I need help - motivation - support

Just curious...how old are you? I am 43 this year and that definitely played a role in my inability to lose weight. IT TOOK FOREVER.
I started six months ago and have lost 42 total pounds....BUT before I found MFP it was just not going away. I stayed at 1240 calories and refused to eat anymore then that it it finally started coming off. Also, I swear by lipton green tea and honey decaf tea bags. I drink a hot tea every morning and every night. It may not be what finally broke the barrier but for me it sure feels like it is. Don't give up....it will happen. Keep following MFP and log every single thing. Eventually it WILL work!! Good luck

Here's my 2 cents. Take what you like and leave the rest.
Buy a copy of Dr Fuhrman's book "Eat To Live" and read it all the way through. You will finally understand why losing weight -- and keeping it off -- is so difficult. Then make a commitment to eating right the rest of your life. You will learn all you need to know about real nutrition from this book. (Check out my profile.) You will lose all the weight you need to, and will finally feel great eating real food, as much as you want, and easily maintaining the best weight for your body. Promise.

Research has been done to show that exercise does not work for everyone who wants to lose weight. I know it doesn't for me. Also, have those who have been doing extra exercise taken into account that the muscle they build up doing it weighs heavier than the fat they lose so if you are going by weight loss alone it will appear you are not winning. If you excercise you must measure and take the measurements as a better guide to your body than the weight. Personally, I watch the carbs and have two days a week when I eat less than 600 calories and the rest of the week I pretty much eat what I like while still watching the carbs. Over the week I probably have the same number of calories that I would if I ate the same each day. I think it gets my metabolism going so it can't adjust to a lower calorie diet and get stuck. Just that it works for me - may not be right for everyone though.

Research has been done to show that exercise does not work for everyone who wants to lose weight. I know it doesn't for me.

I kinda agree, that exercise doesn't do it all for me. I used to swim 3x a week, run 6x a week; had a lot of muscle but hidden under a nice layer of fat. That is my personal experience. I'm not that active anymore but I eat better -- it's more about WHAT I eat, rather than calories or carbs; rather, I try to eat at least 90% of my daily intake in vegetables and fruit, 0% processed/refined crap, and 10% or less of my daily intake in starchy vegetables/grains. I've cut my sodium to under 1000mg a day, and rarely eat dairy anymore. This has helped reduce that nice layer of fat I've always had and helped keep me on a steady weight loss over the last 4 months. Feeling pretty dang good lately.

I am 44 and holy cow does it get harder to drop weight. I aim for 1200 calories a day, but I honestly have trouble eating that much. I drink almost a gallon of water a day, eat a lot of protein and veges, and at the end of the day, if I've hit 1000 calories, I'm doing good. Then when I throw in a workout, the dang thing tells me I need to eat MORE!! GAG. Anyway, It does work if you stick to it and focus on the quality of your calories. I lost over 40 pounds in 2010, was 5 pounds from my goal weight and kept it off for almost a year. What bit me is that my mother passed away in March of 2011 and I comforted myself with my old eating habits. I regained about 25-30 pounds of that in no time at all. So.....here I am again. It's been easier for me to get into the routine this time because I've done it before and I know what works for me, but it does get harder to lose the older that you get.

Be strong! You will get through it and it will work. It's easy to give up because you don't see the instant results that we all seek, but given time, it will come off Good luck to you!!