I love the posts about how people are shocked and saddened that we lost weight through diet and exercise. The recurrent replies that dieting and exercise didn't work for them points out the psychological addiction to food that is so hard to break for so many. I always think that with any addiction, until and if I get honest with myself nothing will change. When I have overeaten in the past, I would actually lie to myself about what I consumed in a binge-so of course I would not admit that to anyone else. Now that I have become so much more accountable I am feeling so much more in control and on top of things-and yes, the pounds are coming off.

Started at 172-down to 148-gradually: through low carbing , cal. counting and alot of exercise and support from this board.

Okay lets face it. There are a lot of discouraged people out there in the world. And yes, we are bombarded, not only with pictures of thin thin people in magazines and celebrities and magazines that claim "lose weight with such and such a pill" and the latest indoresed celeb diet, but all the pills, all the pressure to be thin in society..Its not helping people out there have an understanding of helping themselves. People in the diet industry claim to help people by teaching them all about diet..but how many diets are out there? Many..and how many of them are un-healthy or radically extreme? Many..And how many people do you know will go to a place for help in which the people arent even trained to give advice OR have had no previous experience of being overweight or obese prior to helping people..See.. its like it takes one to know one. I used to be a finatic in believing that weight would just melt off me if i sat on my bum and followed this diet or that diet. I have a friend or two of mine looking at me and they are rather impressed that for 3 weeks i have been on the "South Beach Diet"...to them its just a diet, and it will last maybe a few more weeks..but to me.. i choose to, and have to for my health, look at it and embrace it as a lifestyle..If its a diet.. i can just jump on and off of it and i can make every excuse to stop exercising and i can cheat one or two days and then jump back on and that just isnt true..AND yes its still about calorie in vs calorie out..The person who said that and told you that in school was in fact right..But that point has become so muddled up in society..We look at carb counting or south beach as "low carb" but its not about "low carb" its about types of carbs..or weight watchers..its about the types of calories...or the zone..its the balance of different types of calories..Its all calories, its just the type you eat, the portion you eat, and then the exercise that you put out or the amount of work your body does in a day to burn it..and that message has been completely disguized as "such and such a diet"...And am i ever sick of people saying to kids in school "Eat according to the food pyramid"..Did you know that the food pyramid is based on agricultural and ecenomic stability? Same thing as the whole "Milk is good for you, you lose weight..and then Milk is bad for you, it makes you gain weight" Or soy is good, soy is bad..You get these two totally different messages and its because its not based on health, its based on how the economy is doing..SO how bout people just simply tell the truth and say ..its calories in and calories out..If you want to eat 900 calories at mcd's go for it, but thats 900 calories your body has to burn off after.

I lost my weight using the Food Pyramid. It's quite the fashion to trash it, but there is a lot of sound science behind it and by tracking at mypyramidtracker.gov I not only lost the weight, but by eating the balance of nutrients recommended (% of protein/carbs/fat/saturated fat, fiber, etc) I have amazing lab numbers compared to 2 years ago.

Kills me when people would rather pay for a program then to try eating a balanced diet that your tax dollars have already paid for. And it's fun because you earn smiley faces when you get your nutrient balances right!

HILARIOUS!

There is no one size fits all BUT I think the bottom line is if you aren't going to work hard to lose the weight it's not going to happen. So many people lie to themselves IMO when they say they "tried." Half the time trying seems to be starving themselves for 2 days then giving up and binging when they see the scale didn't move down 10+ lbs.

It took me a long time to figure out that I needed to work hard and stop lying to myself. Hopefully others figure it out and get on it too.

If I ate following the food pyramid I wouldn't be able to fit through the door. I am far too sensitive to grains to be able to lose weight taking in more than minimal amount.

That's what's so tricky about weight loss plans, wl advice etc. Everyones reality is different. Everyones perception is different... And we tend to believe that what works for us will work for everyone, or what failed us will fail everyone. There is no one answer and there never will be.

Each of us is our own experiment. We need to take an honest look at what didn't work and keep adapting it until it does. Then rinse and repeat, forever, no excuses :)