Here I am to officially testify that I agree with General Grant that she isn't shy about giving her opinion. LOL Whenever her opinion is opposite of mine, that's a sure sign that she's 100% wrong (LOL) but this time she makes sense. A lot of sense. That was a very thoughtful and informative post General. I'm impressed. Nice job. I've been lucky enough to not have to worry about my weight so please feel free to ignore this advice since I'm NOT speaking from experience. Even though all of General Grant's last post was awesome. one word stuck out with me...cravings. People sure have made a lot of money writing books about how to lose weight but if I wrote one it would only have two words..DON'T EAT. Of course I realize it's not that easy but if you could follow those two words of instruction it would be impossible for you to not succeed....unless of course you have some other severe medical condition that factors in. Again, I'm unqualified to give advice but I would focus on making your cravings your enemy and finding out how to muster the strength to defeat that enemy. If it were me, I would simply focus on one thing, cravings. Why are you getting them and how can you stop them. If the problem is in your head, you can find the strength to fix it. Of course exercise is great because it improves your cardio-vascular system and that's important but if you didn't exercise at all and stopped eating as much, you'll lose weight. It's very simple. It's not easy but it is simple. You need to turn your enemy (the cravings) into your friend. When you're eating, you're gaining weight. When you're having cravings, you're losing weight. Losing weight is good so cravings are your friend. Of course, you have to be careful. If you become too friendly with those cravings you could get obsessed and that's not good either. It is possible to be overweight and malnourished. General Grant had good advice by saying you should have realistic goals and not try to lose too much at once. I also liked what she said about fullfilling cravings using healthier alternatives. Well, that's about all I know about it. I'll just sit back and watch and be the cheerleader here. Hey, maybe you should picture Uncle Jesse in a cheerleader outfit. That should make you lose your appetite....unless your name is Emma Tisdale.