Hi Lexi,

If you don't have any health problems that affect your diet, focusing on high-fiber items will help you as you lose weight. Eating whole grain breads and cereals will help you feel more full when you eat them, and also stay in your system longer so you'll feel less hungry as you are losing weight. Eating a big salad at least once a day is helpful (I eat one at lunch daily). Lettuce has a lot of fiber, helps you feel full, and lettuce has very few calories. If you use Romaine lettuce or one of the other unusual lettuce, you get more vitamins too - just be careful not to use too much dressing and to use a reduced-calorie dressing if possible.

Focusing more on fruits and vegetables is helpful, and eating small amounts of lean meats (poultry, fish, etc.). Learning portion sizes is also helpful - they are smaller than what is commonly served in restaurants, for instance, and that is one of the things which helped me. I cut down my portions a lot when I lost weight.

I also ate on a schedule and cut out snacking, which helped me a great deal. Each person needs to find what works for them, but I eat three meals a day at scheduled times with no snacking inbetween, and that is what works best for me. I do have treats now and then, but I cut back on the goodies a lot. If I want a treat now, I try to make it a healthy treat, like getting strawberries, or cherries - which are special for me. Or sometimes having a fig newton or a few animal cookies. I used to have way too many treats! I think I used to use food as a way to comfort myself, which happens to a lot of people. I had to learn to listen to my body and hear when it was hungry or not, and only eat when it was hungry and until I took the edge off the hunger. That took me awhile to figure out.

I don't know if any of this will help - if not feel free to ignore it. There are also really great support groups like Weight Watchers, and TOPS (Take Off Pounds Sensibly). These may not be something that you'd be interested in, but I have friends who've done both programs and found them quite helpful, so I thought I would mention them.

Wishing you all the best.....

Take care,
ErinBear