Today I did something I thought I'd never do. I gathered all of my diet books, put them in kitchen bags, and drove them down to my local library to donate them. I didn't realize how much I've been hoarding those books until I started hauling the bags in my car - 5 trash bags full!

Most of the books were bought within the last 2 years, which tells you what I've been going through with "diet hopping" in the last few years. High carb/low fat, low carb/high fat, raw food diet, Clean Eating Diet, Eat To Live diet, McDougall diet, Schwartzbein Principle diet... my head is spinning!!! Did I really get that obsessed with diets???

I think I've had some breakthrough of sorts that began a week ago. I went through 4 weeks of training for a new job plus doing full-time work, very high stress. I was already planning at that point to do a 14 week challenge just eating a raw vegan diet (all raw fruits and veggies, nuts and seeds, avocados). I thought having a big online support group would finally bring me success in taming my binge eating and help me lose these 35 pounds I gained in the last 2 years. The combination of the end of the 4 week training (which I passed) and the upcoming "diet" launched me into a 4 day planned binge. I was miserable the whole time but I just couldn't seem to stop myself.

On Monday, I started the raw diet and did fine for 4 days and then something just clicked. I dug into my closet and pulled out two cookbooks of vegan meals for one person. Looking at the cookbook, I thought, "these recipes sound really good and easy and balanced - and they're not a DIET, but NORMAL food (i.e., protein, grains, etc)."

So I'm now going to try an approach that terrifies me but that I've never done - just making simple meals, balanced meals, not thinking about calories or foods or nutrients. I'm not going to limit anything (except animal products which aren't a limitation to me, since they don't tempt me) and I'm not going to weigh myself or think about weight. I know that will come if I stop thinking in terms of "diet" and start thinking in terms of "healthy eating habits".

Tam

Tammay, good for you! It's never too late to give it another go. I went through a few plans before I found one that worked for me, and even I went about it in an unorthodox way. My friend had done so well on WW, but she didn't go to meetings or anything, just found out the info from her sister-in-law who did. I got the formula online and just used a plain old calculator -- no WW calculator -- and started April, 7, 2008. Within a year I think I lost 68 pounds. Most of it, 50, came off in about five months. It was great for me. Have you ever tried just ordinary calorie counting or WW, which is basically just calorie counting?

Congrats Tam!

I truly believe that we each have to find our own personal path in weight loss.

I, too, had a light bulb moment and am following a path similar to yours. I am not a vegetarian, but only consume locally grown free range beef and chicken.

I find the support network helps and settled into South Beach which promotes pretty much what you are talking about. I am eating very healthy; whole grains, vegies, fruit while focusing on healthy fats. I am losing weight very consistently without feeling deprived. I do enjoy not counting calories and as time passes I find I am increasingly able to make sane decisions about food. It's rather amazing!

I hope you have found your spot and maybe you'll post at the Whole Foods Lifestyle forum.

Best Wishes!

That sounds great to me. You might also want to do some reading like Intuitive Eating, and there are books on mindful eating too (I don't remember titles, maybe search on B&N or something). I don't follow IE exactly, but that book and some similar ones helped shift my thinking.

The End of Overeating by David Kessler, MD is a good one, as well.