I lost about 100 pounds in two and a half years by cutting out all fast food and stopping my habit of eating in front of the television. But I didn't exercise much and I didn't learn to eat well. Then my doctor put me on a medication and I gained almost ten pounds in a little over a week. I panicked. I was finally at a healthy weight and I didn't want to be overweight again. I joined a gym and got a personal trainer. I train with her once a week in "tandem" training sessions with one or two other women. Having other people with you keeps the pace going and the camaraderie is a great motivator. I'm in the gym five to six days a week: cardio three to four times a week and weights/resistance/stabilization three to four times a week. My goals have been to lose the weight I put on, and more importantly to gain muscle mass and decrease my body fat percentage. When I see the number on the scale go up or if it seems to be staying at the same place, I think about how I've been eating and how my clothes fit. I'm having a lot of success. The key has been eating enough protein, particularly right after a workout, for muscle recovery. As opposed to some diets that have you eating less as you lose weight, the diet that I'm on is based on maintaining my lean body mass in addition to making sure I have enough of a calorie deficit to lose. So when I recently lost weight and over 3% body fat and gained two pounds of muscle, my calories went up in order to maintain my muscle even though I weigh less overall. My mantra: junk in, junk out. I can eat 1500 calories of chocolate but I won't get my 110g of protein to support my hard-earned muscle so ultimately I'll lose it. I use Fat-Secret to help me plan how I'm going to get my protein into my day and plan my meals around that.