The hardest thing about dieting is sticking to it. No, I haven't given up yet. I lost a pound... Woohoo!!! I'm getting older now and with a family history of hypertension and diabetes, I cannot afford to gain anymore weight. My grandmother died when she was 55 of a stroke, and my uncle had a stroke in his early forties. That's scary to me. So not only do I need to lose this weight because I'm sick of it, but I need to lose weight for my health. Obesity is a prominent problem within the black community. We all eat the wrong foods. Why are the worst foods, so cheap? In slavery times, we were given the left overs, we were forced to eat parts of the pig that white folks wouldn't think about eating, and we learned to batter chicken, so it would last longer and be more filling. Okay, now it's almost 2005 and black folks still eating like they did 300 years ago. The dollar menu at Mcdonald's has replaced the pig, and to be honest, hardly anyone cooks anymore. To be frank, everyone works, and no one hardly has time. Fortunately, my son is a picky eater... If he wasn't I'm afraid he would be overweight like so many of our children. Too much fast food and not enough play and exercise. Our community got sucked up in this rat race. All anyone cares about now a days is that almighty dollar. You're not successful unless you're a millionaire. Not everyone is destined to make that million. Some of us are going to work hard everyday and not have anything to show for it. Those are the perils of living in a capitalist society. Some of us will fail to live above the poverty line. But don't let that deter you from doing the things in life you want to do. The measure of success is your mind set. Let success be what you make it to be. You have to live with yourself in the end, so make yourself happy... If all you want to do is work a 9 to 5 and be a great mother, then do that... If you want to go back to school to get that degree, then do it. Don't let anyone tell you any different. It's your life and no one else's...Remember that people...