This is really hard for me...

First things first... you are beautiful. You need to find the things that you love about yourself. From your profile picture you look like you have gorgeous eyes and an amazing smile. Realize that, no matter how much you weigh you have these things and focus on them when you look in the mirror.

As for diet, be sure you're doing these diets correctly or they won't work (I'm a fan of South Beach). You also need to experiment with how your body processes food. The bottom line with all of these diets is calories IN vs calories OUT. You need to be sure you're tracking your calories until you are familiar with what things "cost." A word of advice... I know its scary but open up your food diary. There are a lot of very knowledgeable people here on MFP who can make suggestions (kindly) on how to tweak your diet for better, healthy weight loss.

As for your veggies... keep trying them. I don't know the story behind your aversion but there are hundreds of vegetables and even more ways to prepare them. My husband thought he hated asparagus until I made them for him. Come to find out his mother pressure cooked them until they were grey or fed them to him straight out of a can. Vegetables are very important to your diet so you get the nutrients and fiber you need to be successful. The same with fruit.

Feel free to add me as a friend and lots of luck on your journey!

I'm not a skinny girl either, though looking back I wasn't as heavy as I thought. Maybe our issue is the same, self control. I make a vow to do or not do stuff and end up caving in fast. I think the important part for me is finding things I can do. For me the only way I am successful at loosing weight is this myfitnesspal or something like it where I track every single thing I eat. Most important, I can't lie, I have to actually write it all down, even if I eat way more than I'm supposed to.

I work out, so that's in my favor and would be in your favor too. If you don't have money for a gym, get a friend to go walking with you, or download free workouts online. The important thing is to do something. Make some change even if it's small and don't give up.

You can do it! Remember it's not just your size, it's also your health.

You sounds and look like a beautiful person inside and out! If you want to lose some weight and be in better shape I am 100% confident you can do so. Don't try and do too much too soon.

I'll start with math. You may know this, but I'll start here anyway. If you were to eat 100 calories per day more than you need, which is less than a small bag of chips, you would, over the course of a year gain 10 pounds. The reverse is also true. Eat 100 calories less than you need (which is a total 200 calorie swing) you would lose 10 pounds per year. I am sure 10 pounds sounds like a drop in the bucket, but double or triple the numbers, the math works the same

**It does not take a lot of calories one way or the other to make a difference over time, and time is your friend.**

MFP recommends 1 pound per week which is 500 calories per day. Assuming one was over eating by 100 that is a 600 calorie swing. Add in that most people are looking to stay under their MFP goal, let's say by 200 calories you now have an 800, or more, calorie swing. That is like missing a entire meal!

If you are hungry all the time when you "diet" I would suggest you are not eating enough. You are, in my opinion, better off to take it slow and eat close to you need, but a bit under. Does the weight come off more slowly? Yes it does. But then you should not be hungry all the time either.

You do not need to belong to a gym to exercise. There are all kinds of things you can do at home, or if you like or could like running all you need are shoes. No matter what you do, start small. Something you know you can stick with over time. You can always add more.

If you want to do this thing you CAN do it. I have confidence in you!!!!

No need for a gym membership. I lost 30 pounds never setting foot in a gym. Go for a walk! Get a couple workout videos or find some on YouTube.

If you don't like raw veggies, eat cooked ones. Eat fruit -- smoothies are a great, tasty way to get them in.

Take small steps and work your way toward the body you want.

Some suggestions I have are:

-Try to make exercise a priority. Schedule it just like you would anything else in your busy life. I'm working 60 hours a week right now and schedule workouts 6 days a week. Your health should come before anything else so if there is anything you can eliminate in your life to make time for working out I would definitely do it! The workouts I do are running (I'm training for a 10k) and Jillian Michael's Ripped in 30. You don't need to join a gym and have all kinds of fancy equiptment or $, just get moving!

-Look up different recipes or different foods you can try that are healthy. When I first started I didn't know what to eat but I looked at recipes online and kraft.com helped me get started on cooking healthier meals. Allrecipes is another good one. Planning meals is huge. What I do is look up recipes online, plan my meals and snacks for the week, write out my grocery list and get the groceries and then stick to the meal plan! Another option is if you use Jillian MIchael's DVD she provides you with a free meal plan for 30 days! Planning your meals helps so much, you just have to put the time in.

-Start with baby steps if you have to. One of the biggest things I did when I first started getting healthy was drink water. That simple change lead me to lose 10 pounds in 2 weeks! It was a great jump start for my weight loss and did wonders for my self esteem. It gave me the confidence to keep going. So just try simple changes and once you can stick with those then change something else.

I believe you can do it. Look at all the success stories on here. Get more friends to support you. Try one of the challenges they have in the forums. We are all in this together!!!

Grettings Xohethr, Lets start with your comment ." I do the low carb, and I end up wanting sweets. I do the low calorie, and I feel like I'm starving at times." I don't know how much you know about food other than calories, fat, protein etc etc so I'll start from square one. When your eating food that is low cal this and low cal that I'm automatically thinking of processed food because there is no such thing as low cal apples and low cal bananas. Start with the ingredients on the package, if it doesnt look like ingredients that you can find in an average kitchen (vanilla, flour,salt etc) then your adding to your struggles. If you see long word this and confusing word that then it's proccessed. Proccessed foods will give you calories yes, and they will also give you energy but only in short bursts. For example if you ate an apple your blood glucose will spike and your body will start to proccess it and but that energy will slowly start to dwindle downward then youd get hungry again. If you were to eat a apple flavored jolly rancher your blood sugar will spike stay there for a while then drop down rapidly. So try to get away from the proccessed food and start with lots of whole foods Natural peanut butters, natural jellies, fruits and veggies as much as you can handle. I personally used lots of veggies and meats for my meals and then only used the fruits as my deserts because when you start this new diet your going to crave what your use too. So if you eat lots of sugar you can't just stop because that has become part of your bodys operating norm and its going to be looking for what I would call False energy. Mix up a bunch of fruits, I used water melon because its super sweet mainly water and after eating lots of meat and steamed veggies I would start cravin sweets then I'd pound all types of melons which some may say is bad but I feel that if I'm going to over indulge on something at least make sure its healthy food that I'm over indulging on. So start with your food in general When you eat the foods that stay in your system longer you do not feel hungry as fast. If you ate apples, then ate the equivilent calories in the form of oreo cookies I can assure you the apples will last longer in your system as a form of energy. If you have this site in the form of an app on your Iphone then look at the diary and there is a little bar code press that and you can start scanning the bar codes on the foods you eat, and I can guarantee that youll start to understand how quickly the foods you eat and drink will add up causing you to over eat. I dropped sodas first thing and bought the individual powder crystal lights, and the Mio drink drops to add to my water for flavor and I started dropping instantly. I'm only dedicated to 2000 calories per day and by the time I would drink my usual 5 dr peppers I was in the hole 1000 calories for the day. Its important to set realistic goals for weight loss. If you started a new regiment of fast walking and dropped your calorie intake you would shed some immediate pounds but don't get use to it because your technically shocking your system and that loss wont continue as your body starts to level out so to speak. When you start noticing your weight to stabilize its time to start something even more intense in order to shock your system again. There are litterally thousands of people on here that can give you what works and what doesn't work but each and every one of them will also atest that what doesn't work 100% of the time is doing nothing at all.

Add me if you would like. I don't like to eat vegetables either. I will eat some once in a while. I am not figuring this as a diet. I am just watching my calories and if I eat more than I should I try to get some exercise in to help me. I have been on MFP for about 110 days now and have only lost 21 lbs, but that is 21 lbs less than I started out with. I have also lost inches, which is good. I get on my stationary bike, or I get on my wii and do some exercises, or I walk a little. I have a hard time walking. There are ways to exercise without spending time and money at the gym. You will also find all kinds of support on MFP. I never would have made it as far as I have without their help.

Read this link, it is full of good info:

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/654536-in-place-of-a-road-map-2-0-revised-7-2-12

And so many people say it's all about a calorie deficit no matter what foods or how you get to the deficit really. But I have found for me, "only eating less" hardly does anything, but if I have a calorie deficit due to exercise I do better with weight loss.

So, the basics apply to everyone in general, but we all have our own way follow,through that works best.

Log everything you eat. Every thing. Measure. Measure. Log it all!
And read the above linked post.

You can do this. It was hard for me at first but I decided I wanted a better life. Last December I was 287 pounds. Now I'm 230 but still a work in progress. Work towards being the person you envision. Here's the good news. You understand this will be difficult but it is not impossible! The even better news is you want something more for your life. You are now just a couple of good decisions paired with consistent action away from changing your life. Feel free to add me.

You're not alone! I think it's hard for most people to stay thin, especially with our fast paced lives and all the food at our fingertips. I'm naturally heavier and my weight has always gone up and down but I've finally been able to keep the weight that I want off by using this tool. Counting calories...it can be a massive pain in the butt but it works! I've lost about 34lbs and I've been able to keep it off by never stopping my calorie counting. This tool makes it much easier since it can be on your phone and the scan function is amazing! Just scan the barcode and there's your calories. The hardest part at first is being really really honest with yourself. But after a while it can become second nature. I've been doing this for about a year now and I've found that I can pretty accurately tell the calories in a lot of things. And if I'm not sure - say at a time like Thanksgiving - overestimate!

You can do it!!! Once you get in the swing with the calorie counting you can begin to add exercise. Like a lot of people have already said, you don't need a gym membership. I've got a Fitbit that counts all my steps and it integrates with MFP so it can tell me if I have extra calories to eat that day. It can become part of your everyday routine. Exercise is also one of those things that as you begin to add it your workouts become easier and you add a little more. Before you know it, you may be looking forward to that routine and challenging yourself to go even harder than before!

Slow and steady wins the race with this stuff but let me tell you there's no better feeling than waking up one day and trying on that thing you might have in the closet that's a little too small and seeing that it fits! Also, there's no better feeling than feeling healthy and strong from exercise. Just believe in yourself and don't let little set back cause you to quit completely. If you have a bad day, you can always start fresh the next! Believe in yourself - know you can do it! :-)

Hey there! Do you have a Planet Fitness nearby where you live, because the basic membership is only $10 a month and some nights they are open all night long. If you can't do that just walk, it's free and you can do it anywhere.

Counting calories has been my biggest tool to success, so always do that. At first it's pain to log all your food, but you get so used to it that you want to do it to and see where you are at. You don't just have to eat chicken and salad to lose weight. There are lots of foods out there that are yummy and low calorie.

Find something to inspire you to keep you going, like a pair of jeans you want to fit into or a dress...something that gives you incentive to keep on going. You can absolutely achieve your goals. There are tons of people on here who have lost hundreds of pounds. I've lost 100.

I don't have much to add since everyone else has already hit every point I could ever want to make. My advice to you is simple...if you want to lose weight, you have got to change your life. I don't like 'diets' because they typically imply that you can go back to whatever your own normal is once you hit your goal. For some this is great! Losing 10 pounds before your wedding or vacation, etc, etc, but it is NOT the way to lose weight and keep it off. You have to change your life. You have to learn how to be healthy and you have to be open to being healthy and trying new things. If you don't like raw vegetables, don't eat them! There are plenty of alternatives out there! If you don't have money for a gym membership, or time to get there, you don't have to! I've never thought of the youtube option people have mentioned, but it sounds awesome! Simple things like taking the stairs instead of an elevator, or walking to/from places are great first steps (pun intended)! Soon you'll be wondering why you drove everywhere and took the elevator! Will those small steps make you lose 30 pounds in a month? No - and that wouldn't be healthy anyway! But you may be able to lose 30 pounds in a year. That might not seem like a lot, but it's much better than gaining another 30 in a year! The truth is that if you are truly ready to change your life around, you'll find that you care less about the numbers and more about how great you'll start feeling. And trust me, the loss will come, and other random weird weight-related things that you never even consider now will hit you at the oddest moments and you'll be like..."damn, I'm good!"

Good luck!!! Support is just a mouse click away!

Just remember that you are the one person that can do ANYTHING. We are all on here because we are wanting to change our health or weight. You are among friends. Becoming more active will make you healthier. Eating reasonable portions and better food choices will make you healthier. The weight loss will just come along the way.

You are still young with your whole life ahead of you. Make your next 25 better than your last. Decide to be happy with YOU.

You can do this! 90% of my family is obese as well. I was obese as a kid and have kept my weight off a very long time. But I totally related to you saying you've never shopped in the Junior's dept. I remember in the 80s wanting a pair of "designer jeans" so bad (Jordache was all the rage back then lol) and I couldn't get them because they only went up to size 12 and I was a 16 and then 18, as a kid. I never ever forgot that feeling.

Keep it simple and sustainable. You're gonna get all kinds of "expert" advice on here and enough facts and BMR and TDEE and all this stuff that sounds like rocket science. And it's NOT rocket science! Back in 1987, when I first lost my weight, I was 15 and it was the 80s, before the Internet, before low carb, South Beach, whatever and before "low fat" foods. I just knew about portion control (thank you Richard Simmons!) and get up and move! So that's what I did!

For me, it helped to lose the "diet" mentality. Anyone can LOSE the weight...the trick is to keep it off for 20+ years and counting! I allow cheat meals, I don't diet and I don't deprive myself of anything. I tend to make much healthier choices these days but I am the result of a bunch of small changes adding up over time.

I'm sending a FR here on MFP. Also, go to FB if you're on there and "like" my page:
https://www.facebook.com/obsfitness

Honey, if I can do this...the girl who woulda been devastated at the loss of Twinkies this past week (ugh, can't stand them now lol) then ANYONE can! And I will help!

hello heather, yes i do understand what you are going through as i am going through the same thing at the moment... you are a very beautiful girl never forget that, look at yourself in the mirror and find positive things about you, do that everyday until you feel better (my youth group leader told me this and it works) also try not to do anything to make yourself upset (i emotionally eat and cry when i see myself naked) remember everyone on this site is here for you ok...

add me if you like

~crystal~