I am gaining weight!

I've tried diets like that. I tend to feel hungry all the time so within a few weeks I go off the diet and then over-eat and gain all the weight back and then some.

Wow it sounds like you are doing a great job on trying to manage your weight!

I honestly felt like that, too, until I started eating low carb. I found the key to maintaining that kind of eating is by upping my fats. We've been brainwashed to think that fats MAKES us fat, which in fact its the opposite. Fat only is bad for you when you're mixing it with simple, processed carbs, but if you're eating fat with complex carbs (carbs that aren't made from white flour, sugar, starches, etc) then it's better for you. In Atkins maintenance he advises if you're going to up your fat, then decrease your carbs, but if you want to decrease your carbs, then bring your fat down some. I'm not trying to push low carb on you, but I feel so amazing on it (I've been low carbing for 2+ years), and it's so easy for me to lose weight on it. If I were to try a convential way, such as just eating healthier, I'd get no where. I've tried the whole eating healthier thing and I'd be lucky to lose a pound a week. Just something to think about, when you eat a regular diet and you eat a bunch of carbs, it uses carbs for fuel and then gets to your fat when it's done burning up the carbs, so you burn relatively no fat. But in low carb, since you're not eating a bunch of processed carbs, it has very little carbs to burn up, then it goes to your fat burning system for fuel, which the end product is a leaner body. I personally went from 240 pounds to my current 185 (my lowest was 182; stupid period made me gain a few lbs this week) and it's never been easier for me. But back to my original point, fat gives you that feeling full satisfaction. I, too, when I ate a conventional diet, I felt like I had to eat a lot more just to feel full. With low carb, I make sure I get some fat in every meal. But I don't just go out and load my meals with fat. I make sure it's the good fat. I avoid trans fat which are so bad for you. It took me losing this weight and feeling how healthy and energized I feel to want to stick to it for a lifetime. The trick is to think of how you eat as a diet. Diet's don't work. You need to change your mindset and think this is how you're going to eat for the rest of your life. Otherwise you will revert back to your old ways and will gain it all back. The key is just finding a balance between a way of eating that will enable you to lose your weight and then maintain and not binge on the old foods you used to it. It does take willpower, but you get through it if it's important to you.

I quit smoking when I got pregnant with the twins too, and ended up gaining a total of 100 pounds for that pregnancy. I lost 50 pounds, but that was it. I've been carrying that extra 50 around for over 6 years.

I've never smoked, but I've gained weight simply because I have a tendency to eat whenever I'm bored or stressed. I've really had to discipline myself not to do this. One of the ways I'm trying to lose weight is to drink only one Coke per day, as opposed to the three or four I used to partake of. The only thing I haven't been doing regularly is exercising, but I'm going to get my act together and start doing so. :)