Hello everyone! I am currently starting on a journey to lose 95 pounds. It will be approximately diet #66 so wish me luck! I have decided to try something I read somewhere in the over 60-something diets I have tried.

I read that if you break the amount of weight you have to lose into 10% increments and use them as short term goals you will do better than if you dwell on the total amount of weight you have to lose. So my short term goal would be 9.5pounds. I am going to do that one better and cut it to little 5% mini goals so I am going to aim for approximately 5lbs as my mini goal.

I am going to try to combine the little things that worked well for me in past diet attempts because even though the diets failed in the long run, there are things that stuck in my mind that I think I will be able to implement.

Did you know that we burn less than 50 calories an hour sleeping? and like 80-90 calories and hour just being awake and doing whatever? thats not very many. so just moving around more would help. That really put things into perspective for me. I am 45 and I feel like I am 95. I don't know how many attempts I have left in me after all my failures. I hope this time I have success! and good luck to all of you too! any advice or comments would be appreciated!!

I have tried what seems to be every diet and diet pill out there. I am currently calorie counting, hopefully this works for me.

I love the idea of small goals. I always looks at the big picture and get discouraged. I have lost 7 pounds so far so I am on my way to 10 pounds which is my first goal.

You can do this! I can do this!

I appreciate the encouragement. Everyone around me is sick of me dieting and failing. It's a subject not brought up often at my house these days. It is nice to have you guys. I am not going to even say anything to anyone around me for fear of failing. So thanks everyone for being out there!!

I do 5lb at a time, and every 5lb I decide if I'm going to lose 5 more. Even though I have longer term goals, I figure that I can pause anywhere along the way, as long as I don't start going the wrong way.

I'm on my 5th set of 5 pounds, so it seems to be working for me.

Thats great! good for you! It is weird, I remember when I hit 200 pounds and thought I was gonna die (or kill myself). Gradually I gained when I went back to school and then to work on the evening shift and for the last few years I have struggled to stay under 250. I recently went to a dayshift position thinking "normal" hours would help me get back on track, but "poof" its been less than 6 months and I have packed on over 20 more pounds. I really want to get some good habits going so I really really appreciate your story and support! thanks!

one step at a time.. one pound at a time..

In addition to the mini-goals in my signature, I also celebrate every 10 lb milestone. Hitting 40 lb. lost on Christmas morning was the best gift I could have asked for! I'm all about celebrating lots of tiny milestones to keep myself feeling positive.

Thanks guys, a little encouragement goes a long way, especially since I haven't had any for so long. I am doing ok so far, only one binge. I am gonna weigh in this Friday, so wish me luck!!

I have found that low carb works best for me. I don't think a few carbs are bad if they are "constructive" carbs like fresh fruit and vegetable carbs (except potatoes....and fried potatoes are my favorite). If I eat carbs; I just want more and I usually go off on a binge.

I never really paid attention to how many calories I was eating compared to just how few we actually burn in a day. I found a site online that helped me calculate it (cant remember the name, sorry). It said that for 8 hours of sleep we only burn about 380 calories and for my height/weight/activity level I only burn like 83.3 per hour. If you minus the 8 hours of sleep (more like 5 lol), thats 16x83.3=1332.8 so thats 1712.8 calories a day burned. It made me realize how much I had been overeating.

Now I just have to find something else to do besides eat lol, maybe a little exercise right?

HI! congratulation to you! Never think of yourself as a failure! My advice to you, is to tell as many people as you want that you are indeed doing a diet and you are trying to lose weight. I have told everyone who will listen to me, it has kept me accountable, and i have so much support from everyone. When we have potluck suppers at work and what not, people will make healthy foods for me instead of non-healthy choices since they know i am working on eating healthier. A friend of mine recently stopped weight watchers and she never told anyone she was doing it. I love when people ask me how i am doing, how much weight i have lost now, that i look fantastic etc. That is VERY motivating to keep going and not fail! Tell people!!!

Well thank you so much. I am going to weigh in today at work. I weigh in every week on the same scale. It has been a few weeks since last time though. It was really hard on me to see that 270 (a real shock). I will post my new weight when I get home. I don't bring up my diet to people any more because I hate the "oh, again?" looks I get from my friends and family. I have to keep faith in myself and do well this time because I feel like I need to regain alot of faith in others. It is a lot like an alcoholic or drug addict who continually falls off the wagon. After a while; people kind of give up on you.

Weighed in today! 9.5 pounds down!!!! thats a full 10% now I have a mini goal of 8.6 pounds for 10% but I am going to be good and try for 5% which is about 4 pounds!! Its a good day .

COngrats on the 10% weight loss! I too am breaking my mini-goals down into 5lbs at at time when I celebrate. It makes diet/life so much better for me. I see that 5# loss and it motivates me to get to that next 5# quicker.

Thats great! I worry about losing too fast though. I have cut down to 1200-1600 daily which is not that low really, but, the faster you lose it the faster you gain it back (so they say). I must have been eating tons of calories.

One of my daughters is getting married in August, I am hoping to look decent by then. When my oldest daughter got married a few years back; I blamed my appearance for her not ordering more pictures (yes, I know thats dumb). I was grateful when my third daughter (I have 4 daughters and a son) aloped .

August is 8 months away, I just hope I can stick to this for that long. My poor body is so sick of diets .

Yes they do say the faster you lose the faster you gain. However this time I am doing it properly by making a life change. Not so much faster 5# I guess, but more motivated to do more. Go running an extra day that week or healthy additions. Congratulations on your daughters wedding, I remember how stressful that was, good luck with all the festivities and making your goals by then. I understand completely on the feeling of self guilt about photo's as my wedding was 09/19/2009 and I surly know I didn't put up any of my photos because I look at them and feel fluffy. I am sure that isn't why she did it but I completely understand the feeling you had.

Your not dieting silly, your making healthy life changes.

Thanks, I hope I can stick to it this time. I weigh in again on friday. so far so good since last friday! no binges so far. Portion control and avoiding bad carbs seems to work pretty good for me.