Food and booze make me happy, this is going to be tough!!

Well, the great thing about losing weight by calorie deficit is that you don't have to entirely give up any of the foods or drinks that you love. You almost certainly won't get as much of them as you want, or have in the past, but at least you don't have to cut them out forever.
As far as being happier with being healthier, it really depends on your priorities, and only you can really address that.

I am admittedly not the biggest exerciser out there. I have never been on a treadmill and don't go to a gym and know nothing about lifting. But as a person who loves craft beer and chocolate...and loves trying all types of food...I think it is important to get active if you're not already. For me it would be a very sad life indeed to give up all of the "bad" food, treats and alcohol. Instead I go on 7-10 mile walks across my city, moderate lengthy hikes (locally and when traveling), bike rides, etc. Then indulge. It makes it even better in a way. Hiking for 4 hours on a Saturday through mountainous terrain and then sitting down to a chicken fried steak with gravy or a giant bowl of bibimbap. I sit at a desk all day M-F and eat pretty low calorie, so when I have opportunities to get in a bunch of exercise I take it and use it to my advantage. I used to weigh 307 and now I'm in the low 170s which for a woman of 5'8" is still overweight but you can believe I feel and look much better...even with lots of bad food and drink! If I can do it, I'm sure you can too. I am now in my second marriage and way happier than I've ever been. I was divorced at 35 (also after 10 yrs of marriage) around the time I started making all of these changes...best thing I've done, all around.

cbraitch wrote: »

Good point Jennifer. When you have my personality type excess in itself gives me pleasure. To other people excess is offensive to them and they would consider people like me to be 'greedy', whilst I would consider them to be 'dull'. But there's got to be a happy medium and as you say it's a debit/credit system that means there aren't any real no-no's. Figured I'd kick off now before Jan so not to be too cliche! Ha ha.

I understand that....sometimes you just want a lot of something! But, like @seltzermint555 said, there are ways to make it work for you!