Welcome Gwen!

My recommendation for someone who doesn't know where to start is to start looking at what you are eating and improve that. Many people use calorie counting and there are free tools online such as fitday.com.

Also, do you exercise? Walking is a great exercise to start with if you aren't currently doing anything.

If you tend to eat a lot of meat and high protein anyway you should look into Atkins or South Beach and change your eating to accomodate them. You will need to add more salads and veggies and less bread and carbs for that plan, but it may be closer (one of them) to how you actually eat, which may make them easier to stick to.

Do a bit of research, and one way of eating will speak to you.

Good luck!

I agree the first thing you need to do is look at what kind of foods you are eating and how much. You need to cut out the high fat foods and replace them with low fat, high fiber foods. Eat a lot more veggies too.
Exercise is a big part too, but just changing the way you eat is a big thing.
You can do this, it is possible..
There are a lot of good people on here that will answer questions you need or to give you pointers.
Good luck!!!

Thanks for all the replies so far. I believe I am going to start just by watching what I eat and then possibly do South Beach again because I love it. Im thinking of just switching my bread to the Sugar Free and not eating as much per day of it, adding fruits and veggies and yogurt and up my water intake and see how I do. At least for the first couple weeks before I begin SB again. My 41st Birthday is on March 1st, so Id like to begin SB that day or whatever plan I decide to go with, in the meantime I will start eating like I said and see how I feel then. Thanks for all the input. Some of you have made such great progress which is evident from your pics! Ill be glad to get there one day myself!

Geez Louise, Gwen --- we could be twins, especially when I look at what things you are currently eating. Meat? Love it! Cheese? Love it! Lactose intolerant? Oh, yeah! Veggies, fruit? Ummmm......

Nelie had really good advice about starting by getting an honest and complete picture of what you're currently eating. (You can tell that Nelie probably knows what she is talking about because she has lost 162 POUNDS!! WOW!) I use an on-line calorie,etc. counter called The Daily Plate; you can sign up for a free account at www.livestrong.com. It was really eye-opening for me to see how many calories were in the foods I was eating day to day. Once you know where you are, you can start adjusting your foods so that you are eating fewer calories BUT actually getting better nutrition from your food.

In a way, you have already taken a giant first step in admitting that you are not happy with your current weight and that you are willing to commit to doing something about it. I am glad you found this board and look forward to seeing lots more posts about how you are revamping and renewing your life so that you have all the energy and health to enjoy your grandkids.

OK, so in my opinion, and from my experience, I would highly suggest a well rounded diet including calorie counting. By well rounded I mean to have all the food groups and not depriving yourself of any particular food group. I know low carb diets work well for many, but from what I have seen, and personally experienced they can be troublesome for many in the long run. It is hard to stick to anything if you are depriving your body of any one of the food groups that it needs

Calorie counting is my choice, finally after trying so many different ways

And Alli is good, and you have NO side effects if you are counting your calorie and fat intake and eating according to the plan. The horrible side effects only happen when you consume more fat than you are suppose to have. I liked alli and will be going back on it soon, once I have a few more weeks on plan and going good.

Calorie counting diets dont limit your from anything. Its like setting a household budget, this is what you have, if you spend it all at the begining of the month the end of the month will be extremely tight! I like Sparkspeople.com for calorie counting and setting up your caloric needs, nutrition needs, and keeping track of reports so you see your history.

Hope that helps, I am not trying to know South Beach or anything else, this is my personal views, and since you asked for it I am more than willing to help!

I'm with Redflame - calorie counting is about the only thing I can get behind from a common-sense point of view. I'm always afraid for people going "on" something because that implies there's a going "off" on the horizon right? I did Atkins myself years ago and yes it worked, I dropped 40 lbs. in no time at all - but once i had a donut about 80 pounds piled back on LOL

Just be sure you're starting with ENOUGH calories -- if anyone watched Biggest Loser last night, Bob said something meaningful to me -- that sometimes people slash their calories so drastically hoping it will be reflected on the scales, but the exact opposite happens! So be sure to eat enough for size/frame, but also the right amount to have a deficit in calories. I wish you success Gwen, and welcome aboard the board! it's such a cliche, but baby steps seem to be the common thread amongst the big losers on here: as in, they changed a few things at a time and were sure they were able to live with it, and then moved on to more things. Start slow, change one or two things here and there, move a little bit more and you'll be amazed

I find calorie counting to be the easiest and most sensible as well. I calorie count AND do a low glycemic index diet (south beachesque a bit) with the whole wheat breads and such. I found doing south beach alone wasn't giving me the results I wanted. and calorie counting pretty much just comes down to math, which is pretty simple, calories in vs caloreis out.

Oh yeah, I think the foods you eat are important as well. I'm currently doing Weight Watchers but vegan, low glycemic whole foods.

I'm calorie counting, having tried many diets in 37 years of dieting.

At the minute I'm combining it with vegetarian recipes from Ashy McBeans website - nothing to do with weight loss but the recipes are interesting, and Cheap! I'm currently saving up to go on holiday, so eating economically.

If I make veggie soup and rice or lentil dishes, I seem to get a lot of food for not many calories. That leaves me enough for a treat, like coffee made with all milk, or a teeny tiny cake.

I'm a big advocate of calorie restriction. I find it hard when I'm telling myself "I absolutely can not eat _______ anymore." With counting calories I can eat whatever I want - I just have to eat smaller portions and figure it into my calories for the day (sometimes I can justify it, sometimes I decide it's not worth eating.) Plus I think it's best to get a wide range of things in your diet and it's hard to do that with a fat/sugar/carb/etc restricting diet.

I also highly recommend exercise - and lots of it. I always thought that I would never be able to get into exercising and if I lost weight it would only be through changing my eating habits - but after a few days of regularly doing it I became addicted to it!

And by the way, congrats on impending grandbaby number 2

Yep another calorie counter here. I make sure to eat lots of lean proteins, get my 5-10 veggies/fruits a day, only whole grain crackers/breads/pasta's etc, healthy fats and dairy. I drink at least 3 L of water a day and plan and track my meals.

Pop over to the menu accountability thread, post on the exercise one as well. Stick around! You'll end up a loser like the rest of us

lillysnana!

I think if you really like South Beach - go for it! I do think tracking what you are eating might be a handy tool - even if you just use it for a baseline. Maybe try counting calories and writing everything down for a week? It really helps me. I use Fitday.

My other piece of advice that really worked for me is exercise. I started with just walking...it's all about making healthy habits for yourself.

I like Stillmans Protein Plus. lean meats, veggies and lowfat dairy. I pop an Alli if I am eating a higher fat meat such as ground beef. I have no "treatment effects" because I am eating very lowfat.

for me this is easy...a "no-brainer". I need to think less about food because I am a binger. on this diet , if it's on the list and its time to eat then I can eat it...if not I can't.