Hi, awesome successful people!! I gotta question..

Recognizing that motivation had absolutely nothing to do with it. The solution is discipline. Motivation comes and goes. If you're motivated, you don't need any help... but when you're not motivated, no amount of witty sayings and encouragement will motivate you.

You have to have the discipline to do what needs to be done even when you don't want to do it. All the time.

I like this...

For me, I do the best when I take time to enjoy cooking. The days and weeks that I get interested in looking up and making healthy meals. Have friends over for healthy dinners, make it a group effort. It's tough to do it alone so having friends who are going to support you (and make your cheat nights more memorable) will provide you inspiration, even on your down days.

I really like skinnytaste.com and sarahfit on youtube

Bumping for later. Thanks!

1) Committing--not waiting for motivation to come (it's not a dog, it won't come when called).

2) Planning when I can. Having dinner and other meals set up makes it so much easier to follow through on actually making that food and eating it--instead of saying, "eh, I'm just going to eat out tonight." Especially after a long day of teaching and meeting with students, having dinner on standby prevented lots of extra calories.

3) Doing some kind of activity every day. Some days are more intense, others aren't. Either way, I move!

4) Dealing with my inner demons (which also takes commitment and practice). Not eating my feelings, not eating food when it's there, not eating until I am fit to burst (which allows me to eat whatever I want to at a restaurant, because my body doesn't need the whole plate of food).

Have some low calorie go-to foods when you've just got to munch on something. For example, for times like getting home from work (already hungry) and making dinner, I now snack on carrots, celery, mini-peppers, etc., instead of crackers, chips, and cheese. I log the raw veggies I eat, but the damage is minimal compared to the calorie, carb, fat, and sodium filled junk I'd turn to before.

And exercise--I like what some other folks have said above. Just get doing something you can stick with. But over time as your body adjusts to it you'll have to increase the effort or switch up what you're doing in some other way. I found that weight came off fastest after switching my routine to something more intense, like using HIIT (high intensity interval training) for cardio, a boot camp class, adding a long, fast paced walk on my strength days, etc.

Good luck!