Geoff,

I'm going to weigh in (Hah. I made a pun) here and give you my two
cents worth. Warning, it'll be long and rambly. I'm just in that
kind of mood today.

1. Even though it may not be one, I count potatoes as vegtables. I
don't eat them that often, and I figure it doesn't hurt in the long
run. Plus, you might want to try sweet potatoes. I've heard they are
one of the most nutritious things you can eat.

2. There is never a good time to diet. You'll always find excuses
why you don't wanna. But it sounds like you have come to the
realization that we all came to here - if you're going to do it, then
by god, just do it. Somewhere along the line I just got fed up with
being fat and tired and so unhappy that it was time to do something
else. I was finally ready. Looks like you are at that point now.
Good for you. It's going to seem like an impossible task at times,
but you have to keep chipping away at it, and sooner, rather than
later - it WILL start to get easier. Remember, progress not
perfection.

3. It may sound like a lot of the advice you have gotten here has
been a bit harsh. What you have to remember is that everyone here
that has had any smidge of success at weight loss has been right where
you are right now. If it sounds like you are being fussed at, it's
only because the excuses that you are putting out are ones that
everyone here has said to themselves at one point or another. A lot
of people have managed to work through their issues with food and
weight loss and they are only trying to impart some of the wisdom they
have learned in their own journey. Take only what you need and leave
the rest.

4. As many others have said, there is no magical wonderful delicious
food that has zero points. The zero point ones pretty much all fall
into the vegetable category. There are some very high fiber cereals
that can come out to be .5 points per serving. If there were some
wonderful no-point food that tasted great then I never would have
gotten in the shape I did. Doesn't seem fair, does it?

5. This is the most important point I will make in my long ramble
here. If you've skimmed the rest of it, pay attention here.
Don't try to do it all at once.
Pick a couple of things to work on, and focus on them. If eating
vegetables is such a big issue to you (and it sounds like it is), just
forget about that 5-a-day recommendation for now. Deal with it later.
Focus your engergies on eating your points target instead. Don't
worry so much about where you are getting your points from, or if it's
particularly nutritious - just eat the points you are allowed. Once
you get that point-thing down pat, then you can work on something
else. Maybe pick drinking water or exercising as your next goal to
work on. My point is that you don't have to cause yourself unecessary
grief because you feel like you aren't doing everything exactly the
"Weight Watchers" way. Pick small attainable goals (eating your
points, drinking your water) and when you get one of them down then
pick another. I found my weight loss journey to be much easier when I
gave myself a freakin' break. Exercise happened to be my thing that I
just didn't want to do. So, for a long time, I just didn't do it.
But, as the journey wore on, and I started feeling better, and I began
to realize that I lost MORE weight when I exercised, I worked at
finding an activity that I didn't mind doing.

I won't lie to you, it won't be an easy journey. The easy journey got
you to where you are now, and obviously you are not happy with those
results. I know I wasn't. This will be work. This will be a
conscious effort on your part to do SOMETHING DIFFERENT from what you
were doing before. What I've discovered, though, is that "something
different" does not equate to "something bad". It's just different,
and the more you do it the easier it gets. And, eventually, you may
find that you really like some of the changes you've made. You may
develop a taste for vegetables, and will wonder why in the heck you
used to dislike them so much.

Good luck - and don't give up. Lord knows if I can do it, anyone can.

Tracy
225/155/154
Goal 5/7/04





Unfortunately I don't like salsa. I keep seeing pineapple mention
actually and I'm not honestly sure if I like that or not, so I will get one
and try, so thanks for the suggestion.

I wouldn't have said potatoes were veggies either but it's just something
I've heard in the past.

As you say, maybe it isn't a good time to try and diet but to be honest I
don't know when in the last 3 years would be a good time, so I'm doing it
now and have managed for over 2 weeks now. I know that isn't long but it's
not bad considering my past record and keeping up diets so I'm quite pleased
with myself so far.

Cheers Fred,
Geoff.