I'm interested in losing weight. Obviously as quickly as possible, but also long lastingly. I know eating better, eating less, exercise yata yata. But what if these don't work? I don't eat much, I get tons of exercise with two toddlers, and have an exercise routine between 1/2-1 hour long.Didn't do anything. I do have a soda problem however. Any tips, suggestions, ideas, or personal stories would be appreciated. Thanks.

People may tell you to switch to diet soda, but i promise you it's just as bad for you. I used to love dirnking coke, but decided to switch to diet fizzy water. It comes in lime, and peach falvours. And it's actually GOOD for your diet, unlike regular diet soda. You'd be amazed at how many calories you save by drinking fizzy water with 0 calories, and plain tea (also 0 calories). Try to aim for losing 2 pounds a week, or else it will be hard to keep the pounds form coming back on! I also know of a great website for you to visit it's great for low-fat low-calorie recipe ideas, and gives you and idea of how much fat your body burns in a day, and what amount of calories you should be eating! It's also a great way to meet friends and other peopel over the internet to help keep you motivated and share stories with. :
http://caloriecount.about.com/
or just google "calorie count plus"
it's really a great website. It helps you keep track of everything. They even have "logs", so by entering the form of excercise and what you've eaten, it will tell you wether you're on the right track or not! Good look!

Why not try the magnetic diet that all my friends are talking about. Try this link: http://www.magnetic-diet.com
Hope it helps.

My problem wasn't soda, it was not eating breakfast, drinking a pot of coffee, eating badly at lunch and then too much dinner. I've tried so hard to change my ways. Tried every diet. Wouldn't/couldn't do it.
Finally found something that had me lose 23 pounds between August and December of last year. I went off it, the weight has stayed off (in fact I have lost another 3 pounds). I just started on it again because I want to lose the rest of the 25 pounds I need to get off me.
It was Shaklee Cinch inch loss program. The main reason I like it is because it is something I can do, plus I was spending hours and hours preparing what I need to eat. It's a shake in the morning, an energizing tea midmorning (I just love the tea, I drink it allllll the time now), a shake for lunch, an energizing bar in the mid afternoon with maybe a piece of fruit, then a well-balanced dinner.
I'm so sold on the shakes that I have kept drinking it for breakfast just because it makes for the perfect meal and it energizes me for the day.
The two kids will keep you busy, but the program comes with a pedometer to check and see just how sedentary you are or measure your activity. That was a real eye opener for me. I big change I made was just doing things like parking at the end of the row at the grocery store, etc.
My motto is: Life is short to be fat.

get rid of the soda!!!!

for you soda, start drinking jones soda, it's not good for you but it's better for you, there only a few ingredients and they use pure cane sugar in most of their soda's as well. Replace a can with a bottle of water, with a lemon/orange wedge placed in it for flavor, but do not use sugar, or splenda. If you are looking at a NON Caloric sweetner, Stevia, is a natural plant that is sweeter than splenda, and better for you. Splenda is sugar that has been processed with chlorine so don't let the media fool you about how it's made and tastes like sugar. It's not. Stevia, is a naturally super sweet plant.
http://www.stevia.net/
Jackeetbs: Carbonated water that you buy from wal-mart, or DG, all have aspertame/sucralose/sacchrine in them. All of these are chemicals that are bad for you body and don't help with losing weight. None of these chemicals have been proven to aid in weight loss.

The soda problem is likely a big contributor. You are getting up to several hundred calories per 12 oz. serving. If you get the Big Gulps (44 oz.), you are getting about 2.5 times as many calories. One Big Gulp could be adding 500 or more calories to your daily intake. Similarly, cutting out added sugar would help eliminate a lot of calories, as would reducing intake of desserts and junk food.
There is no quick fix, just a long slow process of making lifestyle changes. Don't go for the whole thing at once - you will fail, because it can't be done. Set a goal for one week to cut down on soda by 12 oz./day, then maintain that for a month (replacing the soda with water or skim milk). Then go down another 12 oz./day, and so on. Then start on junk food and desserts, replacing with fresh fruit, vegetables, protein bars, etc.
Good luck.