things like brown rice pasta,flax bread, whole wheat ravioli, fresh-frozen fruit smoothies sweetened with stevia, omelettes with one egg yolk and a couple of whites that taste just as good as traditional ones. I have also started walking every other day for 30 minutes and am working up to more. If you want to consider doing this check out your local Whole Foods or other health foods store. Just browse and pick up a few things to try. That is how I am starting. You will probably be surprised at how far they have come from wheat germ and granola (not to knock either of thos things). If you want to follow how I'm doing with this you can check out my blog at 200poundstogo.blogspot dot com.
Just jumped in the water--glad I'm not alone :)
. FYI A candy monster needs sweets to survive. My start weight is 250. In my old world weekends are for eating, drinking and partying. I will need to replace my old weekend habits with new ones and I am looking forward to doing so. 
