Susan,

You are positively awesome. Your post to Polly was SPOT on and applies to each and every one of us. Thank you for your time and insight on this issue. I love this forum and though I do not post very often, I read it every single day.
+1 the above.

This has not been my best week food/exercise-wise. Every few years I have really bad allergies in the spring. This seems to be that year. I don't know what's floating around out there, but my eyes and sinuses are suffering. To sleep, I've been taking benedryl. When the alarm goes off at 4:30 am , I'm still too drugged to force my sorry a$$ out of bed to work out. It doesn't seem to matter how early in the evening I take the meds. Last night I skipped it and was able to get up and did my weights in the cold garage. Yay me . A new day, a new start. But I completely forgot to weigh myself. I'm sure my subconscious mind was at work here. I didn't want to know. I'll report in tomorrow.

I normally eat well. But because I'm short, 5'1", I really need to be more careful with portion size. It's too easy eat the same amount of food that my 5'11" DH eats. He can afford the calories, I can't. I do well all day at work. I bring breakfast, lunch, and snacks with me. All healthy food, portions measured.

My problem begins when I get home at 6 pm. That's when mindless grazing starts. I know I'm doing it, but I seem to make the choice to keep doing it. None of it is "bad" food either, but I don't need to be eating extra calories right before sitting down to eat dinner.

So Susan, your message to Polly hit home with me, too. I thought about it last night as I went into the kitchen. I made a cup of tea, sliced a small apple into thin pieces, and slowing ate that during dinner prep. It seemed to work, so I'll continue and see what happens weight-wise in the next few weeks.

It's really heartening to see that many of you are doing well and slowly taking the weight off. You are all very inspiring and I hope I am able to join your ranks soon. Keep up the great work!

Thanks for listening.