Finally!  I can report that the food choices and portion sizes that I've been making in the past week and a half have been pretty good.  There's a real sense of accomplishment when you do what you're supposed to be doing! It probably makes it harder (what else is new!!?) that I stay away from protein shakes and protein bars and drastic cutting of calories to lose weight because if I do that (and yes - been there, done that), I don't learn anything about portion sizes and being conscious of calories.  I absolutely don't want to do the yo-yo thing anymore.  I would always lose weight and then after going back to real food, here came the weight again.  This time around HAS to be for good -- and with REAL food.  I'm making sure that I'm eating from every food group and it's best to stick with food that I like to eat.  (I know that Greek yogurt is a wonder-food but not if it makes you gag!  To me, low-fat, low calorie cheese tastes like the plastic wrapping, and if I want an egg, I eat the whole thing - yolk and all!).  Salads are also okay occasionally but only occasionally.  (I always think I'm going to start eating more salads (usually when I'm standing in the produce section of the grocery store), but after I get it home, it just sits in the frig and turns into yucky goo.) There are two "D" words that I have to avoid when working on healthy eating:  Deserve and Deprive.  I cannot tell myself that I "deserve" to eat something because usually that "something" is pretty high-calorie and I need to re-think how to reward myself without involving food.  And if I fall into the trap of thinking that I'm "depriving" myself by eating more healthy, that will sabotage any best-laid plan in a heartbeat!  That's why I have to eat a variety of foods that I like so that this healthy eating and exercise lifestyle isn't a "punishment", but a reward in itself by having more energy, feeling better, looking better, and not having to rely on medications to keep systems in check! And all of the above sounds so good (and I know it's true!) and in the past four months since the contest began I haven't followed one bit of this advice or listened to one word of my own or anybody else's pep talks. (lalalalalalala)  The result has been weight gain which is not a surprise.  Hopefully now the advice will stick in the brain for awhile and not just go in one ear and out the other!  One day at a time -- Barb