Hi, Marilyn here.  Just signed up for my second diet bet challenge after crashing and burning on my first one.  I mean, who gains weight on diet bet?!  That would be me.  I'm not proud of it, but I'm not giving up.  I've been trying to lose weight forever (I'm 52), but never stuck with it.  The most I ever lost at a time was about 50 pounds, and that was way back.  Now I'm approaching my heaviest in a long time (361!  Yes, you read that right.) and it's time to get this done.  I've been very successful in most areas of my life, except this one.  I want to lose weight before I'm forced to do it out of necessity like a heart attack, stroke or diabetes.  I'm not sure what it's gonna take.  I know I need to exercise, eat right, drink lots of water, etc. but I never do these things consistently.  I know I have it within me, but I feel like my brain is programmed to derail me.  I'll be cruisin' along following the program, get afraid of my success and deliberately sabotage myself.  Fear of success...it's an odd thing.  Any of you have this problem?  I'm sure years of therapy could get to the bottom of it, but I'd rather just jump back in and try to overcome.  Any words of wisdom you all can provide would be great.  What works for you when your mind is your worst enemy?

I'm typically a very positive person, but very not feeling very confident I can beat the beast.  All I can do is try!  I'll report back and let you know how it's going.  Good luck everyone!