hcred, I am
much older than you are, but we are the same height and I weighed 182. I have been on lots of diets and gained all the weight back. I started this journey January 19, 2007. I couldn't face still another diet, so I started out by eliminating all of the junk from my diet. I also eliminated some of the stuff that is not junk, but loaded with fat and calories - butter, peanut butter, Ben and Jerry - that kind of thing. I did that for a while and then I started eliminating as many processed foods as I could. I eat lots and lots of fruit and veggies. I used to eat a lot of Lean Cuisine, which I like and have nothing against, but I just decided that I would cook it myself. By doing these things, I lost about thirty pounds fairly painlessly. After that, it started to get more difficult.
You will see that most folks on here recommend exercise. I am very resistant to this idea
, but I started out by religiously parking my car as far away from the grocery, Wal-Mart, work, etc as possible. Then I started taking walks around the rural area where I live. I don't love doing this, but I am getting better at it. I also started doing stomach crunches. Since I started the walking and crunches, I have not lost much weight, but I have gotten smaller.
I have really worked hard to find food that I really like, that is good for me, and is reasonably low calorie. It turns out that there are many good things. I have found, as others have mentioned, that I don't crave the bad stuff as much as I used to. I can't say I never do, but I don't want it all the time.
So, almost a year has gone by, I am 30 some lbs lighter and it really wasn't too bad. Now for the next 20!! Actually, my ultimate goal is a healthy lifestyle.