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Joan, you are not eating anything like enough fruits and vegetables. You need a minimum of five servings a day and should try to get more like nine. you need to add a fruit to all three meals and at least one more vegetable to dinner. Fortunately, they are relatively low in calories, so you can add lots for the 350…

Simple carbs are things that turn to sugar (in the body) fast. Complex carbs take more time to digest and therefore don't play such havoc with insulin. Most of the "white" things are simple carbs - sugar, white bread, white rice, flour. While brown rice, whole wheat flour and whole grain cereals are complex. They take…

A BMI of less than 19 is NOT healthy for a woman. Yours is way at the low end... and basically awesome.

Congrats! and think how much money you just saved by not having to buy two new pair! Climb on!

The whole point of logging is that you cannot lie to yourself when you write down every single thing. It's those two bites of grits on the pancake left on your child's plate that add up to the worst calories, 'cause none of our count them unless we have to. After a couple of months you will think, "I don';t need to log…

JennyFox is right. You will certainly lose weight on 500 calories a day, but you will be burning muscle tissue as well as fat, and you will slow down your metabolism one more time. The minute you stop it, you will yo-yo right back to where you are (or were when you started) and then probably gain MORE. The only way to lose…

Definitely, ONLY weigh once a week (same time, naked, same scales - preferably when you first get up). Increase your exercise if you can, but eat all or most of your exercise calories, and plan better for your times of falling off the wagon. Many good suggestions above, especially water (instead of liquor). You might want…

Are you eating enough calories? There is a huge temptation to not eat enough and the body thinks you are starving and slows down metabolism. You will see the the most often asked question on the board is "do I have to eat all of my exercise calories?" The answer is "yes" - even tho I don't always do that myself. You can…

You can make a sandwich (whole wheat, deli turkey (ham), lettuce, lower fat cheese, mustard) in the morning or the night before and eat that with a piece of fruit, pudding cup (if you need the sweet) and still be around 350. I find that I only need half a sandwich with the fruit. Sometimes I add leftover veggies for…

Sorry, but that doesn't fly. The extra calories that you expend by being "up and about" rather than sleeping are just calories that you burn. They might help you lose an extra ounce today. It may be that if you do it all the time, you should go back to goal setting and re-evaluate your answer to how active you are. Your…

Ok, so you are not going to like this reply, but I hope you will read it anyway. If you are 5'7" and 155 your BMI is already in the healthy, normal range. (It's 24.5 and should be between 19 and 25. Ok, i agree that you are at the high end of normal, but normal none the less.) If you lose 20 pounds, your BMI will drop to…

I agree that a free meal is not a big deal, but a whole day worries me. Either way, tho, you need to own it and LOG it - even if you are 1,000 calories over. And, you need to be sure you get some exercise in that day, so that you balance it out a bit. I don't like the idea of "being good" or "being bad" - there's way too…

You may have two special situations - pregnancy and possibly a sluggish thyroid. Many GP's will accept as low/normal a thyroid level that is really too low. Ask for a referral to a good endocrinologist - at your local medical school if there is one - and get that checked out. Don't know what pregnancy does to thyroid…

I appreciate your response, too. Am fairly new and didn't really understand that. It seemed like less is less, but want to avoid going into "starvation" mode (on one more diet!) and yo yoing myself. thanks for the help.

You should try lifting weights - most women should do some lifting. Start with small weights (3 pounds, maybe) and work up to heavier ones. Lifting will strengthen your arms and back and increase you metabolism to burn more calories. It will also help keep your bones strong (weight bearing exercise). Don't worry about…