I agree, Zulekia - these are excellent questions.

#1 I am in lockstep with Deb. I dieted and dieted and didn't lose. But then the other side came along - with the food obsessions and secretly eating. And never feeling like I had enough to eat, even when I felt physically stuffed - like how can you be stuffed and still hungry? Anyway, I really felt like I was "bad" for not being able to control my eating. I didn't really recognize cravings as cravings. I just thought wanting cookies 24 hours a day was normal.

#2 I went on Weight Watchers after my first baby, and lost fairly well. But then I had another baby & WW didn't work quite so well. Eventually it quit working all together, but for many years I kept working at the low-fat diet with plenty of good low-fat fruits, veggies, whole grains, etc. This is basically how I gained my weight.

5 years ago I started eating higher protein (at the suggestion of a personal trainer) and felt better immediately & my weight pretty much stabilized - I didn't lose but felt better & still had some cravings.

Then I started Atkins just before a wedding in 2000 & that was the ultimate kid in candy store experience. Tartar sauce on fish! Full fat dressing! Omelette with sour cream & real cheese! Peanut butter! Real mayo - things I had not had in years. Feeling full & satisfied for hours between meals. After about 8 months on Atkins and no weight loss, I ran out of energy & my hair loss was getting noticable. I didn't know how to figure out my 'critical carb level for losing' if I wasn't losing.

Then I bumped around with some different diets BFL, Schwarzbein, Fat flush & Zone. I just couldn't stick to them, and will not settle for feeling "bad" anymore.

Way more than anyone wanted to know... Later!

Lila