I got on the scale today and I am so happy to see that red lobster, vodka, fried chicken, and dairy queen did not cause a weight gain and I'm actually down 2 lbs. I had so many cravings since I was on my period but I just followed them. Since we have moved to Colorado my husband has been on vacation we have been drinking vodka a lot. My cravings while drinking aren't as bad as they used to be and as soon as I eat something the craving is gone. Also when I was dieting I was surprised at everytime I quit drinking vodka I would gain weight, I think they said alcohol helps with digestion or something. We only drink at night after the kids are in bed.

Oh and Catholic- keep posting no matter how late in the day or how late in the evening it is. We love reading your post. Also I'm mountain time so it seems like when I get on late everyone is gone to bed.

Carly Congratulations on the weight loss!!!!!

Bonnie I think I read a book a couple of years ago called Intuitive Eating, don't remembe, I seem to have purchased EVERY diet book out there. I keep saying NO MORE, but I keep buying them.

I was reading some of the posts on page 7 of this thread, well in the Lightweigh group I belonged to there was a cute suggestion, first eat what you LIKE first, and save the last bite of food for your Guardian Angel, I have to tell you ladies, my angel is VERY thin!!!, but hopefully I will be able to fatten him/her up.

Have a blessed evening.

Thank you Catholic

I'm never motivated to read unless its a diet book, gossip magazine, or cosmopolitan lol. What I have noticed overtime is that if I'm not paying attention to what I am eating I can consume a lot more food then I should. If I actually focus on what I'm eating and savor every bite I end up eating a little over half my meal. I wish we had a dining room table it would make it so much easier to focus on my food vs sitting on the couch and watching tv.

I trimmed my hair today, I have been growing it out for the past year and its finally the length of my bra strap. I'm aiming for waist length hair. The trim was well overdue and my ends are thanking me right now. I also discovered this dry shampoo that works really well. I love everything that deals with hair

I LOVE this! Mine must be very thin as well. He's probably upset that I've been giving his portion to the dogs lately...

I was wondering if anyone gets annoyed when some people on diets say they IE their way to obesity? Its annoys me since there is a huge difference between IE and mindless eating. It seems like a lot of people look at IE and mindless eating as being the same concept.

I just donated a ton of diet books and diet cookbooks to the library too. They all did help some at the time though. I loved the Denise Austen ones.

I love the "eat what you like first" idea. I tend to do the opposite and try and fill up with the lowest calorie stuff first.

Hello everyone!

Just checking in to say "Hi!" Still hanging in there. Having a very busy week, not much time for posting.

Have a great one!

Bonnie, I've done that donation thing more than once. Right now I'm trying to figure out when hunger first starts. Seems that I know when I am ravenous but I can't hear the first whisper of hunger. Sometimes I get a stomach ache and wonder if that is hunger. Seems food always helps. ha!

Yes, it is frustrating, and I got tired of trying to clarify. It's one thing to say you can't do IE or you prefer calorie counting, it's another to insist it doesn't work or makes you fat. I see comments like, "Well, if *I* ate anything I felt like ..." IE is not the same thing is eating every food that crosses your mind. I've explained that, and they just don't get it. Which is kinda understandable, I mean, it does take more than one sentence to explain it. But they aren't interested if it takes more than one sentence or if I don't want to take a long time to write a post carefully explaining it. There's a reason there are books about it! Just like everything else. But next thing they're back to saying it doesn't work, instead of saying they don't know anything about it.

Sometimes it seems like a judgment - like, if you can successfully IE, well then, you just didn't have as big a problem as I did. 'm probably too sensitive. I say "feels like"; I don't want to claim to read people's minds!

Had a busy day today, my feet HURT, and will be going put them up in a bit to see who gets booted off Idol, but I wanted to check in with you all first.

Carly I am getting a hair cut in the morning, I am weighin in Saturday and need all the help I can get! I keep mine short, I need wash and go, rarely even use a blow dryer.

Katterina My "Guardian Angel" is my rat terrier named Precious Mary, she thinks the last bite idea was just the best thing ever!!

Bonnie One of the things I need to tackle in my baby steps is eating what I like FIRST and eating what I like least LAST, it's a hard habit to break, but that will be something to tackle.

Blue Serenity Waving Hi back to you!!

Well we are off tomorrow so I may get to check in during the day, if not tomorrow night. Have a blessed eveining. Tammy

Just had a thought about eating while reading, etc. I love to eat while doing other things and I know they say not to but that just seems like another rule to me that I don't enjoy. So now I'm eating my breakfast while doing this. I also like to eat in the car about once a week when I go through the drive thru on the way home from shopping.

Carol In my opinion, if you are following IE then it should not matter what you are doing while eating as long as you are hungry when you are eating and stopping when you are full.

Just got my copy of the Eden Diet, and please sweet Jesus, let this be the last diet book I will ever need or want to buy!!!!