Hi I'm a 39 year old female, divorced with 3 kids 22, 21, and 13 who has struggled with weight loss my whole life.I am very self conscious and have low self esteem. I have tried everything from phen phen, atkins, metablolife, slimquick,slimfast,weight-watchers and B12 shots with phentermine pills. I work 12 hour shifts 3-4 days a week behind a desk. I have discovered that counting calories and exercising has worked so much better. I was 230 pounds at the end of March and I went down to 195 in July. I gained 10 pounds back after my vacation to San Francisco. It has been 3 months since I have been to the gym or counted calories. I started the gym on Wednesday and i feel so much better. I hate that it took me so long to realize that there is no "special" pill that will keep the weight off. It's all about being FOCUSED and determined. I'm glad i found this website. reading everybodys journals encourage me so much more!! Thank you to everybody and I hope at this time in my life I am able to finally feel good about myself and not be so self conscious..