Hi Cori,

I've been watching this thread for the past few days, wondering what I could add since I truly don't know what makes the difference between success and failure.

I think the biggest thing for me has to be the single-minded determination that I am not going to be fat any more. I didn't start in June 2003 with that determination but it has grown and built up over the past months until I am as much a WOE zealot as I am a reformed smoker.

Everyone has so many complex psychological things going on in their own lives that I don't think there is a magic key that we can all turn and somehow make it happen.

Maybe one suggestion is to look at something else in your life where you are successful and/or dedicated and try to extrapolate that committment into this issue (like marriage, religion, work, a hobby or volunteer work). If we could all put into ourselves what we put into our hobbies, we would all be smashing successes!

Good luck and I hope your struggling opens up into a bright sunny day for you.

Louise