StenoLady1

Welcome!

Try taking baby steps. I think you're doing too much in one shot, feeling deprived after a few days, then going back to old habits. A diet doesn't have to equal only salads and low-fat foods. Actually, depending on what's going in and on top of that salad, it could be a diet wrecker. I find a lot of processed low-fat foods to be very unsatisfying and I'm left even hungrier.

When you're out at restaurants, get proactive. Find out how foods are prepared. I personally have much more success with mom-and-pop type places than chains. The mom-and-pop pizzeria, in my experience, is often very proud and happy to share the fact they use very few chemicals, prepare everything from scratch and will be much more accommodating to your requests than, say, Pizza Hut.

Beer...former beer lover myself. Not light beers, either. The darker, heavier, the better (Gosh, Europe is a beer drinker's heaven!). Took some getting used to, but I've switched to wine or a vodka tonic. For one thing, wine will go right to your head. You really don't need much wine to catch a nice buzz. Most seasoned wine drinkers will tell you that you need to drink water with it, at the very least, a glass of water in between glasses of wine. The are technically unnecessary calories, but if you like to drink and let it loose once in a while, 600 calories of wine is better than 3,500 from a night of beer drinking. Red wine in particular is exploding in the media for all its antioxidants, too.

I saw something on the Today Show a while back about things you can do in your hotel room to exercise. I can't remember the specifics, but I'm sure you can do an online search to find exercises you can do easily in your room. If you're staying in hotels in a decent area, go on brisk walks. I'm sure this would be mentally stimulating, as well, when you're abroad. Take in the sights and people watch while you're walking and exercising.

My hubby and I have lost over 100 pounds combined since last July, and 90 percent of our exercise routine was a brisk daily walk. It's easy on the knees and very exhilarating.

Don't forget it took years to put the weight on. You've developed habits in that time that you will need to break one at a time. No one would tell a violent person addicted to drugs and alcohol, "Tomorrow, you can't be violent anymore and you have to stop drugs and alcohol." This takes time, as well as identifying and addressing your individual weaknesses and triggers. If you fall off the "wagon" so to speak for a day or two, don't fret. Tomorrow's a new day and get right back on.

Best of luck to you!