Most frustrating thing in my life....

It is not easy at all! The people that say that are always the skinny *****es that can eat whatever they want! It took me a year to lose 20 lbs! A whole year. I go on this site and someone's like lost 100 in 5 days (okay a HUGE exaggeration) but sometimes it feels like that to me looking all those post about people losing weight so fast but then I realize its about the progress I've made. Its about the time I spent and how hard I work. Just because something is hard does not mean it is not worth while! I mean who doesn't want to look great naked?! You can do it no matter how hard. People will appreciate it eventually. It took me to get 5 lbs away from goal before people started saying how great I look and now I feel amazing. It will all pay off in the end.

How long have you been at it? What sort of exercise do you do and how often? How many calories per day? How much protein? What is your weight loss goal? Have you lost any yet?

Sorry for the 20 questions, but wondering about these things and if I can offer any advice after working at my own weight/fat loss & fitness over the past few years. I've learned a lot just in the past year here on MFP, and have gotten some good results.

I also cringe at the phrase, "eat less and exercise more", mostly because all too often it results in people drastically cutting calories (MFP's standard seems to be 1200 per day - that was my first setting!), and working out like mad trying to burn major calories on a daily basis (done that too!). Which for me, ultimately resulted in a little weight loss, and a lot of frustration and burnout.

Finding the balance of eating less in the sense of less junky food, but eating enough calories to fuel your body for workouts was key. Along with eating the right amounts of protein, carbs and fats. And not going gonzo on the workouts was another issue. Strength training with weights and a bit of cardio has done wonders for me!

Check out this topic if you haven't seen it yet: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/654536-in-place-of-a-road-map-2-0-revised-7-2-12

Great info and links to tools to calculate your weight loss & calorie goals. I used it to manually set my numbers here at MFP. The fat is coming off, and I'm working out 5 or 6 days a week for about 45-60 minutes. I eat around 1800 calories a day or more. I'm nearly to my goal weight, and focusing on losing the fat and building lean muscle at this point, so I don't pay much attention to my scale - but the inches are still coming off and I keep having to buy smaller clothes!

Check out the thread, read through it - it makes sense. I had to read it several times to wrap my head around all the info. I hope it helps - I know it sucks to feel stuck with the weight loss and it's so frustrating!!

It's NOT as simple as just wanting it or everyone in the world would be thin. I'm struggling as well...measuring my food, coming under my calorie goal every day, working out hard and losing SUPER SLOW. Like 3lbs per month slow. I'm not going to stop though, but it's a HUGE frustration point, so I totally feel your pain. You are not alone.

Losing weight is simple, but not easy.

1 + 2 = 3, it just does. (Given enough time & consistent, accurately measured effort.)

The learning process, though, the motivational stuff, finding support, those are the hard bits. It took me months of obsession (basically) to reprogram my eating and cooking habits.

But, if someone like me could do it, anyone can. I was never a natural athlete. I love all kinds of food. I tend to do things in spurts, vs steadily, and sometimes procrastinate.

(The smart thing I did was take advantage of a motivational window, a change in my life circumstance, that presented itself. I stayed with it long enough to feel generally better, and start to see some results. Can't see going back now

Figure out what motivates you. I tend to do well with negative motivation, so my friend and I text each about how fat we are, which makes me want to get into better shape.

The rest of this post is great (as are others), but I wanted to pick this part out & elaborate a bit.

Some people are really good at visualizing goals. They can see themselves crossing a finish line, or fitting into a bikini. (positive motivation)

Others are more careful types, who tend to worry, & are motivated by avoiding risk (the negative motivation mentioned above).

It's a good idea to use support strategies that fit your type. Either way works, it's just more effective if it matches your inclination.