Hi Ashley-

First off- give yourself credit for even have stuck to the walking thing for two weeks- some people don't even do that much. To focus on what you haven't done is a little self-defeating.

Think about how great it felt when you had your little routine of walking and use that as part of the motivation to start up again.

One you get into that routine again - it will get easier and easier as it just becomes a part of your life. So what if you fell out of that routine? Just start it back up - it isn't like you used up your chances...

It took me three attempts to quit smoking. Each time I would think - UUUGH here we go again - but I'd have some success and it would motivated me.. if I slipped up - so be it - I just dusted myself off anf tried again.

Don't be down on yourself because you might fail a few times-- save that for when you just give up period.

A great motivation is to have a friend go with you - someone who will really stick with you. If you can afford it- get a gym membership and sign up for a class. Get to know the instructor. Get to know someone in class. It's harder to skip class if you feel like you are letting them down by not being there.

If you have a dog- walk him twice a day at least.. He has to poop. You may as well take him out.

Go somewhere FUN. Amusement parks, a museum, the mall - anywhere where you have to trek around. Even if you take a single step - it's better than sitting on the couch doing nothing.

Forget people saying "Think Big" - think TINY. Don't think of having to lose 100 lbs. Think about losing TWO pounds. Then another two. Otherwise losing five pounds will seem like a failure rather than an achievement.

Be creative with food.

Here are a few of my favorite snacks:

1. Frozen cherries. Yep. That simple. Go get some cherries. Throw them in a bag in the freezer. When they are mostly frozen (or even frozen solid) chow down - so simple yet so damn good. I discovered that tasty treat when I was a kid. We would go cherry picking and my mother would freeze a lot of the cherries to use in pies later on. I'd steal a bag and chomp away merrily. The other thing that is great about this is when they start to melt - who cares? All that drips off of them is water - unlike ice cream which leaves a sticky mess.

2. Low Cal/Low Carb/Low Fat
Best .
Shake.
Ever.

With a total of 1 gram of fat, 3 grams of carbs, and about 30 calories - this is easy and good and doesn't taste like %#@&#! like a lot of low-fat/low cal/low carb stuff does. All you do is pour half of a container of Dannon's Low Carb fruit smoothie yogurt drink in a little tupperware container. Toss it in the freezer. (Yes. I will try to freeze pretty much anything... Frozen apple sauce is good...) When the yogurt is frozen put the container in warm water to loosen the sides a little. When that happens - dump the frozen blob into the blender. With a knife (or whatever- I just found a knife works best) kinda hack apart the yogurt into little pieces (sometimes the frozen yogurt will sit atop the blades rather than get into them so you end up blending nothing...), toss in a few ice cubes - maybe two or three and a splash or two of no fat milk. If you are feeling daring - toss in a small slice of peeled granny smith apple. Blend away until it looks good. This will give you a pretty decent sized shake - I'd guess 16 oz? Tasty and you don't feel guilty.

3. Alien Pizza. (Don't ask.) This won't cool you down - but it's another mostly guilt-free yum-yum. Now- let me preface this by saying I am not a huge fan of cottage cheese - the consistancy is icky and as a rule I think it tastes like an old sneaker freshly yanked out of someone's butt- so when I say this will be good- trust me.

Anyhow so you take a 6" corn tortilla (or flour - you won't really taste a difference but you will see a difference in calories and stuff...). Toss it in a pie pan (which hopefully will be just a little smaller than the tortilla... if not- no big deal - this isn't really going to look real neat at the end anyhow... But it tastes great..) spread on some tomato sauce (probably works out to about a quarter cup) and then spread on about two tablespoons of no fat cottage cheese. Bake for about 8 minues at 375 - I suppose you could microwave it but I haven't tried it... When it's done you have this huge cheesy, tomatoy mess that tastes great and is pretty damn filling. Sure it looks like an alien died in the pan - but who cares? Total damage after? If you used the corn tortilla you end up with about 13.5 grams of carbs, 120 calories and less than 1 gram of fat. If you went with the flour tortilla - 29 grams of carbs 190 calories and about 3.5 grams of fat - still not bad when you consider ONE serving of a tombstone pizza (132 g) is 306 calories (124 of those from fat), 14 grams of fat, and 31 grams of carbs... Now seriously- who eats one sliver of pizza? You may as well just double or triple those numbers. Let's put it this way - a whole tombstone pizza is 1497 calories (604 from fat), 67 grams of fat, and 152 carbs. Do the math to guestimate how much you'd eat... Which is another good thing about alien pizza - it's super filling AND it's portion controlled.

Good luck kiddo!