Hi there

I'm a newbie to this forum as well, and I'm about the same age as you..well, a few years older lol (I'm 33 but I've heard I look 25 or so, so it all evens out )

I agree with the others about setting mini goals. I don't know how "mini" everyone else was thinking, but I usually find motivation in setting myself tiny goals of 2-5 pounds, just to show myself that I'm making a bit of progress. Sometimes, weight loss progress will show in how loose your clothes are too, rather than showing up as pounds lost on the scale, so there's that too.

One reason I think maybe you fell off those other diets was because most fad diets are so restrictive, it's impossible to stay on them for longer than a few weeks at a time. So it's not your fault you went off the diet-the diet itself wasn't very good in the first place.

I'm on this raw food diet right now, which itself may seem restrictive, but it's really just about incorporating more raw foods (such as fruits and vegetables) into one's diet. It's based on the theory that it's harder for the human body to digest cooked meat and such, and one can get better results from eating whole fruits and vegetables, which are more easily digested. (This isn't a sales pitch on the diet, but just to explain a little bit about it so when you come to my signature you won't raise eyebrows, considering the topic of restrictive diets lol)

Generally, I think it's important to have as much food as you can, whatever diet you're on. This isn't to say you can have all the desserts you want, but it just means you should eat healthy foods when you want to. As long as you have breakfast lunch and dinner, and try transitioning yourself to eating more whole wheat bread and pasta, you should find yourself feeling fuller more often, which means you'll naturally want to eat less junk food.

Another idea is to start taking small walks throughout the day to get the blood flowing. This will help get things moving through your body faster and will help burn off some of that weight. You can also try weight training, as building up muscle will help burn more fat throughout the day.

Whatever exercise you do, make sure you can tolerate doing it. I've lost ten pounds so far, but I never run or do high energy aerobics. I don't touch yogurt or certain fruits either. Some things you just won't like eating, and that's ok. There's plenty of stuff to eat out there that you will like, and it'll be healthy for you too

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Funny, entertaining, a little controversial. Is it a cartoon? No, it's my experience on the raw food diet. http://rawawareness.blogspot.com