I just re-joined this site with a view to losing 5 pounds that crept on over the holidays, as well as perhaps push my fitness goals a bit further by re-setting my goal weight lower. I'd love to be your friend, and I completely agree that starting a challenge is a great way to get you started and keep you accountable. I started my fitness regime with walking, just half an hour a day. It's amazing how quickly just walking can start you on a road to health and fitness. If you're still searching for a food solution (I don't like calling it a 'diet'!), I personally have had enormous success and have changed my lifestyle completely by moving to a plant based diet. If you're interested, you could try reading "Eat To Live" by Joel Fuhrman, or check out the Engine 2 Diet at: http://engine2diet.com/. Best of luck with whatever you choose, and I've added you as a buddy!

I use pepperplate.com it is a website, with an app for your phone, and tablet. I end up with a shopping list on my phone and just walk around the store ticking things off. The issue for you (given your wish list) is that it doesn't tabulate calories. I use fatsecret to work out the calories/nutritional data, and pepperplate to store my recipes, plan my meals, and my shopping lists. I love it, and have put a bunch of friends onto it, but it doesn't do everything you're after I'm afraid. I've searched for this mythical app also, and the solution I've come up with (fatsecret combined with Pepperplate) isn't perfect, but it does work, and I do really love the pepperplate app.

Great question and loving apatrick1's response. There are many things that people assume I'd change about my life. However without those events to break my heart, turn my life upside down, and really make me assess my entire world view, I just wouldn't be who I am today, and I really like who I am today. So honestly, there is nothing substantive about my life that I would change. Sure, less idiots at work would be nice, and sure, it would be great if my neighbor downstairs stopped parking in my parking spot, but in terms of real, substantive matters, everything that has happened to me, is what makes me, me. In terms of rich v healthy, I have to go with healthy. I've had plastic surgery (a very long time ago now), to correct a physical birth defect. The surgery itself didn't make me happier, but the result gave my self confidence a boost, and that makes me happier. Thanks for this question!

I agree we need a 'like' button. The posts or responses that kill me (and I walk away, rather than respond and risk being cyber snubbed and thus unable to use this website as happily as I currently do) are where people DO come across as a know-it-all, but are themselves either reading the question incorrectly, or haven't understood the nuance to the post, or are citing what is just one side of an argument as the be all and end all truth. I honestly try not to rock the boat. A lot of people on here have some pretty strong views, and aren't afraid to express them. Others are better at pitching to the wider audience. I need to feel that this site is supportive of me and my goals, so I try to stay as unprovocative as possible (I spend all day dealing with provocation, I don't need it in my personal life!)

I absolutely love soups. So easy. We make big pots on a Sunday afternoon, enough to cover our lunches through the work week. You'll find a LOT of soup recipes on the Vegan and Vegetarian food blogs. I eat a mostly vegan diet, but the soups are easily adaptable for a meat eater (just add chicken or beef or turkey, or whatever takes your fancy!) Here are three of my favorites to get you started: http://www.littlehouseofveggie... (scroll down for the Split Pea soup). http://www.101cookbooks.com/ar... http://blog.fatfreevegan.com/2... The last soup (the Ethiopian one) comes from one of my absolute favorite blogs: http://blog.fatfreevegan.com/ The author is super focused on using the smallest amount of oil in all of her recipes, and she includes nutritional info for all of her recipes, so this should be good for your 'low oil' focus. Good luck!!!

Hmmm... luckily I didn't have the smoking thing to get past, but I also LOVE a glass (or 7) of wine, as well as harboring a small addiction to caffeine, so the alcohol and the caffeine were the hardest for me. The other thing you could try (I'm doing it now as a way of easing myself out of the Master Cleanse) is Oxy Cleanse (or really any type of 'soft' magnesium based bowel cleanse). Some people say that they're a waste of time, and that the concept of built up waste in your colon is BS, but they work for me, and that's really my prime concern, so there you go! I use: http://www.earthsbounty.com/ox... - here are a couple of reviews: http://dualcleanseaction.org/o... Probably to get the full benefit of a cleanse you'd want to cut back on the alcohol and smoking, but in my view something has to be better than nothing!

I've just finished it. It was about my fourth master cleanse. I did it a few times several years back, and I've done a number of other cleanses since. I actually find the Master Cleanse the easiest cleanse to follow. The rules are dead simple, and I can mix up the drinks in my office without anyone even knowing I'm doing it. The second and third days are the hardest for me. I find that by the time I get to the 9th or 10th day I don't even want solid food anymore! I was quite disappointed to come off it this time. It works for me, and it really is amazing the amount of waste that you eliminate even on the 7th or 10th days (sorry if that was TMI). Beware that the salt water flush is truly revolting, no matter how many times you've done it: it doesn't get better. Good luck!

I would track it all as though it happens in one day - you'll make it up on the other side when you return to Guam (ie - on the way there you'll gain a day and have a really heavy calorie day, on the way back you'll lose a day, so probably a day with no, or very few, calories ;-). There is a time zone setting in the 'My FatSecret'/"My Toolbox"/"My Account" section, where you can update your timezone to your current location. Unless of course you're moving to Hawaii? In which case, you probably just need to live with the fact that you'll have one day with a lot of calories. Know in yourself that you lived the hours to burn them off and move on :) I also offer the following unsolicited advice: Please don't eat the plane food (unless you're flying First Class on Emirates, that food is worth it). Pack your own food and take it on with you. This has the benefit of the fact that you can eat it whenever you please (rather than waiting for people to decide you should be hungry and feed you), and it's way tastier! I know it's yet another thing to do before you leave, but I swear it is worth it. I travel a lot with work and always take carrots, broccoli, and homemade hummus on the plane with me, as well as something more like a meal - tabbouleh in a little container, or rice paper rolls also travel well, as does a quinoa salad. This was even before I was dieting for weight loss. If you don't have time for that, stop in the airport before you leave and grab a take out salad or sandwich somewhere. Life is just too short to waste those precious calories on plane food! Have fun!!!

I had a really similar question just yesterday. I thought this website: http://physicalblue.com/tag/ca... explained the theory behind calorie spiking quite well (well, at least so I could understand it!). Basically the idea is that you eat a massive amount of calories in one day to kickstart your metabolism and confuse your body so that it doesn't get used to getting very few calories. I'm guessing that some people also refer to what the author of the article calls 'calorie confusion', as calorie spiking. The author breaks the two practices into two separate categories, but I'd guess that the term 'spiking' is used to describe both practices. Anyhow, the article explains it better than I can! I do like the idea of 'calorie confusion'... it's pretty much what I tend to do on a weekly basis anyhow. So long as my calories for the week average out to a daily intake that is within my goal, then I'm A-Ok.