Hi all. I am in my mid 30's and weigh 215 lbs. I want to get down to 150. I have been trying diets for the last 15 years...and yo-yoing up and down. I cant controll my eating. I use food for everything from entertainment to love. I am unhealthy with high cholesterol and I smoke like a chimney also. I am afraid to die young. I want to loose weight so badly, I just cant controll myself around food...any food....ice cream, chips, candy, potatoes, bread, rice, cheese, fast food...the list goes on and on and on. In fact, I just ate half a bag of potato chips while surfing the net to find a support group. I plan on starting again on Monday....no junk food, restricted carbs and fat. I plan to start exercizing again also. I am afraid I am going to fail within the first day, like I always seem to do. Does anyone have any suggestions on how to stay motivated? Or maybe someone has read a good book on how to get to the bottom of emotional eating? I want help, I need help, please help me.

hey I'm new here too....do you comfort eat? Like when you're bored or upset etc etc. And I think that what you want to do cut out everything is a big no no because that just leads to bingeing really - you should just cut down completely on what you eat (smaller portion sizes and healthier alternatives) and have a once a week meal that you consider to be junk food. You should remember that to get down and mantain a weight that you'll be happy with you can't just cut out everything you like and then once you've lost the weight start eating it again because then you'll just go back to eating how you used to eat and put it back on again. I'm aiming to lose I think like 76 pounds I think it is - I've already lost 11 so far on my diet. I hope that you have success and I"m here if you need the support ^_^

"Life is hard Food is easy" by Linda Spangle
This is a good book I just started reading
This book reveals how you can cope with your feelings of frustration, boredom, or loneliness, and offers a unique step-by-step program to stop your emotions from interfering with your eating habits.

I pidked it up for $14.95

Amazon.com says:

She writes insightfully of the ways people interact emotionally with food, and includes first-person confessionals from her clients; by turns poignant ("eating helps me stop thinking about how much I hate my life" says one lost soul) and lascivious ("I pull out a stack of curved golden morsels" writes a woman on a Pringles binge, who finds the munching sounds "soothing, like water lapping softly on the beach"), these attest to food's psychic power. But her tips are sometimes silly ("Pound on your pillow until your arms are too tired to lift food to your mouth") and her five-step-plan to combat cravings (which, with some practice, you can "flash through" in "less than a minute") can seem inadequate to deal with the emotional traumas she feels are at the root of obesity.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Welcome Mmmmchips!

I can relate of eating out of comfort for any type of reason. I don't have any suggestions for you..just hang in there and be in control on making wise food choices. It's everyday battle, that we all struggle with. Must admit, food is great and have so much freedom on so many choices..just make healthier choices into our day. I wish you good luck on your weight loss efforts..Stay strong. Hugs*

Liliann

Thanks everyone
I agree with the "not cutting out everything" idea. That usually seems to backfire on me. I get so gung-ho though when starting to diet that I foolishly think I can cut out all the junk and not ultimately binge a few days, or hours later. And honestly, I dont know why I keep on trying the same failing techniques over and over again. I am starting to realize that it is going to have to take a lifestyle change for me to loose weight. Anyway, here I go again....Monday....ready to try for the umpteenth time.