Keep getting off the wagon. How do I stay on?

Think of this as a lifestyle change to improve your health. Make accurately tracking every bite that you eat your first priority. Get a scale to weigh your food and enter everything, no matter what sort of decisions you make in a day around eating. I found that making small goals--eating five servings of fruits and veggies before anything else in a day, for example, was one that really helped me. Exercise will make you feel better, but you will see a lot of results just with adjusting your eating. Don't eat anything that you don't love--I stopped adding cream to my coffee, because I didn't figure it was worth the calories. Even when you have a 'bad' day--scarfing down a 200gr bag of chips was something I regularly did--enter every calorie--it's actually never as bad as you fear it was. Good luck!

Think of this as a lifestyle change to improve your health. Make accurately tracking every bite that you eat your first priority. Get a scale to weigh your food and enter everything, no matter what sort of decisions you make in a day around eating. I found that making small goals--eating five servings of fruits and veggies before anything else in a day, for example, was one that really helped me. Exercise will make you feel better, but you will see a lot of results just with adjusting your eating. Don't eat anything that you don't love--I stopped adding cream to my coffee, because I didn't figure it was worth the calories. Even when you have a 'bad' day--scarfing down a 200gr bag of chips was something I regularly did--enter every calorie--it's actually never as bad as you fear it was. Good luck!

Yes, this!!! Through the research I've done everything tells me to make choices that fit your lifestyle. If you struggle with maintaining a "diet" (hate that word, makes it seem short term and this process is NOT short term) then it doesn't fit your lifestyle. Never deprive yourself, just don't go overboard and binge. Good luck :-)

Change one thing at a time. Live with it for a few days, then add something to it. If you want to lose the 30 lbs, you have to do something. I sabotaged myself last week and I didn't like how I felt. It is hard and it is work, but you can do it. There are great stories on MFP that are really helping me stay focused. I'm not perfect, but I accepting progress away from where I was towards where I want to be.

It has only been a few weeks. It took a long time to put on the weight -- it will take time for it to come off. It takes three weeks of consistency to gain new habits. Stick with it, and don't beat yourself up over every little setback. You can do this!

So sorry, I know how that is. Three weeks of hard work out the window with one week of PMS. A couple of things that worked for me was to first of all forgive yourself. allow yourself a few days to just eat whatever you are craving but journal it. You will notice the patterns Then try to manage the cravings. Like if chocolate is your thing, stock up on fat free/sugar free jello pudding. You can eat a whole bowl and the calories hit is less than half of a candy bar. I used to add fat free cool whip and it seemed decadent. If you like salty snacks, switch out the chips for the lower calories options like popcorn or non fat pringles. Then, when it's over, feel good about the fact that you stayed in control and still were able to satisfy your cravings. Get a good work out in and get back on your regular program. I found that I still lost weight Good luck
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Don't get discouraged. Eating right takes practice. Some of us just happen to need more practice than others. If you know what you should be eating, try to only keep those things readily available. If you find yourself struggling, try to write it down and analyze where you went wrong and try to come up with ways that you can correct it. Just keep working at it until you find something that works for you.

Don't try to trick yourself! It's important to keep things in perspective. We females get bloaty around "that time of the month" that includes more weight. Take a bigger sample of time to understand your weight trend. See if the same thing happens next month. Treat it like a science experiment. And remember it's not good to lose weight too fast.

(I've dropped 20lbs in an extremely short amount of time through bad habits and overwork, believe me you just gain it back plus some in the next months)

Here are things I use to keep myself on track.

-changing your diet takes time and effort and counting calories to lose weight is a temporary solution. After you drop those pounds you will need to maintain a healthy diet. If you want to eat more you just have to decide to be active enough to do it.

-making a mistake doesn't automatically make you fail, so be careful about saying "I already messed up so an extra cake slice isn't any worse"

-Pretend it's not possible to eat more than your target calories. Haggle with yourself until you are happier with the decisions you've made. "Do I want this slice of cake or do I want dinner? Can I be happy eating 10% of this dessert and 80% of dinner?"

-Try to be aware of the amount of nutrients your getting, are you crabby because you're low on something? Do you need to take vitamins with your meals or do you get enough?

-Pick a day every week to not worry about it. Over time you'll get so used to the amounts you eat most of the time that you will start to eat more modestly even when you splurge.

-KNOW that you will succeed. Maybe you won't do it in the exact time-frame you would like, but it doesn't matter that much because you are going to succeed.

-Understand that there is no shame in asking friends and family members to help you out, or in having a close relationship with your doctor as you work on this. It's easier to get things done if you include other people in your plan (without pressuring them to change their lifestyle I hope!)

-Find something you really like to eat/drink that has zero to very little calories. For me it's tea, sometimes with a little flavor or stevia When you feel bad, treat yourself to some of this and focus on how much you enjoy it, and isn't it great you could drink this all day?

-If you find yourself obsessing over food, you could tell yourself "If I have time to worry, I have time to [thing that I've been procrastinating]" For me it's usually daily chores, but it could be anything, you're just changing the subject for a few minutes. It's usually long enough for me to forget whatever it was I was obsessing over.

-If you really want something, don't deny yourself, plan it out. "Well if I have x minutes of exercise and reduce each meal by bla or substitute bla for bla, then I can afford to fit in this something or other" Chances are you'll either appreciate the food more, or you'll find you don't really want it that bad after all.

Remember that any activity can count as exercise. You could start carrying your groceries around instead of pushing a cart (if you don't shop in bulk) You could walk to the store, you could make a point of pacing while you talk on the phone, you could take out the trash or sort things into recycling. Organizing shelves or clothes or rooms also is a good way to exercise. Just because something isn't in the database doesn't mean it doesn't count. Try to think about some things you'd like to do but couldn't get the motivation to do, know think about how much that thing might contribute towards your health goals and maybe it will be a lot easier.

I've been down that road with the being annoyed over not seeing the weight coming off. And after the first 10 to 15 lbs it got really hard. But once I really put my mind to it, I got on track with healthier eating. Two main ways I did it, no more soda and replace one meal with a full bowl of fruit. In less than two months, I've seen double as many lbs coming off in a short time as I did to lose the first ten in like four months.

As my doctor put it, it's all about will power. As long as you really want it, the determination will kick in. And support is definitely a big part of it. That and really keeping yourself on track.

Once you start yourself on a diet of healthy foods and train you mind to a new set of what you want to eat and how you workout, you will find it being a habit of eating and buying the healthier foods. And the exercising won't feel like work.

We are here to support you!! If I can lose almost 30 lbs in under a year, you can too!!

i dont know what more i can add to the already awesome suggestions, but the one that i had to make, after getting just plain angry was the choice to actually DO SOMETHING

i spent 3 years on the up and down rollocoster from diet to diet as well, then realized that the moment i stopped it all came back

the only way i have successfully lost any weight to date is by moving my body, and for a lazy sod like me that was hard

once i found the determination and true desire to change.... i started with a few minute walk at the end of every day, even if it was only a walk around the block taking 10 mins

doing that daily till it was habit, after a month of daily movement, i wanted more....

your body craves the endorphin's that are created from high amounts of physical stress... "exercise" so give it .. and reap the benefits, as it feels great once accustom...

i wish i had nicer or softer words but if you want it, show yourself your determination by sacrificing the time and making the effort..

get that body moving and before you know it, you will want more... I PROMISE

mix that movement with well tracked and informed eating habits and the weight will take care of itself...

i struggle with the same thing. it is all about willpower and let me tell you i have none. i just refuse to waist anymore money on fad diets ie:weight wathcers la weightloss. i am doing the work outs zumba 2x a week walking and running on the track 3x a week. the scale is showing me slow results by i am down 2 pants sizes.