Oh I totally agree, and I am embarrassed to have many years of yo-yo dieting under my belt to prove the point. The pounds I have lost since beginning this year's attempt to lose weight are fully reflective of how much crap I was bingeing on before I started eating sensibly and exercising. It was a lot, and that crap helped my weight to remain high after I piled on the pounds during my last two pregnancies. If I cut out the crap the weight falls off. I started out as obese on 5th January, according to my BMI, and I am still obese, despite having lost 14.5 lbs since that time, so I have a long way to go, but I will get there. I am nearing the end of a more than five year continuous stint of pregnancies and/or breast feeding and I can feel that my eating habits are much easier to control now that I am not breast feeding as much (approx. once or twice each week). It takes a lot out of a person, both physically and mentally.

I don't want anyone reading this to think I might be starving myself in a bid to lose a lot of weight fast. I am not - if I did that, I would end up a smaller shell covered in a lot of sagging skin, and be more miserable with my body than I am at present.

I am not letting myself go hungry, just eating well and exercising more than I have in years. I fully expected to lose only a couple of pounds this week at most as the initial weight loss I saw has to level out at some point. My cravings for chocolate are very few and far between, and I can even walk past cakes and candy in the house now without wanting any, something that I would never have done prior to Jan 5th. That is a big thing for me, and walking past cakes and candy instead of devouring them reduces my calorie intake by literally thousands each week.

The exercising is helping tremendously, and however much of a struggle it has been, especially during the last three or four days, I am forcing myself to exercise everyday, however late in the day. I am determined to lose this, it is bloody hard work, but I am going to do it, and I am blown away happy with my progress so far. Every other attempt has failed, but I can't look at that, I would quit immediately. This time I WILL lose the weight, I WILL get to the weight I was prior to my last two pregnancies, and I WILL keep within a reasonable weight range once I am there. I have to.

I lost 3.5lbs this week
I have taken measurements and lost a total of 8 inches from my body so I'm pretty pleased about that, too!

Thanks hun I am fully expecting to drop to the optimal rate of 1-2 lbs a week and I'm totally ok with that Thanks for all the encouragement you've shown me, it really helps a lot

If you're at home and get drawn to Pixies to pass some time, turn off the computer, do some exercise, then return to Pixies for some post-training Smutting Seriously! It works for me, I won't settle down to play on Pixies in the evening until I've exercised. Or do some exercise while the dinner is cooking - just 20 minutes each day is a good start, and add 5 mins each week. Good luck - I know how difficult it is to get past a weight you're stuck at but you WILL do it, and I'm sure once you drop lower than 179 a few more pounds will follow suit and things will get easier

I hope everyone is having a great week so far - do check in and post to let us know how you're doing. Like Coaster, I enjoy reading how things are going for others - to congratulate achievements and encourage when things aren't going so well. Congrats on losing another 1.5 lbs, Lil!

Good Luck In Whatever You're Trying To Achieve