I will be starting my diet on Monday. I am a seventh grade teacher and I have roughly 2 weeks off to enjoy Summer. It is a very stress free time for me and a great time to begin what I hope will become a lifelong process. My goal is huge. I want to lose 250 pounds in the next 2 and a half years.

Hey Cannon!

Congrats on your decision! You're being very smart about this by giving yourself a very reasonable amount of time...I know it took me quite a while till I stopped looking for a quick n' easy way...

You can do it!!

hey cannon nice to see ya here. Thats a good goal. most of us try to get it off too quick and well you know the results. What kind of diet are you planning?

I find that I can't quite stick with a brand name diet. I've done Jenny Craig and found it worked OK when I had a good counselor, but a lot of the weight I took off was done irresponsibly--I did things like making myself sweat to try and lose weight before weigh ins. I couldn't do the Zone very long--it made eating seem like a complicated chore. I'm going to be monitoring calories and I am going to keep adding more and more fruits and veggies to my diet.

sounds great. after my surgeries I couldn't seem to get anything to work. I think it was more just that i didn't have a way to burn the calories off. I went through starvation,atkins,south beach........ well you know how it goes. Now i'm just watching what i eat. I cut the calories way down and now I just move more than i did before. So I don't think it takes any special kind of diet to get good results. I just think we need to reprogram our eating habits.
just my two cents anyhow

Hey Cannon! Glad to see you started a diary! Counting calories is a great way to do it, and you certainly need those fruits and veggies.

I purchased a scale that arrived in the mail yesterday. The scale was a talking digital scale that was supposed to work up to 550 pounds. I hadn't weight myself since 1995 and when you top 350 you almost have to go out of your weigh to find a place even capable of weighing you. I stepped on the scale and a woman's voice said "Hello". the numbers began to cycle through and seemed to rest just about at 465. She was supposed to say my weight, but she never did. I do think I heard her snickering, but I can't be sure. When I stepped off the scale I heard the voice say, "Goodbye". This morning I wanted to weigh myself without my shoes figuring that maybe they were responsible for the huge weight. Nothing happenned. The numbers didn't light up and there was no voice. She left me when I was sleeping and didn't even leave a letter. Come back scale lady! I'm trying to do something about the weight.

I was excited to get a new scale, but now I'm going to have to pay to get it returned for a new one. That's going to be a hassle, but I'll survive. I decided the diet will start at 1:30 Central time on Monday. I have a weakness for movie popcorn and I want to take in a movie Monday at noon. Tomorrow I will do my grocery shopping and I'm going to shop healthy. Monday I'm getting a water cooler. I am eating irresponsibly this weekend, but I'm not overdoing it.

Good for you...

You don't have to deprive yourself of the things that you love... Nothing works if you deprive yourself. Moderation is the key... Get a small container of popcorn rather than the jumbo size

Good luck - have fun grocery shopping...

cannon thats why i havent purchased a scale. just about all the stores cary them up to about 350 maybe 380 but after that they are pretty much special order. If they wont take it back let me know. Ill get out my electronics tools and get her talking right lol....

Cannon,
I just wanted to say hello and tell you she wasn't good enough for you anyway. All relationships cost you a little something when they end. We can only live and learn. Maybe next time try a machine that doesn't talk back so much! Good Luck with your weight loss.

Lee, Maleficient, and Pineola thanks so much for your encouragement. Maybe she wasn't good enough for me, but its still tough to have the scale in the other room refusing to even talk to me. It'll be easier when its gone.

Today, I thought I'd talk about one problem I have with dieting and that is setting up roadblocks for myself. I get that from my parents and I've been good at learning how not to put them up in other areas. A week from Tuesday I'm going to a convention in Columbus, Ohio and I was thinking how it really stunk to be starting a diet before going there. They have this great North Market which is a farmer's marker with a large number of ethnic restaurants and delis as well. It is going to be possible for me to eat really poorly there, but it'll also be really easy for me to eat the right way there. Its a farmer's market--you know the fruit and produce are going to be great. The delis will do anything to order and can easily fix me a very lean sandwhich on a bread that has some actual fiber content and most of those ethnic restaurants have dishes which are 90% steamed veggies. I can eat really well and not be deprived. I may well have a bad food or two, but I will come back from this convention lighter than I went and that's a promise. A lot of time food choices are what you make of them and it's a compromise with yourself. You may not always be able to make the best choice, but there's a lot of middle ground between the best choice and 2 pieces of cheesecake.

The diet starts tomorrow. I'm going to charge my Ipod for my morning walk and do my grocery shopping today. I have a lot of stuff to clean out of my fridge. I think this forum is going to be a big help.

Just reading your journal and Welcome to the forum!!!!! The best diet is to eat smaller portions and drink your WATER!! Don't limit any foods jusrt the portions. AndThink you should start you new life stlye as of today. In life we all make excuses to delay but there is always going to be bumps in the raod and we got drive over them safley..I know it sounds corny but true, right??

You go to the convention and this will be a test and eat what you want just a little of everything. You could DO THIS. Don't give up on yourself. Don't let your self down. You have made a choice to becopme healthy and stick with it..

I'm cheering for you and I know you'll beable to get through this. Have a WONDERFUL Day and drink your WATER!!!!

Thanks Jelly. I drank about 136 ounces of water yesterday and I haven't even started my diet yet. The key was that it was freaking hot here and my air conditioning doesn't work very well. I am calling on Monday to get Ice Mountain delivered to my home. I always wanted my own water cooler and $27 a month doesn't sound bad compared to what I'm spending on those plastic bottles already.

As someone who has spent the past 15 or so years pretty much living in hotel rooms, in restaurants and out of a suitcase, dining away from home is a huge challenge... (check out the Going out thread for some ideas)

Ethnic restaurants are great... stay away from fried foods, and you'll be fine -they've got so much flavor and experiment with spices and herbs, it's a fun dining experience.

No buts.... Buts are what kill us... Positive mental attitude... you can do it...

Say to yourself, I'm not dieting, I'm changing my lifestyle... diets always seem to be about deprivation... what you are doing is changing your way of life... for the good and not depriving yourself

YAY for you!!!
Remember moderation in everything.. it's great you're gung ho for this but you really want to pace yourself... Start slow. and gradually increase... and don't forget to stretch..
The outer aisles are your friends...(well that and frozen veggies -- frozen spinach I thik I throw in everything- big bag of it has 5 servings 30 calories per serving and it's good too...) If you are cooking for yourself, experiment with spices... the flavor it adds is incredible - but watcht he packaged spice mixes (they generally have a lot of salt..


have fun-- I'mlooking forward to reading your about your journey as motivation for my own..

Wow thanks for the great post Maleficient. The grocery store I go to is kind of small. We have some huge Jewels nearby too and they're cheaper with a better selection and more variety of prepackaged food. However, they can't touch the produce and meat at the little ma and pa by me. There's no way to enter the store without going through the fruits and vegetables. The bakery is there too, but I can resist that pretty well--not the same quality as the bakery across the alley from me.