Trying to reach goal and believe I can finally get there

I gained 50 pounds in less than a year. It was so hard for me because I didn't change my eating habits, and even tried dieting. I just didn't understand how I could gain so much. It actually caused me to have severe depression which made the weight even harder to lose. Over the years I would gain and lose weight like crazy. I'd go down 5 pounds, then up 15 as an example. I just couldn't understand what was going on to cause the major fluctuations.

I finally found out that I had a medical condition, and to my surprise it caused weight gain with no explained reason. I am now on the correct medication to help my problem. It doesn't cure me, but it allows me to lose weight, and it controls all the other problems I have. I have to diet, and am currently on a 1200 calorie diet plan, but at least I have a chance to lose the weight now.

I have found in the past that posting on here for motivation and support has really helped me because when other people know of my struggles they are very supportive. Beyond the support, it gives me a reason to strive to lose the weight because I want to have a success story which makes others hopeful that they can lose the weight.

Being larger than I have ever been in my life is really hard for me, and it is hard for my husband too (not because he is disgusted with me, but because he hates seeing me sad).

I certainly don't expect the weight to come off immediately; I know it's going to take a long time to lose 50 pounds. I do however expect that with proper diet and exercise it will eventually come off. I have already lost a little weight. I don't know if my goal is possible as I have never been the weight that I hope to be. However, I hope that I will at least get down to a healthy weight.

I am hoping to hear some success stories from others. This will help motivate me to stick with it. I am hoping that the way I am dieting will continue to be as easy as it is now. As I said, I take in 1200 calories a day through eating small, relatively healthy meals. I find that doing this has been the easiest way to lose weight ever for me. I am full because I am eating often, and I don't crave junk anymore because I do stay full.

In the past I did many different diets. I think the hardest one for me was the every other day diet. Number one, I don't feel it was very healthy. How is it healthy to eat 500 calories one day, then whatever you want the next day? Even though you may lose weight I just don't think it's a very healthy way to do so. This isn't to say that I think fasting sometimes is a bad thing; I just don't think fasting every other day is a very good thing.

I started the every other day diet because I didn't have to completely cut out crappy foods. I was really worried that cutting out the junk food would be too hard for me. I had used junk food as a comfort tool most of my life. I absolutely had to stop this diet due to the medication I was put on. My 500 calorie days would cause hypoglycemic episodes, and my eat whatever days would make my blood sugar spike to ridiculous levels. My dr. made it very clear that the only way to stop these things from happening was to eat small, healthy meals throughout the day.

I have heard stories of people who do a 1200-1400 calorie diet and end up binging because they hit a plateau. I am scared to death this will happen to me eventually and the weight I have lost will slowly creep up again. Can anyone tell me how they have gotten through this stage?

Any motivation, or success stories will absolutely be helpful to me. Thank you for the support, and congratulations to anyone who has a great success story.