Thanks you for your input, DebPenny.

I am re-reading the SP book right now, but at a leisurely pace this time (the first time, I read it in a day or two, just to get the gist of it all). I hope to pick up on the more subtle details this time, as you mention above.

Like you, I have no place in my life for caffeine--and especially artificial sweeteners. I hav enever used AS anyway, save the few times years ago when nutrasweet came out--tried it, gave me a headache and made me really dizzy, never went back. I've always been a PURE SUGAR girl (til now!).

I feel the berries and other fruit choices are wonderfully sweet, and when I do have something--like that muffin at that salad bar--it's sickeningly sweet and I don't desire to go there too often anyway.

I'm really over the caffeine thing, like you, but I do like hot herbal tea, as I have always. I have not found these to be a problem for me and it's something I am not willing to give up. I don't think DR. S would have a problem with herbal teas, as long as they are not really just decaf regular teas or have sweet ingredients in them.

DebPenny, thank you for confirming what I mentioned earlier about getting plenty of carbs in the non-starchy veggies! I thought I read that somewhere in her book the first time, and you have proved I am not going nuts!!! I do eat a lot of salads and veggies, and I enjoy them so.

I have found that my monitoring of the carbs in cream and the wine I cook with, as well as paying closer attention to the "measured carbs" that I have moved the scale again. I think, as you are hinting at, that I was just being a little too lax about making sure that 3/4-cup of blueberries wasn't really a cup plus (!). Add that to all the NS veggies I eat and I can see why I was stalling.

I don't consider a pound a month to be acceptable weight loss for me at this stage. I am extremely heavy and I have a lot of pain in one of my feet that only weight loss will correct--and for other reasons, I need to lose at a faster rate--even a pound a week would be acceptable. While I realize that we all must be patient and lose weight sensibly and at our own healthy rate, when one weighs well over 300 pounds, 4 pounds a month is NOT too much to ask.

I am starting to see the results of a new fitness plan, as well as the much closer monitoring of just my carb intake, and I hope these two subtle changes will be the kick in my weight loss pants.

I know I would like to say that I am only doing this for my health and that any weight loss is only the added bonus. But in reality, when you are as big as I am, weight loss IS the ONLY chance at health b/c there are so many complications from the huge amounts of fat. I won't get detailed here, but suffice it to say that my overweight body (mainly my super sized stomach where I carry 90 percent of my fat) is causing me great health problems--just "feeling better" isn't enough for me. I need to lose the weight faster than one pound a month. One pound a week is a small and safe percentage for me to lose, and it's my goal.

Well, sorry to go on again, I guess I don't post too much but I make the most of my posts when I do.

All the best to you all. --TheBetty