Bonnie and Kiks,

Thanks to both of you for your encouragement and suggestions.
Bonnie--I know you're right about the workout regime. I just ran my first 5k last weekend and it was great--but made me realise I should be running longer distances at the gym as I felt nothing the day after. Also am joining a bigger gym in a couple weeks and hope that there will be a wider variety of machines, classes, etc. I think that is definitely a piece of the problem.

Bonnie-I would love to be 120--given that I have a medium frame I would even kill to be 130--at this point 140 feels like it'll never happen so I'm trying to keep my goals very short-term! Anyway, I agree that the calories are something to look at. And I'm going to look for the hoodia as it may help curb the late afternoon hunger. Hats off to you for being so diligent!

Again, thanks all around! Today was day one--will keep you posted.