Reading your blog has been beneficial for me, and I really appreciate reading about your hard work and experience in this endeavor. Overall, I have been having a hard time lately. In addition to clinical depression that is difficult to treat, my BMI is the highest it’s ever been, 38.6. The thought of having to figure out how to drop 83 pounds is just…overwhelming.

Of course, you have discussed the psychology of weight loss quite extensively on your blog. It has been incredibly helpful and centering to read your thoughts on how to change one’s psychology, in addition to the other spheres of life that need to grow and adapt to help meet your health, fitness, and weight loss goals. It’s obvious that I need to reframe how I am looking at those 83 pounds. There’s no way I could lose it all in a day, so I have to rework my focus to examine each choice I make. Meal by meal, day by day, one day at a time.

In the past I had success with losing 60+ pounds over the course of a year using the principles outlined in the Hacker’s Diet, an engineer’s approach from one of the founders of Autodesk. To get back on track, I just installed the Libra app for my Android phone. It would be even easier if I had a Withings wifi scale but I can track it myself just fine, of course.

I have a huge mental block when it comes to logging my food. The stubbornness just feels insurmountable. I hate writing it down in a notebook, and I don’t know why. You have probably already addressed these in blog posts, but do you use an iPhone app to track your food intake? Do you plan meals in advance, or just decide on a calorie budget and plan each meal as you go?