Well, do you want to lose weight or not?

Cyn, I don't post here anymore, but I saw this thread and felt really
sympathetic.  This is not a very supportive ng at all, at the moment.  It
has been quite different from time to time in the past, but at the moment
this group is prone to name-calling, "tough love," and ignorant
calorie-counting regardless of health considerations.  My advice is to read
this post and then run away  :-)

Here's a good link for general education about health and fitness for women:
http://www.stumptuous.com/cms/index.php  Click on the "eating" link to learn
a lot about diet.

But your post indicates you don't necessarily want to become a nutritional
expert as much as you want to just lose the weight by next year.  So . . . .

The most idiot-proof, step-by-step, healthy diet I've seen lately is "The
Abs Diet,"
http://www.amazon.com/Abs-Diet-Six-Week-Flatten-Stomach/dp/1594862168/ref=ed_oe_
p/002-8845265-9048012
The whole "abs" focus is a gimmick (which weakens the book, of course), but
the overall health and nutrition stuff in the book is based on rock-solid
research.  It's written for men, by the editors of Men's Health Magazine,
but the diet and exercise routine will work just as well for women, and it's
really idiot-proof and healthy.  It's not a fad diet, it's simple shopping
lists, meal-planning lists, exercise explanations, and "cheat sheets" that
anybody could happily and healthily and easily following for a lifetime.

A similarly sensible, though less research-based book is "Fight Fat," by
the editors of Prevention magazine.  It was written for women.   It's out of
print, but you can get it for a penny plus shipping and handling from
http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/087596480X/sr=1-1/qid=1166824274/ref=pd_b
bs_1/002-8845265-9048012?ie=UTF8&s=books .
The bottom line diet on pages 35-36 is a lot like Weight Watchers, but the
overall program focusses much more on a nutrionally balanced diet and it is
not based on calorie-counting.  It's not as "idiot-proof" as the "Abs Diet"
program, and you'll eventually need to supplement the nutritional wisdom
with info from a less simplistic resource
like www.stumptuous.com (especially the stumptuous section on EFA's) but
it's still quite simple and healthy for a beginner.

Another good book is "Body for Life," by Bill Phillips, which you can
probably get from the library.  His program is idiot-proof, healthy, and
comprehensive.  My main quibble with this program is that it advocates
exercising on an empty stomach.  IMHO, that burns more muscle than fat.
Also, the earlier editions of his book have some erroneous info about
"supplements," so just ignore that chapter.

If you go ahead and start the Abs Diet (that goofy name really annoys me,
but it's a good program) and then start educating and motivating yourself
with some of the other reading I've recommended, you *can* lose the weight
you want without having to become a fitness expert, or go hungry, or do
anything you wouldn't want to do for the rest of your long and healthy life.

Don't be surprised if a shitstorm ensues on this thread after my post.  I
won't post to this thread anymore. If you want to to e-mail me, feel free.
Just take "bitemespammer." out of my e-mail addy.

ep

The mayo clinic has some sample menus in their nutrition/diet section.
Else there are a number of commercial establishments that will do exactly
what you want.  Or there are books and web pages with menus and eating
plans.

It would be better if you could take responsibility for yourself, but if
that won't work ....

Or you could take the plan that I have done in the past and some on the
group seem to do and eat nearly the same thing in the same amount every
day, at least for a couple of meals.

del

It was good advice, if a little grumpily delivered.

Neil
385/275/220