why does losing weight have to be so hard???

Focus on driving the car. Filling up at the gas station isn't the high point.

This is full of awesome.

One thing I try to do, when I start feeling the pangs of snack cravings: drink water. Half the time, we are actually thirsty as opposed to hungry, but we're so used to reaching for food we fail to recognize what our body actually wants. I get the 1L bottles of clear, sugar free caffeine free sodas (like Clear American at Walmart) to help me fill up (I think the carbonation makes you feel fuller). It also helps to munch on healthy things: peanuts and raisins, celery, pistachios . . . low carb and tasty! Get mini sandwich flat rounds and make your own pizza. Then you have the taste of that wonderful pizza you're craving, but a healthier, far smaller version of it. Don't completely deprive yourself. Make it a reward. Allow yourself one meal a week to "cheat."

The first week is hard, trust me it was hard for me to so you are not alone. What I did I stop eating rice bread and pasta as a start to cutting back on my starches. I eat fruit and cereal which are still starches. That helped a lot for me. I actually dropped 4 pounds in one week when I did that. Now its been 3 weeks I don't crave the bread rice and pastas. The less you have of the carbs the less you crave them. Stay focused and you have lots of people to encourage you on this site.....Good Luck.

Focus on driving the car. Filling up at the gas station isn't the high point.

Actually, for me, driving the car is boring...filling up at the gas station means I get to pee and grab something to drink and snack on, so it really is the high point for me.

I have been a yo-yo for years with my weight never seeing the reults I wanted to see in the first week. If I watch what I eat and work out I should have something to show for it. But I never did.

But this time seems different...What seems to have helpled me is sticking to the plan MFP set up for me. Working out, and most of all starting to understand how all the math works. What my BMR, TDEE, Net calories and calorie deficit are. Understanding these and implamenting a spread sheet some one else posted has really clicked for me.

I hope you stick with it. Give it some time.

In my humble opinion, losing weight is not the hard part. The hard part is finally coming to the realization that losing weight is not a goal, it's a result. It's a result of making the necessary decisions to BE more healthy. Eating better, eating less, exercising. These aren't short term steps with a defined finish line. THERE IS NO FINISH LINE! Too many people start down this path and feel that if they get to their goal weight, then they've accomplished what they set out to do and can stop. That's how the yo-yo happens. There is no stop.

Until you realize that weight loss is nothing more than a by-product of long term choices... choices that we must all make in perpetuity, then you'll never truly develop the resolve and self-motivation to get there. It's why so many people talk about it being a lifestyle change. That means permanent. If you don't intend to maintain the healthy choices permanently, then you'll put the weight back on, and it will all be for nothing.

There is no finish line; there's only a neverending race. The weight loss is simply a result that happens because you choose to participate in the race.

One thing that has really helped me was reading about junk food. Reading The Omnivore's Dilemma made it hard for me to picture "yummy" foods the same way. Now, just the idea of eating a cheeseburger and french fries makes me sick.

Remember:

Weight (whether too little or too much) is only a symptom of something else.