OK, well, I don't think I need to tell you that cake and sweet
biscuits are not the best things to eat for weight loss! There's
little nutrition there and LOTS OF CALORIES!

Chocolate, if good dark chocolate, is not that bad for you if eaten in
moderation. Perhaps a couple squares a day. Look for nice Lindt 85%
bars.

If you are comfort eating, you need to figure out why you need so much
comfort and try to reduce the need. You may also want to see if you
can start forming a habit of doing something ELSE for comfort, rather
than eating. I'm not saying it's an easy habit to break, but it's
going to be necessary for long term success.

You can't walk off that much in calories that you are taking in extra
with the sweets, so you need to reduce the eating of same, if not
eliminate it. As for the sweet tooth, you may be able to reduce that
by eating primarily lower on the carb scale for a while. But that's
going to take will power to cut out the starchy sweets and just stick
to vegetables and possibly some low carb fruits for a bit. If you can,
you may be able to reduce cravings for the cakes and whatnot.

I used to think that I HAD to have bread, rice, grains, and chips all
the time and that life would hardly be worth living if I didn't, but
those are now occasional items in my diet, not constant ones. And I
try very hard to eat the starchy (or occasionally sugary) carbs after
a good exercise session, rather than just anytime, because your body
can use the carbs best then.

At any rate, if you want it bad enough, you can make the adjustments,
not easy, but do-able.

Sounds like you might be self medicating with food.  Have you been under
stress?  Unusually tired?  depressed?

Hi Gen

My main word of advice is .... willpower.  It is easier said than done
though isn't it?! When I decided I had to to do "something" about myself, I
too went to a dietician.  She was about 21 and a size 8.  We really didn't
click.  I suppose she tried to force me down to a really restricted diet and
made me feel like a failure.  I eventually changed to another, older
dietician and we got along much better.  She was still stick thin but she
understood about stuffing your face.  She didn't change much about the way I
was eating by then, but she did hand me a brochure about the CSIRO's Health
and Wellbeing Diet. Look around for a second hand copy, or borrow it from
your library.  I found a review of the book here
http://www.smartshape.com.au/a/680.html and looked on the CSIRO website
http://www.csiro.gov.au/ but they don't have the brochure for download
anymore.  They do have other info though.

Other things that worked for me included taking my measurements occasionally
(including weight) and writing them down with the date.  Counting calories
or Kj and keeping a food and activity record.  Find Allan Borushek's Pocket
guides at the chemist or bookshop - they are great.  Also I have a pocket GI
values guide.  These two together let me make the best possible choice about
what to put in my mouth - the slice of bread should be the best piece of
bread.  Do you have a pedometer?  They say we should take 10 000 steps a
day - that seems a lot, but it gives you a goal to strive towards.

Did the doctor or dietician say what sort of calorie/Kj intake they wanted
you on?  One of my drs tried to get me down to 500 calories which was
ridiculous - I was usually somewhere between 800 - 1000 calories, but it
didn't have a good effect on my health, so I would advise strongly not to be
so strict.  You may find that you need to supplement your diet with a
multivitamin - go for a good one like Blackmores, it's worth the extra
dollars (remember Pan).

If you find that you are breaking out with the lollies and biccies, I will
share a strategy I used.  I binged one day.  I had a big bag of allsorts and
a multipack of chips (because I wanted the different flavours all at once!)
and I was ashamed of myself.  So I portioned out the remains of the lollies
into some snaplock bags and bundled them and the chips into a shoebox and
sent them to live at my sister's house.  It worked well for me, as I could
get a small amount of these without having to buy the whole lot.  I don't
know why it took the pressure off, but it did.  Just knowing they were there
when I wanted them helped.  Well it worked until I found unexpectedly that
my sister had been eating them.................(Hey, I'm the youngest of 8 -
I have issues with my siblings eating my food!!)

If you read alt.support.diet.low-carb as well (minus all the spam and
trolls) there are some really knowledgeable people who can tell you all
about carb cravings - that is that some carb foods will make you crave more
carbs.  I found their advice useful in cutting down (not out) the amount of
carbs I was eating.  You must admit all the Australian recipe magazines base
their recipes around either rice, pasta or potatoes.  It always forms the
main portion of the dish in the photos.  I think you would be surprised at
the recommended serving size of rice and pasta - I know I was.  It was
easier to go without.

Would you have more success with a more structured program to follow?  Do
you have a local Weight Watchers?  How about a Curves or Healthy
Inspirations, or even Fernwood, though I wouldn't recommend them.  Sometimes
just the support of others on a regular basis will keep your motivation up.
I suppose there is always LiteN'Easy as well if controlling what goes into
the shopping trolley in the first place is an issue.

Good luck

Chris
NSW

ps you are new to usenet - I don't think you have fudged your posting
address.  This will mean that automatic address harvesters have taken your
details and you will have a lot of spam now.  You might notice others have
added some sort of rubbish to their real email address to fool them - you
should adjust your email address in your mail reader.