gOOD MORNING EVERYONE!

Thanks to all that gave me such good advice and were so welcoming yesterday! I'm starting today, and I believe in myself and what I want to accomplish. I even put on jeans and a shirt today that make me feel kinda' young and pretty (my husband said "WOW")! If I can get through my sons soccer tournament and all the eating out this weekend I'll be OK. Any advice?

Hi Babsy, congratulations for starting! My only advice is: let this be the LAST time you "start". Even if you encounter a problem, just get back on track. You can do it!

Hi Babsy,

UGH dealing with eating out is the WORST! I love trying different foods so much... what I do is just think really hard about what is driving me the most to lose (looking good :O) and being sexy :O) ) and think 'do I want to take one step toward that right now, or away from it?' I never of course want to go AWAY from that goal, and I make myself understand that this is a very real decision with this one meal to either become a desirable girl, or to not.
I dont know, it is very hard but you have to conquer the voice that says "oh its just this one meal and then Ill be good". If you can figure out how to talk yourself out of that, youre good to go.
In the future, once youve lost some weight, you can (well at least this is my plan for myself) have small portions of the goodies here and there so that youre not denying yourself yummies forever, but for the first while I found it a good idea to completely stick to plan. Because that way, youll start seeing results earlier, and that will motivate you to keep going.

Good luck, and think about being proud of yourself when the weekend is over and you were on top of it all the whole time! It will feel SO good!

If you are eating at fast food places ask for the nutrition brochure. I have 4 kids so we cant cut Mc D's out all together even though we have drastically reduced how often we eat there or any other fast food place. But I have a nutrition brochure for almost every fast food place there is. Also most places have the brochure online, even pizza places. I go through the brochure and plan what I am going to have before I stand in line at the register and I stick to it. If I am gonna eat at a "Sit Down and Order" Restaurant I alter what I order. If it is a salad that usually has a lot of cheese on it I tell them to put only half the cheese or none and always order the lite dressing. Grilled Chicken Sandwiches are usually a safe way to go also I leave off any cheese and use some type of mustard instead of a fat filled dressing or mayo. Add a Salad and its pretty healthy meal.

Sorry for the rambling. Good luck!

hey there babsy!

I just want to wish you good luck! And remember not to think of it as a diet - you really don't have to limit what you eat! I can't believe all the yummy things I can eat that are good for me!

Perhaps you would like to join us in the planning thread? It seems to change titles lately, but usually it has the words "plan" and "day" in it and usually a date. There is a group of us who post what we are going to eat in the morning of everyday. I really enjoy it and it helps keeps me on track!

Again, GOOD LUCK!

I was just going to say that planning planning planning is the key! if you just try to wing it, you will probably improvise your way into eating less healthy foods!