The Former Morbidly Obese

I'm still in the morbidly obese category, even after losing over 100 pounds - that gives you some idea of how much i had to lose. I hope I'm allowed to answer?

Start eating healthier - smaller portions of better quality food.

Move more - everything counts when you have a lot to lose. Walk farther to the grocery store, start playing Wii, walk around your house a few times each day.

A little bit at a time.

You've already lost 6 pounds - you're on your way! Feel free to add me as a friend.

Cutting calories to a reasonable deficit (TDEE-20%), adding in healthy snacks to reduce snack urges, taking up an exercise routine, and really most importantly loving myself and forgiving myself for being so fat. Coming to terms with my weight and self and letting go of the comfort/guilt I attached to food was hard but so worth it.

you have to really, really want it. then you have to really, really commit to it. take each day as it comes, as it does gets easier along as you start shedding the weight. find foods you like and incorporate those into your day, staying within your calorie goal.

if youre having portion problems, weight watchers is a good place to start. thats where i started, i totally forgot how to eat and what a normal portion was. still eat the foods i love, and dropping the pounds.

Wow that is awesome!

You can do it!
I did and I am 60 years old,
my only regret was I did not do it in my 30"s
Do it for yourself and you will find yourself.

one day, one meal, one workout, one choice at a time....

and as some one already said....you have to really, really, really want it...

once you stop make excuses and get really honest with yourself, and stop fooling yourself into believing that "you can just go on a diet when you are ready"...

one piece of advice that i can give you is never, never, quit! if you have a bad day/week/month then you have to just pull up your big girl panties and get right back to living a healthful lifestyle....

i know some people who never fell off and lost weight quickly...but that just didnt work for me...its taken me two and a half years to lose almost 150lbs and its been HARD! but worth every single bit of the hard work that ive had to put in!

and as some one already said....you have to really, really, really want it...

This is a really important thing, that I don't think can be said enough. Also, though, you have to really, really want it for -yourself.- If you try to do it for anyone else, you'll be a lot less motivated and less likely to follow through.

Been there. I suggest you start slow. Don't focus on changing food choices right now. What you want to do is get out there and walk for about 30 minutes each day. If your knees can't handle that, I recommend an indoor swimming pool. Get your heart pumping! After a week gradually ease up on your food intake. Eliminate the junk food slowly. If you start feeling deprived you will lose the battle. Each week add a little more exercise and each week make healthier choices at the table. Keep it even. Within the first couple weeks you'll find that losing weight at this point is so easy. Once you get down to my size, it's when the real hard work begins. Best of luck!

Find your reason to want this, the reason that really means something to you. It doesn't have to be a good reason, it just needs to mean the world to you. You will need this reason often-it will carry you through the rough patches. My reason is in my profile, but is likely meaningless to you. But find something that means as much to you as my reason means for me.

Find healthy food that you actually like to eat. You need to make changes you think you can stick to forever. If you hate celery, dot eat it. Find something you DO like that is reasonably healthy (or at least healthier). Eat that. Don't think you need to starve to lose weight-you don't. I eat all day long, and make room in my life for cookies and cake and pizza and bacon cheeseburgers. Not all the time, but the prospect of life without goodies is unfathomable. I don't eat anything that I don't like. Make sure you do the same.

Move more. Don't go into the fitness forum and read about people doing HIIT and going for 10 mile runs. If you can manage walking at a slow pace for 5 minutes, that's awesome! That's 5 minutes you weren't moving before. Build up to 10 minutes or whatever. Point being to compare you to you. Progress on where you are. Don't compare yourself to anyone else. Only you know what you can do-and congratulate yourself for every accomplishment.

Realize there is no "done". This will go forever. Whatever you do to lose weight is something you need to do for the rest of your life. Set goals based on behaviors you can control (what you eat, how much you exercise). Meet those goals and the weight will come off.

Lastly, we are humans. We all mess up. We all have days where we make not the best food choices (go find the "how much is the most you've ever been over" thread for examples). What makes the difference is that a cookie puts you over by 200 calories. That's 200 calories. If you turn that into "I've failed, I suck, I blew it and might as well start over tomorrow", you'll be over by 3000 calories by the time you're done. Learn to accept that you ate a cookie and life will go on and you'll survive and keep going and like all those posting that they have been over by 4-10k calories in a day, you'll have success.

Best wishes.

You do have to really want it. You have to want it so much that when you think you want the cake, you remember that you want something else more. You have to want it so much that you find the extra hour that you didn't know existed, so that you can exercise to meet your goals.

You have to want it enough to make those changes that you know already need to happen, and you stop finding excuses and start finding solutions and ways to make it happen.

It does take some adjustment! And we all have good days and bad days. But there is never a point where you throw in the towel and choose to stop trying. You just pick it back up where you left off and keep on trucking.