Weight Control Success Stories & Motivational Quotes

I just wanted to compliment you for the great healthy eating plan (HELP). I have had the hardest time trying to lose weight even when I have gone to the gym, drank plenty of water every day, lost my appetite because of the seizure medication I am on, and have the side effect of my seizure medication which causes me to be hungry all the time. I didn’t ever think that I would find a diet for me, but after following my Healthy Eating for Life Plan I have lost a total of 22 pounds. I am working towards losing more weight. Thank you again for this awesome plan.

Simply put. Thank you for sharing your knowledge with me. I have found your website very useful, and informative. The Healthy Body Calculator IS EXCELLENT.

Thank you for your wonderful educational website. I am a BSN, RN looking to assist my spouse toward a healthier lifestyle. I need a tune-up myself and was quite happy to use your online calculator to help me make some concrete plans to this end. My first cousin, a registered dietitian last worked for the ADA in medical education before she retired a number of years ago. We used to have some wonderful conversations about the bizarre fad diets and strange approaches to nutrition which become popular despite good sense. Thank you so much for having such a great site with a helpful tool to point people in the right direction.

Its really good. I already used it couple of times before. Great Resource!!

Your Healthy Body Calculator site is OUTSTANDING

Just saw your page courtesy of The Learning Company. Find your article informative and entertaining, tried Healthy Body Calculator. Will let you know how I make out. Thanks.

Thanks for the feedback Joanne. It is very, very helpful. There are just so many diet options out there. It’s kind of difficult to pick the best one for me and to stick to the diet plan as well. Once again, thank you very much.

When I started your calculator on 2 March 2001, I weighed 282 pounds with a 50+ inch waist. This morning’s weigh-in (I only weigh on Mondays), my weight was 216 pounds with a 42-inch waist. I have changed nothing from my eating patterns of three meals a day with mid-afternoon and evening snacks. I try to keep the calorie max at 1400. Occasionally it may creep up to 1700 calories. My target weight is 190 pounds, which I hope to attain sometime early in 2002. Then comes the hard part. I must strictly maintain my target weight by still having weekly weigh-ins. Well, I guess that’s about all for now. I hope all is just fine at your end.

Great resources, Joanne! I have used your site as a resource in the past, though I had not noticed your calculator. Very helpful :). Have a great day!

I am impressed with this tool and believe anyone interested in good health would benefit from its review. I am also interested in seeing tools like this being developed further to provide more specific information and help to individuals seeking to maintain or improve their overall health.

I don’t know if I have thanked you before but if I haven’t, thank you very much! Your Healthy Body Calculator has helped me so much. I was not in a financial position to pay for a dietitian to help me put this all together. I am so very grateful for your kindness that you have offered this online. I have 2 children with special needs (Down syndrome and mild cerebral palsy) and I am looking forward to putting something together for them too!

I am a dietetic intern at the university. I came across your site one day as I was browsing the Web and I wanted to let you know I think it is fantastic. The Healthy Body Calculator is like none other I’ve seen on the Web. I was amazed to see the optional information that a person can provide in order to get a more accurate estimate of their needs.

Thanks a lot for the calculator on your site. I hope to be gaining weight soon and the questions and answers page shows me there’s hope and that I’m not alone in the “crusade” to gain weight. I hope all goes well, and thanks a lot once again.

Oh, the slippery slope of discipline. I am very good with the exercise discipline, but not so hot with the eating discipline. I try and am getting better, but it is definitely a daily war with the food gods. I am happy with the 5.8 A1C blood test for diabetes. Wish I could get it lower. The calculator gave me a target weight of 131. I think that sounds more achievable. And reasonable. Thanks so much for all of your help. As I said. I really like your website.

Thank you for making the Healthy Body Calculator available, it is very useful.

I weighed 230 pounds when I used the Healthy Body Calculator to begin losing weight. I have a great motivation–I’m turning 50 next summer and my high school friends (all of whom remember when I weighed 120 when we graduated in 1971) are planning a nice beach trip or a cruise next summer. We’ve almost all gained weight, but mine was 100 pounds. For the first time, I decided it was time to lose.

On March 31, when I was weighed before some sinus surgery and saw that 230, I gasped! So I printed out the Healthy Body Calculator recommendations, glued them into a journal and I’ve been writing down what I eat every day since. I noted as my goal that I’d like to lose 2 pounds per week, because that seemed rational. I’m very sedentary at this stage in my life so the calculator gave me 1,800 plus calories a day to begin my weight loss–more than I expected!

I’ve lost 15 pounds–almost exactly on target! I am so pleased and feel ever so much lighter and better. I have a long way to go to get to my goal weight, but I’m very encouraged. I have to say that I only weigh on the last day of the month, so that psychologically I don’t feel defeated if I don’t see the daily reductions. That was a recommendation from a friend, and a very good one, I think!

Who knew that a serving of meat is 4 ounces?! I fault the industry for the outrageous portion sizes that we are given in the U.S. I’ve discovered that I can still eat out, but now cannot begin to eat everything on the plate! I purchase a book of food counts that helps me track the breakdown of my calories and it includes counts of some of the fast food vendors–yikes!! Won’t be going to McDonald’s again any time soon. That alone is helping.

So just consider this a rambling thank you for getting me started on the right track!

I would like to thank you for creating the Healthy Body Calculator. I have been on many diets, just to regain the weight and then some. I think that my problem was eating too much for comfort which resulted in weight gain and then to eat too little while dieting which ultimately lead to constant hunger. Most diets I have been on have had unrealistic low goals in terms of calorie consumption therefore I was bound to fail from the beginning. I find that the Healthy Body Calculator is very helpful and have been using it for the past 2 months. So far I have lost about 11 pounds and the process as a whole has been pretty simple. I really get to eat much more than I thought I would be permitted while on a diet and I feel like the guess work has been eliminated from the equation. I am glad that the weight loss is coming off gradually because I believe that this gives me a greater chance to keep it off. I have many more pounds to go, but I know that the journey will be much easier with your calculator as a guide. Thank you.

I am a dietetics student in Texas and came across your site today. I tried out the Healthy Body Calculator and I was very impressed with the Your Nutrition Facts part of it. That is such a great idea. I love it!

I love it!!!! It’s great. It’s December and I’ve been tracking my weight loss via your site since January when I quit smoking. I’ve lost almost 45 pounds (only six pounds to go!)

Many thanks for your response. I have noted your advice and will hopefully develop a better understanding of the problem and work out some ways of dealing with it.

I’ve been using the HELP tool for a while, but sometimes go back to tweak the settings. I’d like to go from 21% to 18% body fat. The menu plan is easy to follow and each meal is really satisfying because it includes protein, starch, veggies, fruit and fat. I’ve also been using the food lists. Those are great for figuring out what category a food belongs to and what a serving size is. So, it hasn’t been hard at all! Well, thanks again.

Loved your Healthy Body Calculator! Great job.

I have used – the Healthy Body Calculator to GREAT advantage (weight from 282 pounds to present 240 and continuing). I am recommending it to someone.

To be a little more specific about my previous compliment. I was searching for increments and percentages of fat, saturated fat, cholesterol, etc. so that I could set nutritional parameters on a computerized diet program that I have. I have to get my cholesterol down from 268 to a normal level in 3 months or I’m going to have to take prescription meds. I am only 47 years old, am 5 feet 7 inches and weigh 155 pounds. I have been walking briskly 2 miles a day for the past 5 days, limited my intake according to your calculator and have already lost 4.8 pounds. I feel great. Thanks again.

I am a 34-year-old female that has tried to lose weight for the last 12 years. I have tried many different “diets”. Some would work at first where I would lose 15 pounds and gain 20 back. On December, 26 2000 I was at my highest weight ever, 213 pounds. I became very angry and so tired of being on “diets”. I decided that I needed to seek another way so I searched for weight loss on the Web and came across your weight calculator. I filled out the information requested, wrote down calories / fat recommend to lose 2 pounds per week and began counting calories and fat grams. Guess what? On July 14, 2001, I hit my first goal 150 pounds. I cannot believe to this minute that I have lost 63 pounds within 7 months. Thank you for putting your weight calculator on line. It really works!!!!

I just wanted to tell you how much I enjoyed your site “Ask the Dietician”. I was surfing around all night looking for a place where I could find this information when I came across your “Calculator.” It is really very fascinating and I learned a lot. Thanks so much for the great site. I will be sure to visit often

Thank you so much for your website. I plugged in all the required fields and unfortunately, got back what I thought. I am 6 feet 5 inches and weigh about 330 pounds. I have put on this weight in the last two years from being about 240 for most of my adult life. I have had some health problems including a cerebral hemorrhage and an operation incision that would not heal. I have been tested for diabetes, but I do not have it. Your calculator has really showed me what is happening here. I simply need to lose about 100 pounds!!!!!

I am going to get busy with it and I am also going to show this calculator to my wife. She is a plus sized woman who has battled weight all her life. I think seeing the results of your calculator just might illustrate the need for her to lose weight too. Thanks again.

As a fellow RD I just read the Ask the Dietitian for the first time and enjoyed it very much. Keep up the good work and keep getting that good nutrition information out there!

I love, love, love this calculator. It gives me exactly what I was looking for. A way to see how much fat I should lose (which is over 30 pounds ooops) and plus it tells me my nutrition requirements. Love this!

I just wanted to say Thanks for making all this wonderful information available for free and online. Over the past few years I’ve encountered many weight loss & healthy eating sites but your site has hit on a lot of things I haven’t seen or heard before. Your healthy eating plan recommendation for my profile / body type has been extremely instrumental in my weight loss journey. I hope you continue to make this information available, I am very grateful for finding this website.

I had followed the HELP diet on this site several years ago for over a year and it had helped me to successfully lose 75 pounds!!!! Thank you in advance for helping me in my weight-loss goals! Your site has been amazing!

The thing I really enjoyed about this healthy eating plan is once I got into the habit I realized if I wanted to have that slice of birthday cake I can. I just need to remember to compensate for cake at that meal.

HELP also showed me, it doesn’t have to be a diet. It’s more about healthy choices. Some days, I picked my foods so well, I felt nearly stuffed every time I ate!

I’m not a professional, just a full time mom, who is always reading and researching the health field, collecting information that helps me design a program of eating right and exercise that suits me personally. How FUN it was to stumble onto your site and find all kinds of relevant, HONEST, medically correct information. I loved being able to play with the calculators and try out a lot of different weights and calorie variables and I especially liked the nutritional information (not just calories or minutes of exercise) you include. I’ve done this for years myself and I hope that millions of people end up here learning from you what it’s taken me years to understand. BRAVO. We need a healthier world! Thank you so much.

Just a brief note to say your Healthy Body Calculator is really cool! It has helped me a lot already. Thanks.

I am overweight (205 pounds) and needed help knowing what amount of calories would help me lose weight. Your Calculator really helped a lot. I also didn’t realize that I should weigh myself daily and not weekly. I CAN do this! My husband passed away last year and I have been doing a lot of emotional eating. Weight groups are too expensive, but this really helps to give me a goal. Thank you so much.

This isn’t a question and I don’t need a response. I just wanted to let you know that you have the best, easiest to use, weight-related calculator I’ve seen.

Thank you so much for providing all of the resources on your website. I am really going to make an effort to follow this plan. Thank you once again for this very helpful and easy to understand program.

I would just like to thank you so much for your website! I am 16 and a recovering anorexic who happily is maintaining a healthy weight. Unfortunately, I’m going through the common “binge stage” in my recovery. But your Healthy Body Calculator really helped to reassure me to keep fighting for my health by giving me the knowledge to maintain my weight. Thank you so much and please continue doing a great job!!!

Your calculator is very good. I got some excellent info from it.

Knowledge is indeed power! Since I first found your web site (after a random Net search), I have lost 4 pounds while eating 4 sensible meals a day! I have 5 more pounds to go, but now I also have the confidence to know that they can be lost safely, slowly and surely. In spite of an Ivy league education and an advanced degree, I genuinely had not realized how few calories one actually needed to attain and maintain a reasonable amount of weight, nor had I understood how those calories should be distributed. There is always something more to learn! Your site is straightforward, easy to use, and filled with useful information. Thank you very much.

PS. Soon, I may even start a modest exercise program. You have really made a difference in my life

Your calculator is wonderful, and I’m really motivated to get started as a result. I could lose about 20 pounds and following removal of my ovaries, I’ve been finding it tough. I am a breast cancer survivor, and I don’t want to run into problems! Thank you so much for your help.

Just a quick note to express my gratitude for your site. I am a certified personal trainer, cyclist and bodybuilder who was pleased that your site factored body composition into its calculations. Your calculator gave me 3,720 calories / day to lose a few pounds of body fat, and 1,000 calories more to maintain my weight. That’s generally accurate for me. One BMI-oriented web site recommended my intake be 1,900 calories / day! In any case, it’s good to see athlete-inclusive nutritionists out there. Great Job. By the way, your site (along with the diligent use of a nutrition tracking program) helped me go from 11-12% body fat to around 7-8% in about a month or so. To fitness buffs/bodybuilders, this is a good thing. I may drop another sane pound or two or maybe not. I look good.

Thank you so much for this free service. It will really be helpful.

I’m doing some research on losing weight over age 50 and am a Master’s athlete. Your calculator is the first I’ve seen that takes body fat into consideration. It’s very fast and thorough. Congratulations.

Thank you for your Healthy Body Calculator service. It seems to be astonishingly accurate and has given me what I believe to be a believable and healthy target to work towards.

I just wanted to thank you for the Healthy Body Calculator profile. I just thought that was the neatest! Do you have a dietician you could recommend in Memphis, TN? I need to lose about 100 pounds! Thanks again!

I have been looking all over the Web for ideas on how to lose 20 pounds in 4 months. Ok, more would be good, but let’s start off with that number. I have come across Atkins Diets, Cabbage Diets, 7-4-3-1 day diets and what the heck is this Zone thing? They all seem really unhealthy and no one can give me specifics on what to watch for to simply eat healthier until I found your calculator.

I’m a busy woman with 2 jobs, school and attempting to have some sort of social life. It’s hard for me to find time to sleep, much less cook and your calculator helped me figure out what I needed to put in my system per day to get to where I need to be. Thanks for being so succinct!

After searching around, I think I’m going with your calculator. If it works as well as I think it will, I’ll let you know!

You definitely know your stuff, Joanne! Thanks for the information and for putting up with me. Happy Monday!

Starting two years ago, I found your website and based on the information provided by your Healthy Body Calculator I was able to lose 37 pounds by the next summer. I had scheduled a physical after I was done. When the nurse asked why I wanted a physical, I started to mention that I had lost 37 pounds. Before I could finish my statement, the nurse was starting to inquire if I were having any other symptoms. I then was able to get across to her that it was through the result of many months of healthy eating.

Without the hard facts as to how many calories it took to maintain weight every day, and how many it took to lose one pound in a week, I don’t think that I would have managed. Thank you very much!

I love your Ask the Dietitian web site and especially your Healthy Body Calculator. My family’s history of cancer, blood disease, heart problems and diabetes really scares me. As I get closer to 30 and see just how out of shape I am, it scares me even more!

Your Calculator has given me a set of guidelines to go by to help bolster my weight loss plan as well as my health in general. My general diet is way off kilter and this info is what I needed to get it back on track.

Just wanted to say that your work is a real boon for people like me, who need professional, trustworthy guidance, but can not afford the luxury of gym memberships, personal trainers, or a professional dietitian. (My husband and I are just starting out and money is tight.) So, thanks a whole lot! I’ll keep you updated on my progress towards a healthier life!

I used your web site for calculating how many calories, etc. I need per day. Thank you! I printed out my results as well — was that OK?

I just wanted to take a moment to tell you that I find the information on your website to be very helpful. It’s where I turn whenever I have a diet / nutrition related question. The content is practical, sensible and easy to understand. Thank you!

Just in case you keep statistics, I’m 35 and in the midst of losing weight. My diet seems to be pretty healthy with the exception of high triglycerides–your site was the only one that gave me information to help me understand why. (Too many sugars, agh.) Now I’m heading to look for information on a diabetic diet to conquer the problem.

I just wanted to thank you for your great calculator about healthy weight range. It was well laid-out, easy to use and really, really helpful. So many of those things are targeted at girls and don’t take how guys think into account.

I just want to thank you for continuing to offer this service at no charge. I ran across a printout of my “Healthy Body Calculator” results from 1997 and just entered 2001 data. Sadly, I’ve gone from a pear to an apple. Thanks for helping me realize I need to make some adjustments to my diet and exercise habits.

Your website is terrific. I have found it an invaluable resource in the training of my client-athletes regarding their dietary patterns. Absolutely first rate!

I have enjoyed your web site for the past two years. I’m 38, 5 feet 5 inches and a few years ago I was barely weighing 90 pounds. Gaining weight has been a real struggle, and I was often sick with colds or flu. For the past year I’ve managed to maintain at least 107. I exercise with weights regularly and have changed my cooking and eating habits. I feel better than I ever have. Thank you so much for the great calculator!

And great job on the Healthy Body Calculator. As a very large, muscular 6-footer, this is the first time I have felt I have some reasonable goals and measurements.

What a helpful calculator and site, thanks!

The Healthy Body Calculator was a significant aid in our planning. Keep up the good work.

I just wanted to thank you for making your “Healthy Body Calculator” available for people to use! I’m trying to lose 20 or 30 pounds (gasp)! It told me some things that I needed to know! Thanks so much!

I want to thank you for your excellent “Healthy Body Calculator” tool. It’s especially pertinent to me as I am a left leg amputee and no one – not even my doctor – took this into account when determining my BMI or appropriate goal weight. I lost 70 pounds over the last 3 years, largely through increasing my activity level and through the Weight Watchers online program. WW’s point system for food intake is fine but can slow your weight loss if you keep swapping “activity” points for extra food, as they suggest. Even more misleading is their body weight calculator which does not take individual health and body differences into account. I still have about 35 more pounds to lose to reach my ideal “healthy weight”, according to your calculator (and my body measurements). Again – thanks for keeping things real.

Thanks so much for the calculator chart. I am overweight.

Just wanted to say thank you for this site! Keep up the great work!

I am a physician assistant working in primary care in California. Just did the free Healthy Body Calculator. It’s an awesome general guide requiring more specific input and personal preferences. I love it. It’s great that a person can do this for free! I will recommend this site to my patients.

Thank you for the wonderful and very informative website. It is nice to find the information I am looking for in such a nice format. The Healthy Body Calculator is incredible.

I just wanted to thank you for putting such an informative site together. I was trying to lose weight (in what I thought was a healthy way) for a while and I was not seeing any results. I recently went onto your site and did all of the body and eating plan calculators and found out that I was just not eating enough of the right foods! I would normally eat real foods like vegetables and fruits and beans but I was not eating enough fat and carbs to fuel my body for the workouts that I do. Thank you so much for your time and resources. I am very grateful for the help to make my body healthier. Thank you.

You probably get thousands of notes like this, but I just wanted to thank you for helping me through a weight loss program; 45 pounds in just over a year. It was very heartening to measure my progress on your calculator every week and watch the needle move in the right direction. I have now adjusted my caloric intake in order to stop losing, but I exercise regularly and maintain a low fat, high carb diet to keep my cholesterol down. Anyway, thanks again.

I did the Healthy Body Calculator and it indicated that I am overweight by one pound! But that is better than 18 months ago when I would have been 31 pounds over. I have been slowly taking off weight over the 18-month period and am now losing at a rate of 1-2 pounds / month and it feels so good! When people ask how I have done it, I always tell them the old-fashioned way and they are a little disappointed. They want the quick fix. Again, I will refer these folks to your website as I think they will be greatly encouraged by your information and will find the Healthy Body Calculator a great tool.

I just had to write to tell you that your site is extremely educational and that your “Healthy Body Calculator” is the most comprehensive, informative and accurate that I have found anywhere!

I am a Strength Coach and Fitness Professional who works with a wide spectrum of athletes, many of whom are much heavier and larger than the “average population”. Your calculator takes into account all of the pertinent and necessary information needed to give an accurate assessment of many parameters. I am also a larger than average man with high muscle mass and low body fat, so it was refreshing to see an accurate body weight range and caloric requirements, rather than the usual “Morbidly Obese” rating I usually get with all the other calculators and body indexes.

Now when athletes and clients ask, “what should I weigh?” I will direct them to your calculator, which I am also adding as a link on my website.

Your Healthy Body Calculator is very helpful. Thank you very much.

First I want to thank you, for your kindness in creating this website for us. I can not thank you enough for the help my husband and I are receiving as we use your guidance for our health body weight loss.

Thank you again! Your information is very much appreciated! I gave your website address and a copy of the email to a friend, who started the healthy choices. The one I wanted to choke when I gained pounds but didn’t have to go back to my fat clothes. Looking back my journal notes talked about more exercise while eating the same amount of calories. It took a little bit for me to realize I had my strength back and more. But to see 4 or so more really blew my mind. Never heard anyone talk about that. Thank you again for your help! Its so easy to just do something and to think that even something simple without exercise can made a huge difference! People need to know that! Thank you again for all your hard work!

I visited your site and found out my calories I should be getting. I was surprised I thought it was going to be another “want to lose weight fast” site. It was very informative and easy to understand. I just thought I would let you know.

Several years ago, I weighed more than 200 pounds, but I started running and went on a 1500 calorie / day diet and got down to 125 pounds that I comfortably maintained. However, after an ITB injury sidelined my running and I got married, the weight started creeping back up. I lasted on the Atkins diet for 36 hours. Weight Watchers was a little more successful, but I always regained what I lost with them.

I visited your site a few weeks ago, used your Healthy Body Calculator, and started journaling my meals and snacks. Since then, I’ve lost 7 pounds and I’m eating more now than I was before. I’m also feeling healthier, eating healthier and can allow myself a treat once or twice a week without succumbing to self-recriminations.

I just wanted to drop you a line to thank you for this calculator and the information you provide. I wish there was some way of getting the message out to people that fad diets may seem easy, but they are doomed to fail. Whereas your method is not nearly as complicated as some think and much more successful than whatever weight loss miracle diet the media are touting this week. Thanks.

Thanks so much for the info. I did use your Healthy Body Calculator- what a great reinforcement for trying for healthy instead of skinny! Your website is on my favorites list – it’s really great. Thanks Again!

I want to sincerely thank you for the wealth of information on your website. This is the best that is out there. Thank you for freely sharing your expertise with such precision, clarity and honesty

Thank You for such an interesting and informative web site. It is amazing that you have put together so much in one easy to navigate spot. And the Healthy Body Calculator is incredible! Thanks again!! Kudos!

This is a great web page. It’s very personal, and I can imagine that many people will tell their friends to come to your site to calculate their personal profiles.

I’m a RD and have a business providing food companies with Nutrition Labeling and Regulatory Services. I was just surfing the Web to find what others are doing and thought I’d send you my Kudos!

Thank you for this calculator with all of the suggestions. I hope I can improve myself with this as a guide.

Thank you so much for the great link. I used the calculator and it is EXACTLY what I needed to get myself on track. It was so personalized and informational. This is going to be my “bible” to helping me lose weight. I have been so confused on just how much fat, carbs and protein I should be eating to lose weight. And I never realized I was an apple shape!

This is neat service for the public. Thanks. My wife and I have used the calculator to get us back on track.

I tried the calculator and I think it will be a help, a resource that I can use to help maintain better physical fitness.

I started just trying to find out what was my calorie intake supposed to be and your calculator provided so MUCH MORE information. Thanks.

Thanks Joanne for a quick and helpful answer. I did check the calculator again without estimating activity levels. This seems to be what other answers have been based on. I didn’t realize that activity made such a difference. I am quite active, so if I can begin eating at a calorie level that is closer to normal, I may be able to lose weight slowly and realistically without being stuck in “diet” mode. I also appreciate the encouragement. I know I can beat this!!! Thanks again.

I’m now 58 years old and four years. ago my triglycerides were over 7,000, my cholesterol was over 1,350 and blood sugar over 800. With proper diet and medication, I now have all levels within acceptable limits.”

I am a 21-year old college student who had been very overweight for most of my life. I am would like to thank you for your informative website. About 1 and a half years ago I began a diet and exercise plan. I had little success, losing maybe 10 of the 91 pounds that is my goal. I found your calculator and used the information on dieting and calorie intake help me design a “lifestyle modification” that has been fantastically successful. I had always dieted but fluctuated between eating too much and starving myself. I wasn’t aware of the metabolism slowing effect of starvation. I would eat so very little, lose no weight and give up over and over. I have lost 73 of the 91 pounds and I’m watching the rest come off. It has changed my life.

I primarily use your Healthy Body Calculator® with my personal training clients. Thank you.

I just wanted to express my sincere appreciation for your website. I am 38 years old and have been in good health all of my life, with the exception of having gained about 50 to 60 excess pounds over the past 15 years.

My wife of 18 years recently left me and I am now “back on the market” and so I guess I am trying to lose some weight for my own benefit and for my future heath. I hope that some of the information on your website can help me achieve my goal of learning how to lose weight in a safe fashion and to change my eating habits from what they have been in the past. Thank you very much!

First Thank you for the most helpful website I have found on the Net. In a nutshell I needed to lose weight because to put it bluntly I was eating very badly. Daily trips to Mickydees.

I hurt my feet in Tae Kwon Do and was letting them heal. (I should have warmed up.) I started to eat at the fast food joints more than I should and was enjoying too many candy treats with the old favorites, pretzels and chips. So I went from a lean 200 to 270 in about 2 years. It kind of slips up on you! Well I finally started to notice the weight especially when I made my way back to Tae Kwon Do. It was awful. I was big rolly polly slow and had no endurance. I was not sleeping as well as I did before the weight and I noticed I was breathing harder.

I took action because I did not want to stroke out anytime soon and I am a scout leader. The boys would come up and say wow Mr. Bill you are fat. (Kids are brutal, but honest.)

I asked around and I heard about a doctor. who just did this sort of thing. Supposedly he is a weight loss doctor. I took the plunge and went to the class and saw the doctor. Basically, I was told I was insulin resistant and I had to cut the carbs out then I would lose weight fast. He asked me if I would like to have drugs to help with the hunger. I said yes, but I did say I wanted something safe. I have never been into taking drugs for anything. He gave me phentermine 30 milligrams and phendimetrazine (?) 35 milligrams and 3 colorful amino acids supplements plus I am taking a multivitamin. I feel like a pill junkie. I started to get a bad feeling about this guy when he started to push his products, but I was in a hurry to get back down to my weight.

Well I followed his diet plan. I had pain in my stomach right before I had to go the bathroom and then it was like water. It came 3 or 4 times a day and right at the end of the first week I was feeling very bad. I felt weak and it was hard to think like I hit the wall.

I got some carbs into my system right them and I started to recover. I got a piece of fruit and ate it and felt 100% better. I came home after my shift and found your site. I was mad at my doctor so I copied my calculator results and went to one of the helpers who the doctors used to push the diet and confronted him about this. He said was I eating the 75 carbs the doctors said to eat. I told him I was never told to eat 75 carbs and was encouraged to eat very little carbs, even though 75 carbs are too little anyway.

I went to 150 carbs (Mind you I gave up fast food, sugared sodas, chips, candy etc.) I felt better when my total calorie intake was 1200 to 1400 which concerned me as being a little low. I went for the check up and lost 15 pounds. The doctor encouraged me to go back on the low carb diet again. So, I did. Well It started again with the stomach so I decided to get off this diet roller coaster and just eat well.

I have slowly gained 5 pounds, but I think that was replacing the lost fluids in the muscle. One of the things that bothered me from the start was the amount of meat, cheese and fat that doctor was saying for me to eat. I am not much of a meat eater. I like bread, grains and veggies. It was so hard for me to eat that amount of meat and not to mention the $50 every 2 weeks in medicine, amino acid supplements and other pills.

I am making an appointment with a dietitian and have her help me plan my meals and help me take control over my eating the safe way. I am going to get off these pills and just eat right !!

Well I am sorry about the long letter, but you opened my eyes to this. One more thing just in passing. The heart is a muscle and when the body is starving for glucose it gets it from the lean muscles. Yikes almost makes me want a big tall glass of orange juice.

Thank you very much for responding to my question quickly. I went back and adjusted the activity I do. The calculator indicated that I should consume 1800 calories, which I am! I have also read through the questions that others have sent and it seems that many people over-estimate their daily activities as well (as it is a very easy mistake to make). So perhaps if you were to add a note of attention to inform others of the importance of not over-calculating activity levels, it would most definitely be of assistance to all. Thanks again!

I wanted to thank you for your detailed weight calculator. I’ve seen several on the internet and yours is by far the most informative and realistic. I appreciate the time you put into putting this information up on the internet for us.

Although it was very depressing and I will probably have to start going to a counselor, I appreciate your web site and the information it provided. The facts are there in a tasteful display for me to see and no longer ignore. I think I’ll go wax that car.

Thank you sooooo much for this site! It has aided me in losing 130 pounds. There is one piece of information that I am having trouble locating. Is there a listing that I can obtain of nutrient values for a wide variety of foods? I have compiled a small list for myself and wish to add more foods with accurate nutrients in foods. Thanks for your time and expertise.

I just visited your site and was pleased to find something that can calculate BMI and provide suggestions. I added it to my favorites. Thanks for the hard work.

If there was a silver bullet for weight loss, you can rest assured I would be selling it on eBay.

I was looking at your site. I went through the little calculator you have on there. I know I am over weight, but I appreciate your site having some suggestions other than take this super pill or do this fad diet. Thanks for having a great site.

I have been sent to your website instructed by my beginning Nutrition class instructor for my pre-nursing degree. It is so very educational and informative. I love the Healthy Body Calculator. This is more information than I’ve gotten from my entire class. Great job!

This Healthy Body Calculator is GREAT. Really, it’s one of the best on the Net. Thanks for putting it online.

I wanted to write and thank you for your Healthy Body Calculator. There is so much confusing information out today that it’s difficult to know what truly healthy eating is. I have several coworkers who are very concerned about losing weight, and there’s much discussion on dieting (skipping meals, drinking meal replacement shakes, etc.). I’m a huge proponent of nutritious eating and health over weight obsession, and I’m constantly lecturing my friends on the dangers of what I call “careless dieting.” Your Healthy Body Calculator takes so many things into account that diet magazines don’t. The weight goal and Your Nutrition Facts are an eye-opener. The more people who realize that exercise and healthy eating are the best way to a healthy body and sensible weight, the happier we’ll all be. Thank you.

Just a quick note to thank you so much for taking the time to provide this valuable and individual information. At the age of 53 I find it much harder to lose weight than it used to be. Also, I am now walking with a cane due to a fall ten years ago, that damaged several of my discs from neck to spine…therefore I am not as active as I used to be. I believe this will help me to get back to a more normal weight. I started today.