Hi...

The hardest part is over ... recognizing your need to be a thin person and taking the first steps to make a thinner you materialize!

I prefer an eating plan that is not a complicated one. One that the results of "staying the course" are evident in a short period of time. This works for me. Allow myself to eat up to 60 carbs a day. Lately I haven't come close to my daily quota! I don't do bread ... treats or low carb candy bars...keep an eye on fat content and keep portions reasonable and have reasonable expectations as to how long it should take to get the weight off.

Having people around that support you makes it a lot easier to reach your goal. This way of eating will carry over to the way that you can control your weight for as long as you chose to be thin.

Some snacks that I enjoy are bell peppers cut into chunks and dipped into cream cheeze with just a touch of soy sauce, or chopped liver and eggs served on celery sticks. If I must snack. I love cottage cheeze and if I am having a food attack I will add some fruit and a few walnuts and mix that with the cottage cheeze for a treat. I can snack on pork rinds or stringbeans if I have to...but I will not raise a spoon or a fork loaded with cabohydrates to my mouth.

I regularly make a pot of cabbage soup and this varies from with tomatoes to without tomatoes and keep one on hand at all times or a pot of chicken soup. This will allow an easy to fix meal in a few minutes heated in the microwave. Eating foods that are high protein is not cheap...so I look for specials at the meat counter and stock up... a thin cut pork chop for breakfast with an egg is a treat for me! (I have lots of great recipies!)

If you enjoy cooking ...stuffed peppers are ideal and so is rolled cabbage. A good roast with limited potatoes and carrots hits the spot and the left overs can be made into beanless chili and served over franks.... I eat limited amount of fruit... peaches, strawberries, grapefruit...and combine them with sour cream at times. Salads are always on the menu and Spinich, eggs and bacon with hot dressing is a favorite of mine....hope this helps...just stay focused on the image of the person that you would like to see staring back at you from the mirror and before long she will be!

Gwen