Liz---"I might want to be flossing my arse with the rest of the crowd?"---LOL!!!!

The note above re:cutting out carbohydrates, refined sugar, etc., bears looking into, 17. I've heard from a number of people I know that this approach is really efffective, and they were definitley not starving in the process; one woman I know lost 80 lbs this way, and is still eating meat, fish, veggies & fruits, cheese,normal (not those vile "fat free" things!)salad dressings, etc., just passing up the bread, pasta, potatoes & sweeties.

I'm tempted to give this approach a go as well ina n aeffort to get rid of what I've been unlovingly referring to as my "Christmas bonus". But again, the point is that it's a healthy approach that focusses on eating real foods that are good for you rather than simply restricting.

I think that what really makes "dieting" such a bad thing as a concept is that its purpose seems to be the punishment & deprivation of one's body, sort of as "discipline" for having "allowed" oneself to---horrors!---gain weight. If we were to shift our focus to being GOOD to ourselves, and doing/eating the sorts of things that would help our bodies & minds feel better, I imagine the weight loss industry might go right out of business.

It's worth bearing in mind that a lot of people are getting METAPHORICALLY fat off of making us feel like crap!