I've got to set up my threads so I receive your responses via email!

Anyway, I appreciate all the advice about the plateau issue. Some can say it has been a plateau and some will disagree. I got to thinking - it doesn't really matter! I want to lose weight so I'm going to just forget thinking about what HAS happened in the PAST and just focus on the future. Focus on weight loss and overall health. I think that's a much better attitude than wondering what happenED - something I have zero control over.

I've got a couple of goals set up: I am going to be 30 in June. I'd like to lose 30 lbs by then (big goal, I know, but not entirely unlikely, if I work it) and I want to get back to running 2 miles per day.

I've lost 3 lbs towards my goal, bring it down to 27 and I'm able to run a solid 1/2 mile in my workout. I am proud of this and know it'll only improve from here on out! I CAN do this! And no matter what I do end up losing for my 30th, I know I'm going to feel and look more fabulous than I do now, whether it's 10 lbs, 15 lbs, or the full 30.

Now...now that I'm working out again, I need to improve my diet. I have finally switched to salads for lunch, but now I need to switch my salad dressing. Any recipe ideas? I'm totally a bleu-cheese or ranch type girl so I want something yummy but HEALTHY. Anyway...lets keep on keepin' on!

Bolthouse Farms makes dressings from yogurt. I like the Ceasar a lot. They are not super low-cal. I think the Ceasar is 90 calories for 2 T, but is thick, creamy, and tastes good. I haven't tried the ranch or bleu cheese, but they do have them.

I just use olive oil, olive oil and lemon, basil infused olive oil or garlic infused olive oil. I eat salad almost everyday for dinner.

I've started using hummus instead of dressing. It's super thick and creamy, but it generally will spread onto salad ok if you stir it all around, otherwise you can water it down with lemon / water, liquid of your choice. And it's only about 50 calories for 2 T for most brands and has protein - unlike salad dressings.

The creaminess of hummus reminds me of a thicker salad dressing like ranch or blue cheese.

I like the Hidden Valley Ranch Light only 80 cals for 2 Tbsp. I also like the Wishbone salad spritzers, they are like 10 cals I believe.

just squeeze a lemon over it and put pepper.

I applaud your looking to the future! And it's true we can't change the past -- wringing our hands over what has already happened is not constructive! But, I do think it's extremely valuable to try to figure out what happened, so you can avoid it in the future. This whole 10 months I've been on plan, I've constantly been asking myself "what am I doing that's different this time, that will make this THE time, what did I do last time that caused me to backslide, what happened?". I have no intention of repeating the mistakes of the past, and so I must figure out what went wrong to avoid those same scenarios.

I don't usually care for the low-fat or fat-free dressings, but for some reason, Kraft Light Ranch tastes like the real thing to me. And I second using hummus instead of dressing -- I love it!

I haven't tried this, but on anther thread gals were raving about this fat free, healthy Ranch dressing:

http://www.ehow.com/how_4608104_dip-...shtasting.html

We just started getting Savory Collections salad dressing. It's not labeled as diet but it's pretty lo cal (Caesar dressing is under 40 cals per serving)! We found it at a Caputo's but from what I found through google, CVS sells it for $1. We've tried Caesar, 1000 island and Vidalla Onion and they're all super yummy!

Your goals are ambitious but achievable. Congrats on your successes so far.

I like to thin out regular creamy dressings with skim milk. Its easier to move it around so it gets on all the salad contents and only slightly dilutes the flavor. I don't like the RF stuff because of the added sugar and I don't like the FF stuff because it tastes weird to me.

I also thin out vinegar based dressings with more vinegar and/or water.

Walmart has an AMAZING ranch made with Kefir (aka liquid yogurt).

Did you know that a plateau is just maintaining a lower weight than you've been before? Think about it, embrace it! Have fun with it!

I agree. I use about 1 tbsp hummus with a couple tbsps of FF plain yogurt, a splash of lemon, and sometimes some chopped cilantro.