I feel I should take a moment away from my incredibly boring list of things I eat each day to acknowledge some of the advice and encouragement I have received so far. The advice I have gotten has been diverse and at times a bit overwhelming. I feel there are so many weight loss choices that it is hard to choose which plan is best.

Perhaps I should rewind a bit. When you come to that point in your life where you look at yourself in the mirror and realize that you have to change something to see the results you want, it is unavoidable that you wonder exactly what it is that you have been doing wrong to make yourself gain all this weight. As an avid reader of magazines like "Self" and "Fitness", I can't help but hate the editors, who push making small changes like switching from whole to skim milk (did that 4 years ago), eliminating soda (haven't drank it in eons), cutting back on saturated fats (what saturated fats?) and forgoing creamer in your coffee (right) because, according to them, these small changes will add up to "BIG RESULTS!" Oh really? Then why am I still gaining weight?

Common sense tells all of us that there is NO easy way to drop weight... unless you are Tony. If there was a magical weight-loss supplement, fat blocker or fasting plan that really worked, don't you think everyone would just do that? Small changes may make some difference, but in order to reach your goals, you're going to have to work for it, just like anything else in life. This sad reality is what I am struggling to accept.

As a friend related to me, there's a type of panic that sets in when you begin to try to make "life changes" to your diet. Without a paid nutritionist or having a degree in nutrition yourself, it can be very difficult to distinguish which options are better for you. Just observe some of the questions I and other girls like me are faced with when trying to comprehend these options: "I'm thinking of Alli, but heard some nasty things about it. What kind of a diet do I go on? No carbs? How do I prepare the food? Can I use olive oil in the skillet with my chicken? Or do I have to grill everything? What dressings can I use on my salads? How do I get used to thinking about exercising? Is cleaning my room exercise," and so on ad infinitum.

What kinds of major changes does one make to overcome the inevitable pounds that come with age and decreased physical activity due to sedentary work or massive amounts of stress? The first option that was offered to me, and has received the most amount of "votes" so far is the Weight Watchers program. According to some, it's the flexibility and ease of use that is so compelling, to others, the group meetings that encourage and offer support. Still, I found a third reason to be the most interesting: Weight Watchers is an RPG.

For those of you who don't play video games, RPG stands for Role Playing Game. Apparently, the point system is set up to encourage you to ration out your points to allow for larger meals and snacks throughout the day. Just as in a game where you save money and resources to purchase bigger items, points can be saved up for a great dinner or desert, and supplemented with zero point options like raw veggies throughout the day. If I didn't explain that well enough for you, check out the article here: http://www.wired.com/gaming/virtualworlds/commentary/games/2008/08/gamesfrontiers_0811.

Although I love gaming, something tells me that this time, limiting my choices and snacking on veggies isn't going to give me the results I want. Especially since I want those results fast. So, how do I go about doing that without ruining my body?

The option that obviously would work, but scares the hell out of me is Crossfit. These people are insane. No offense, Kevin. I wouldn't want to be on your bad side. Crossfit is a super high-intensity workout that's done on a 3 days on, 1 day off schedule. The Workout of the Day is typically about 10 minutes long, but for those ten minutes, you bust your ass and push yourself past your limits. For example, today's workout was "Virtual Shoveling" and pull-ups in reps of 30, 25, 20, 15, 10, and 5 http://media.crossfit.com/cf-video/virtual-shoveling.wmv. I really encourage you to click on that video. It's only about 30 seconds long and the chick is hot. It will give you a small idea of what kinds of exercises are expected. From the videos I've watched and the info I've read on the website, Crossfit sounds like something that would be wonderful, but would also cause me a lot of pain and suffering.

For Crossfit, you really need to be in control of yourself. You can go ahead and do 10 pull-ups (well, you can't if you're me), and not really have any effect on your muscles. Crossfit encourages you to do the work as efficiently as possible, which sometimes means doing it very quickly. I'm not sure I have the drive to do that. This is why I need a personal trainer.

Another option I've heard a lot about, but thankfully no one has encouraged me to do, is fasting. According to Oprah, fasting can eliminate toxins from your body and help you loose weight. But anyone with half a brain knows that seriously restricting calories puts your body into emergency mode, where your metabolism slows down and burns less energy because it doesn't know where its next meal is coming from. Some detox diets can lead to serious side effects, since they rely on laxatives to "cleanse" your body. Some of the effects can range from vitamin deficiencies, muscle breakdown and blood-sugar problems — not to mention frequent liquid bowel movements. Doesn't sound the least bit appealing to me. If Oprah likes to poo liquid, that's just fine, but to me that sounds like something that happens when you're sick.

So I've covered three diet plans, but I still haven't explained what's right to eat or what to do at the gym. The truth is, I don't know exactly. I know that I'm lazy and even when I go to the gym, I always feel like I should be pushing myself harder. When I eat, I crave things that I know aren't good for me, like deep fried items and cookies. So far, my plan is pretty vague- eat lots of veggies, lean meats and avoid candy, cookies and over snacking. Eat when you're hungry, not for emotional reasons, and get more active. It's not rocket science. If I question an item, I think "would I want to post on my blog that I ate this?" It doesn't work for everyone, I'm aware, but since I can't make those decisions on my own, I rely on public humiliation to make them for me.

As for those of you who have expressed interest in going out and getting active, or working together at the gym, or exchanging recipes, or trying out new ones-- I say YES to all of the above. I don't have the answers any more than you do, but I'm willing to try. I'm tired of being sluggish and tired, and I'm ready to step up and start doing something.