Hi everyone!

I'm a 23 year old grad student (I feel like I've been in school forever!) and during high school and college, the weight has just started to creep on thanks to long days in the lab/classes and nights at the library. It's not that I don't have time to eat healthy really, just that it takes planning since I take all of my meals for the day to school and eat there. Also, I'm quite poor right now since I'm only living off of loans and scholarships! So I've gotten up to 162...ack...and am hoping to get back to at least 140. I tend to yo-yo and I must have lost and gained back this same 20 pounds at least 5 times so far! I know it's not too terribly much, but I'm here for motivation and ideas because I have been unsuccessful on my own for quite a while now!

Hi Cindy!

Well this is the place for support and understanding! You'll love it here! Just make time to post, or try and read through the forums. We all understand! Planning is going to be a great component for you. This is your only life, so make 15 extra minutes to put your meals together. You are important, you should do this for yourself! Calorie counting might work good for you in the beginning, you can plan your meals and stick to a certain calorie # everyday. Also trying to add more veggies and fruits to your day instead of other snakcs definitely helps.

This website is very helpful for food lists and snack ideas: www.hungrygirl.com

Well I just wanted to welcome you to the site! We know you can make this goal a reality! A great book to check out of your local library is The Fat Smash Diet. It's a super easy read- and very basic plan to follow. You usually lose 10 lbs in the first 10 days. It's a great healthy eating plan. But really no matter what diet/healthy eating you pick, its up to you and what you think will be best.

Welcome, Cindy!

As well as support here for weight loss, there are lots of great sites that can give you ideas about living/eating frugally.
The Dollar Stretcher is one that comes to mind:
http://www.stretcher.com/stories/06/06oct30c.cfm

As Jill said, planning is everything, and you don't have to spend a lot of time doing it. But you do have to do it.

Best wishes to you!

Thanks!! You guys had some great tips. I already found some ideas on the Dollar Stretcher website. I also looked into the Fat Smash diet and it seems relatively intuitive and like something that I can follow without having to obsess over it...I think I will give it a try!

I love this website already