LOL, Don, disposable clothes...great idea. It DOES get tricky about fitting into clothes, and what you do with the clothes that don't fit. My "heavy" clothes no longer fit me, b/c of the weight loss, but now I can fit into wonderful clothes I wore BEFORE I gained weight.

I've also bought new clothes (lots for the cruise) and use them as a motivation NOT to re-gain the weight, b/c they'd never fit if I were to gain the weight back. Everytime I get cravings for some kind of binge, I look at the adorable new outfits I bought and I lose the urge REAL QUICK, LOL. Oh, BTW, thanks for the tip about alcohol---I never knew that it interfered in that manner with fat-burning. Not that I'll stop drinking wine, LOL, but at least I'll know what to blame stalled progress on, LOL.

Cyndi--We're about the same age (I'm 53) and I KNOW what you mean about how much harder it is to lose weight at this age. I actually was kind of plateaued for about a month, but am now showing some (slow) renewed progress. Like you, I NEVER want to have that weight again....this will have to become a way of life....even on the cruise, I'll try to avoid really fattening stuff...although I'll indulge more than I do here at home.

As for my diet---I follow an overall regimine, rather than a particular "diet." I watch calories, fat and empty carbs, but do keep some luxuries.

I have a couple of systems that really help. For lunch (if I'm at work and have to eat out), I order a salad with maybe some chicken, and use only a vinager based dressing, and make sure there are no "cheat" things in the salad (like tortilla chips, etc.). If I'm at home, I'll make a salad (with no meat, but a little feta cheese) OR haul out my wok and stir fry a little chicken with scallions and other ingredients (depending on what's around). Yesterday, after church, I had a craving to treat myself to a nice lunch, so I stir fried chicken, scallions, in a nice seasoned wok oil, added about a tablespoon of a not-too-fattening Thai peanut sauce (45 cal per tablespoon) and a small handful of dry roasted peanuts...(a luxury, but they really made the dish). Needless to say, I did NOT make rice with this. It was yummy and healthy.

For dinner, I follow a routine almost every day. At the beginning of each week, I made an enormous bowl of fresh salad brimming with good stuff--dark greens, scallions, grape tomatoes, baby gourmet carrots, red cabbage. I then put it in a huge zippered freezer bag and have fresh salad every night without having to chop and prepare....Every dinner, I fill about 2/3 of my plate with a heap of this salad. I then sprinkle 1 oz of Feta cheese (it adds zing) and a small handfull of roasted sunflower kernels (a small cheat) for fun, and a TON of freshly ground cracked pepper. I use regular dressing, but it's pretty low in calories---KRAFT Roasted Red Pepper Italian.

Then, for my entree, I eat whatever dish I've cooked---might be a really fresh, healthy pasta sauce with a small amount of pasta, or a delicious chili (which I made last night from a new cookbook), with a small tortilla or a tiny bit of rice, or any other dish that's relatively healthy and doesn't have fattening ingredients. Oh, BTW, I use 4% fat ground beef when I use ground beef. I use olive oil in almost all of my cooking.....I DO love to cook and there are TONS of healthy but satisfying recipies that aren't just "diet" food.

Anyway, part of my "trick" is I make myself eat the huge amount of salad first before I touch whatever else is on my plate. I've actually come to LOVE that salad....by the time I've eaten it all, I'm pretty full and then don't feel deprived eating such a small portion of dinner, and am NOT tempted to go back for seconds...something that was hard until I discovered the stuff-myself=with-salad trick. Truthfully, this portion-control is a big factor in my overall weight loss. I used to eat heaping amounts of main course AND go back for 2nds and even 3rds.

I do enjoy wine with dinner. I avoid keeping anything junky or fattening around the house, so if I do get a craving (for say, microwave popcorn) there isn't any, LOL. I do "cheat" in the mornings and add real cream and sugar to my coffee...that's probably a couple of hundred calories right there!!! I don't drink regular sodas (I've always prefered diet) and don't have a sweet tooth, thankfully.

That's pretty much my daily routine, has been since November, and the weight really has come off.... I could get even stricter, but I'd rather diet moderately this way then live with misery and then rebound from the deprivation by returning to old ways. This chili I made last night was DELICIOUS, and since made with 4% beef is pretty healthy.

Let me know any tips or ideas that have worked for you--maybe I can incorporate them. What a great board to swap ideas. :)