Results!

I followed the calorie guidelines that mfp gave me - loosely when things were going easily, and more strictly with measuring cups and food scales if I stopped losing. Also, I found that 1200 calories was not a lot of food for me - so I exercised a lot and ate the calories back and I felt great - both from the endorphins from exercise and the extra food.

When I started this, it had been a few years since I'd hit the gym, so I need to start slow at the beginning. I started with couch25k. After that, then I hit the treadmill, jogged outside (last year was a mild winter), and picked up a couple of Jillian Michael's DVD's - I pretty much only used those when I didn't want to leave the house (or when I couldn't leave the house - at home with sleeping kids).

I didn't eat anything special - my husband does most of the cooking and I didn't want to impose on him. So I ate smaller portions of the foods we always eat. I also didn't carry cash on me at work so that the vending machines wouldn't be a temptation.

Also, I found easy things to do to displace the time/pleasure I found in snacking or baking cookies with the kids, etc. I mean, it was fun to wake up in the morning and find I was down a pound, but then what? I found new-to-me TV shows, even just spending time looking at people's before/after pictures on here during the time of night I normally snacked was an inspiring way to stay on track. I found the Hunger Games series and they were page turners for me, I couldn't put the books down to get up and find a snack. I looked up people I'd fallen out of touch with. I never get enough sleep, so if I was tempted to have a late night snack, then why not sleep and feel refreshed the next day? I was never an emotional eater, for me it was just at the end of the day there's a little extra time before going to bed to use for myself and I'd use it to bake brownies - so I had to change that.