Leah..nice to meet you all :)

Hi, My name is Leah. I am almost 50 and weigh 166. One day at the Dr's I got on the scale and was stunned to realize that I was within the 25 lbs range of topping 200. I am also in the middle of menopause complete with a new weight gain at the stomach..Menopot belly eeuuw.. I thought the weight was bloat..ha...the weight was WEIGHT. That day I started dieting and I've lost about 15 lbs thus far. Keeping the food diary pretty good except for Fri/Sat, but my scale simply won't move. This week I've decided to track Fri/Sat. AND eat all my excercise calories. I mean a see a infestimal slide down on the scale needle and actually I was able to fit into a size 12 skirt this week! !! Zipped and buttoned! but that scale has me bummed OUT. I went to the wrong rack and tried on 2 dresses and they fit tightly..I was depressed as hell until I looked at the tags UNBELIEVING that I had fatted up that much and found that they were 12"s not my usual 14's!! Happy Dance Happy Dance...BUT...here the bad.... I've been avoiding my excercise calories because it is hard for me to figure out what a healthy snack is. I do a lot of AMY's Frozen meal...for the calorie counts...and salad/oatmeal. When it is late at night...I figure well a glass of wine is over a hundred..I'll have that..then I don't want to eat! So strategy change. Track all calories and eat the excercise ones back until I am at my goal. I am very nervous about this as it's only been 2 weeks since my intake has dropped and the weight loss slowed so I don't know if that was enough to drive me into Starvation Mode. My trainer at the Gym has advised AGAINST doing this because I am trying to lose weight...So I read the boards here..especially BANKS post and am going to give it a shot. I sure hope I don't gain weight this week I also need to space my calories out so that I don't have a huge amount left and it's 10:30 at night. Lastly I am going to make better food choices..nuts, peanut butter and apple...that stuff. I am heading out to the Gym now...hope this strategy works.. L::ohwell: