I heard today on Today that a good starting point on a diet is to make goals. It was stated people are goal oriented. She said to start with realistic goals and write them down for the whole year. Eight pounds a month is a good goal. That is 2 pounds a week. Easy to do and easier to maintain. Sor she said if you weight 188 (I wish) on January 1, then your goal for February 1 would be to weight 180. March 1 would be to be at 172 and so on throughout the next year. Then write a short diary on how you got there and your plans to keep going. I am going to try that. Seems easy enough broken down in the small goals like that rather than looking to lose 50 pounds.