JJ amd Kate...I couldn't agree with you more...the key to successful weightloss is coming to the realization that that we are doing it for ourselves...I was a yo-yo dieter for 20 years ...gaining and then losing the same blasted 30 lbs..but always for a particular reason...a wedding..a vacation...a reunion...I'd diet my head off and once the event had passed and the incentive no longer was dangling in front of me I'd fall back into my old bad eating habits...weekly stops at Cinnabon, Dairy Queen, and other "emotional eaters" hangouts...my epiphany happened while moving Daddy to his new apartment after Mommy died..after only 2 trips up the steps carrying boxes my heart was thumping in my chest and I could barely breathe...it scared the stuffins out of me...after seeing a cardiologist who put me on the South Beach Diet I lost 35 pounds and began to feel energized and healthier than I had in years...i like feeling that way and I never want to feel the other way again...so now when I pass by Cinnabon or Dairy Queen I don't even feel the urge to stop...because my emotional fix comes from my ability to jog around the park easily with nary a huff or a puff...the added bonus to feeling healthy is a thinner body and being able to zip up my jeans easily...a few short years ago I had to lay flat on the bed and suck in my belly before I could coax that zipper up the track..so...the point of this long winded tale is...weight loss is a personal choice for ourselves..to make us FEEL better...and if the end result makes us look better then that is simply the icing on the cake (lowfat angel food cake of course!)