Originally posted by PJ's Mom
That's where my problem is. I can't eat just a few chips, for exapmle. I have to eat half a bag.
For things that come in a package, prepare it in the kitchen. For chips, pour a few on a plate or bowl, and close the chips back up. Then proceed to eat them. This way you're not given the opportunity to eat ALL the chips at one time. You're not just eating them because they're there. Same goes for pretzels, cookies, candies, etc. Moderation is easy if you know how to without depriving yourself.

You'd be surprised how much weight can be lost and how small you'll get by just cutting out soft drinks, chips, and sweets in large quanities. Same goes for breads and pastas. I'm not saying cut out all carbs. Still eating potatoes, corn, beans, fruits, breads, etc. Just not as much at every sitting.

Eat whole grain and cracked wheat breads. Eat fresh fruits and veggies. Cooked or frozen foods tend to lose some of their nutritional value. Stay away from fried foods and drink skim milk. If you want chicken, bake it in some brown rice in the oven with a few veggies. It's delicious, and very healthy.

However, if you want to lose weight quickly (which I don't recommend) eat cereal for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. My youth minister used to be seriously overweight, but it was affecting his health and his kidney failure/transplant. He ate nothing but cereal of his choice and skim milk, at every meal. He could have as much as he wanted, as long as that cereal didn't have any fat. That way, with skim milk, he was counting fat grams. And he biked everywhere and as much as possible. He lost like 150-200 lbs in a shorter amount of time than recommended.

I'm very good at preaching about weight loss, but if you looked at me you'd scream "hypocrite". I need to lose weight myself, but I've lost about 10-15 pounds since I've started. A tad bit more than recommended, but for the last 3 or 4 days, I've eaten what I've wanted, and I seem to have lost weight. When your body gets into a crunch mode of burning fat, it's hard to stop it.

Also, exercise is key. I have trouble with this. I have a gym membership that I don't use that often. I exercise everyday at my house, it's just not always convinient to head to the gym. Oh well, some day.

I wish you luck, Dawn. It'll hit you one day. You'll look at yourself and that'll be that. You'll know what you have to do, and you won't back down from your mind set. It's all about motivation.