Resolving to lose the weight and sticking to it

Things that work for me:

"I worked pretty damn hard to get here. There's no way I am wasting all that time and effort"

"Ok let's look at the big picture. This slice of gourmet pizza was good. Do I really need another slice? Is this my once in a lifetime chance to enjoy this pizza? Probably not... And by not pigging out on it I will hopefully add some years to my life to enjoy it once in a while"

"I am not going to think of all the reasons why I don't want to go to the gym. I know I will feel better physically and emotionally after the workout so I am just going to drag my *kitten* there for now"

I found a good workout partner. We motivate eachother, which helps a lot! I have also found that if I record my calories beforehand and edit them as the day goes along, it helps me to stay on track.

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I plan my meals, snacks included, for a week and only buy what I need. Not having junk food in the house helps.

Same applies to workouts. I know I have to have three a week no matter what, so I pick my days and work the rest of my activities around my workouts, not the opposite.

Days that I have to work, I work out first thing in the morning to get it out of the way. That way I'm not dreading it all day, and if I'm too tired to work out more when I get home, thats ok.

its like city slickers (if your old enough to remember that movie) - you have to find your own "one thing". one reason it is worth it to you. for me, I want to be a healthy and active grandmother some day. My mom is 70 and she is frale and weak and my friends mom is also 70 and is active and enjoying life... i choose the latter!

Also, when all is said and done, you just have to DO IT. Just commit and not let anything get in your way.

Ultimately you have to drop the excuses. There is always another special occasion, always another reason to eat more and move less. If you are like me and have a limited amount of willpower you need to keep it simple. Just say no to everything until you are at your goal.
NO fast food so that you aren't tempted to order the latest greatest unhealthy treat instead of the salad you said you would order
NO booze so that as you get happy your decision to limit the quantity doesn't fade
NO out to dinner with the friends who always order desert and appetizers
NO excuses for not moving (sick? no sleep? hard day? - suck it up, no excuses allowed)
NO believing it isn't working just because the scale doesn't show it.
NO to anything that has made you stumble in the past.

I'm a totally stubborn person so once I've made the commitment to stick to this I am too stubborn to ever go over on my calories. I eat whatever I want...as long as I can fit it in my daily calorie allowance.

1. It requires a decision on your part to do it.
2. You need to stick to that decision. How?
3. take some time to figure out what foods trigger you to overeat. We all have them. Then eliminate them from your home and life completely. Don't go to restaurants that serve it, etc.
4 Figure out what situations/people trigger you to overeat. Avoid them completely.
5. Log every single freaking thing you put in your mouth. No skipping, no "oh that doesn't count." EVERYTHING.
6. Eat the same meals over and over again. Almost every morning for breakfast I have four eggs (two whole, two whites) a 100 calorie pack of wholly guacamole and some salsa. I also make a huge pot of chili or stew (ideally enough for 10 portions) then measure the portions out into storage containers and freeze them. that's two weeks of the lunches. The Recipe tab on MFP let's you very accurately track the calories per serving.
7 For dinner I have protein (fish, beef, chicken, pork) and heat up some frozen veggies like spinach or mixed vegetables. If this seems boring, it is. It's designed so that you know exactly what you are going to eat each day. Many days I pre-log my meals in the morning. This helps me avoid cheating and avoid deviating from plan.
8. Exercise. If you find that if you get home from work and sit down and then don't exercise, don't sit down.

It took me about a month of doing this consistently to create new, healthier habits for myself. I do Tim Ferriss' Slow Carb diet, which is essential eating Primal (plus beans) with one cheat day per week. There is a group on here with more details or you can just google it.

Find a plan that works for and stick with it. You have to be accountable for your actions and your body. Until you are, making lasting changes is going to be impossible.

Good luck.

Hello,I just wanted to hear how everyone stuck to their diet and prevent themselves from getting derailed. i can;t seem to stay on track

Log everything - the good, the bad, the ugly. I took a break for the holidays, then took a long vacation, upped my calories, and had trouble getting out to exercise during the cold Minnesota winter, but through it all, I did my best to stay consistent with my logging. And after four months of not being rigid at all about my diet and exercise - not saying that I didn't try, but I wasn't perfect by any stretch of the imagination - I'm one pound lighter than where I was at the beginning of December. In the past, when I've pulled back from a 'diet,' I've piled weight back on quickly, and this time I didn't encounter that because I was still logging, and just the act of writing it down here on MFP kept me somewhat on track. Best advice - If you bite it, write it.

Something else I've found to keep me motivated when progress seems to stall or my weight loss hits a plateau - going back 6 months or a year to see what my weight was and see how far I've come. It can be really hard to recognize your progress on a day-to-day level because it happens so slowly, but checking in with old measurements can really bring it home.

My final piece of advice, don't let one bad meal, or day, or even week completely derail your progress. Pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and get back at it. Good luck!