Poatato,

Thanks for the nice response...I expected to get blasted by everyone! You are sooo right, we all have food issues or we wouldn't be here. Reguardless of the issue itself, we need support and we all understand that food is a weakness, one way or another! "It is so crazy", I think in my good moments..."it's just a friggen cookie"! Two days later, after feeling so empowered, I am binging and then, sometimes purging! The truth is, it is just a friggen cookie...why can't we get passed it?

I have been home all day cooking and baking for my little girls 3rd birthday party tomorrow. I have been making this elaborate cake and haven't licked my finger one time...the house smells of cake and I feel really good about not having any. Let's hope I still feel that way tomorrow at the party!

Anyway, body image is completely different. I think that as long as you can admit (because of the scale or the mirror or the measuring tape) that you are making progress, you're doing great!

May I say that the suggestion to perhaps seek counseling is probably a good one. I lost 120 lbs and kept it off for ten years. I LOOKED SO GOOD! I LOVED looking in the mirror, clothes shopping and just getting out and being SEEN! Unfortunately, having been that large, and then that thin, I put ALL of my sense of self-esteem in my thin beautiful self! Over a few years I've gained thirty-some pounds, and I have to say I have felt so rotten about how I look that I have avoided social gatherings, and even dread just going to work or the grocery store. I'm working on these issues with a counselor now, but still feel my feelings of success as a person are too closely tied to my weight.
Face it-weight loss is great. Looking good is great. We all get old and things change. It is crucial to figure out things about yourself that you can love and value that are not skin deep, and subject to change.