Guess not here - movin' on down! :-)

Jamie, I think it's a good idea to journal your food daily, expecially when you are first starting. But I find that after I'm used to watching what I eat that I don't need to write it all down anymore. I'm sure I would get a few comments if I posted everything I eat! LOL

Well, that's kinda the point. :-) Knowing that your food intake would be seen by a bunch of people is quite motivating as far as keeping choices healthy and portion sizes reasonable (did it on another forum years ago, and it was eye opening and kept us all rather accountable). It pretty much takes away the "excuses" we so often use to cover up our "indescretions". I do journal personally, every day, everything I eat, and my workouts - even if they are repetitious. Keeps me accountable for that occasional piece of chocolate, or the party with chips, dip and coke or whatever - at least I have a visual reminder at all times that *most* of the time I do well, so I can give myself "permission" to enjoy not-so-healthy stuff once in awhile, but not go overboard in doing so, or let it become a habit.

But I understand that it's hard for most people to allow thier habits & choices to be under scrutiny...it's no big deal, just thought I'd see if anyone was interested in taking the risk. :-)

Jamie - I'm with you. I've been trying to eat as many fruits and vegetables as possible, little sweets and snacks. I do have a weakness for ice cream, so I've been allowing myself that treat.

I've also been hitting the gym 3-4 times a week, both aerobic and weights (Nautilus).

I do think that most of these diets are designed to provide a quick boost that's not sustainable. Weight Watchers is more a way-of-life thing. I'm more concerned with simply controlling portions and eating the right things - it seems to work best for me.

I've been using a site called Fitday.com to keep track of food eaten and energy expended. It's free, by the way.

I am eating healthier, in moderation, watching portion sizes, not counting calories, and exercising most days of the week and I've lost 25 pounds in the past year. It came off slowly but virtually painlessly because I didn't "deprive" myself of the occasional snack. My focus has been on healthy eating rather than "going on a diet". I don't overeat, I choose fruit instead of fries (because it's healthier, NOT because it's lower in calories), I have cake and ice cream at birthday parties (and not just an itty-bitty piece, a real-life piece and I enjoy every bite), and I eat a bagel or muffin for breakfast every single morning and potatoes or rice most nights of the week (in other words I'm not eating "low carb").

I strongly disagree with the idea of "going on a diet" and avoiding all "bad" foods like chips, potatoes, and grains just for the purpose of losing weight. Eating them in excess is what causes us to gain weight.

I began by following a diabetic exchange plan to control hypoglycemia and now I just know what to eat and how much of it at each meal -- I don't need to record it any longer. However, at first it helped a lot to write down what I ate for the day and how close I came to the plan.

Jen

Thanks for the fitday link, Joann...I'll give that a gander. :-) Nice to see there are people who do the "moderation" eating as well!

It's weird - this week, my fiance started the Atkins induction period. I cook for both of us, and had planned on just cooking one meal for both, then a carb for me. What I've found is that when I eat with him, I really don't need the carb until later - and not at all at lunch (we have chef salads for lunch - very filling). So while I'm not following his atkins thing as strictly as he is (I still have my morning breakfast shake, and snack on a carb before bed, eat sandwiches when we go out, or french fries), I'm finding that it's pretty easy to just kinda "fall" into the low-carb thing without any thought on my part. LOL I can easily see myself eating low to moderate carbs right along with him when he gets past these first two stages of the diet - he's enjoying it so much that he thinks he might stay with the maintenance phase of atkins after he's done with this month.

But to be honest, I don't think it's even really "low" carb for me...it's just that my portion sizes are small, so I don't need all that food at once. It's more of a "natural moderation" thing, if that makes any sense.

Amazing how the "answer" is so easy for most people and they don't even realize it...everything in moderation, exercise, and be healthy. Weight doesn't come on in a month, and it won't drop off in a month either - such simple concepts. Maybe that's the problem...we need something more complex to wrap our heads around. LOL

Thanks for the comments, gals!

Jenn -

I've been having the same experience. I've been exercising regularly for six months now, trying to eat moderately. And the pounds are coming off, relatively painlessly. I certainly am not dieting.

I'm not sure how many pounds, because I don't own a scale. I do know that everything is loose, and that's nice.

That's great Joann! Scales can lie so I don't weigh myself often. I go to Curves and they weigh once a month and my jeans are baggy now so that alone says I've lost quite a bit.

Jamie, I think you hit the nail on the head with your last comment. Most people just do not believe how simple it really is because we've been brainwashed by the diet industry into thinking that the only way to lose weight is to "deprive" ourselves of certain foods and go on a temporary diet to lose the weight. Most of us do not gain weight because we eat a baked potato at dinner or have a sandwich (with carb-loaded bread) at lunch. It's because we eat too many carbs in the form of snacks, extra servings of food, or very large servings. We've also been brainwashed into thinking we need to "lose weight fast!" and as you said it doesn't come on overnight so it's not going to go off overnight either. Small changes, moderation, more exercise. That really is all there is to it. It really is that simple.

Jen

Another thing - I try to listen to my body and see what it wants to eat. If I have a dry tuna sandwich when I really want a hamburger, I'll probably end up eating everything in sight because I didn't get what I wanted in the first place.

I think this applies to treats, too. I'm better off having a medium portion of the ice cream I love, rather than eating up whatever is in the kitchen because I can't have it.

Like many people, I also love chocolate. Last month, I bought a 12 oz. bag of chocolate chips for baking, and just took a few when I had a chocolate craving. I just finished up the bag. Much better than eating a 2.5 oz. candy bar because I'm craving chocolate.

I'd like to defend Weight Watchers. When I started I was drinking 4 Pepsis a day. The leader told me that to count those Pepsis and then only eat the points that are left is unsafe. Every week when she spoke to us, she emphasized the importance of eating a well balanced diet. She would tell us that if we had a craving, we should eat that food, but go out and buy it - don't bring it home. You have a point range and you can save up points for a week then eat quite a bit, and should not put on weight. But you are not allowed to live on junk and count those points as your only points.
Weight Watchers helped me lose 20 pounds which is what I needed to lose to stay within their acceptable range. Then I could go for free for the rest of my life as long as I stayed within that range. I just won't count those points. It makes me feel obsessive to examine every bite of food and write it down. But in my opinion everything that Weight Watchers says is safe, and they do not allow you to eat junk foods. I should eat between 21-25 points, but she made it clear that if those 25 points were junk foods that I would not lose weight.
After hearing many many women say that they finally lost weight by getting off of pop, I stopped drinking the Pepsis with sugar. That is how I lost the weight.
Sammy

I am also trying to change the way I eat. I was also drinking 4 pepsis a day, I haven't had one for two days.
I'm hoping that between healthier eating habits, and some exercise I will start to see some results.
alice

Sammy, I know WW is a good program, and done properly, can & has helped a lot of people. But many (I mean *most*) of the people I know who have tried it don't listen to the "eat healthy" side of it...they listen to the "I can eat anything I want if I stay in my points" and stop there. It's not WW that's the problem, it's the people, but it *does* happen a lot, from what I've seen. Congrats on making it work so well for you! :-)