Kill me now. Why is this so hard?

I haven't seen this mentioned yet and I think it has been absolutely essential for my body transformation:

When you start exercising, don't simultaneously cut your calories. Eat to stay THE SAME WEIGHT until exercise becomes a habit that restores your spirits instead of a drain, Spend a month or even two, or as long as it takes. Spend a year if you have to.

The day you wake up already looking forward to the gym - that's the day you should start reducing calories. It took me about two months.

What motivates me is that this time will pass anyway- a week from now I will either be healthier than I am now, or less healthy. A year from now, even more so. Whether my scale shows progress tomorrow or the next day is not nearly as important as the fact that a year from now, 10 years from now, I will have spent all this time moving one direction or another- and it's the daily decisions that add up to get me there.

Coincidentally, thinking this way has helped me lose almost 100 lbs and has helped me cope with days where my weight went up, weeks where it didn't seem to move at all, and months where it moved so slowly I thought I must be plateaud.

I also don't push myself quite as hard as it sounds like you do. I do moderate exercise and I don't restrict myself from any particular foods, although I am scrupulously honest about logging, even when it's not pretty. If I were working super hard at it all time, pushing myself to do things I don't enjoy every day, I would be very frustrated that all of that effort wasn't paying off immediately. It's too much to ask of yourself. Relax a little, be honest with your logging, and find a way to motivate yourself that doesn't require instant gratification, because that's a recipe for disaster. Good luck!

No, it's not hard. But as long as you have a deadline in mind and insist on treating weight loss as a race, it's going to be a fail. Find a lifestyle that you enjoy and can maintain forever, then stick with it. For me, what I eat matters, other people say it doesn't. Figure out what works for you. You do need to eat at a deficit but unlike what so many people here believe, under-eating will actually sabotage your progress.

If you base your progress only by the number on the scale, no you will not stay "motivated". It's up to you to choose to commit to change or not. Nothing anyone says here can motivate you. You expect to see a loss every single week (and 2 pounds!?), well you will be disappointed repeatedly, because weight loss is NOT linear and the more you lose the slower it gets. I've been here for 15 months. I now lose (on average-not every week) only half a pound per week. Should I "give up"? Not. I'm focused on health and I eat the way I will eat for the rest of my life, so I just keep on keeping on. It's not hard, but it does take commitment. My commitment is to my HEALTH first and foremost. The weight loss is nice but not my primary focus.

It's taken me a YEAR to lose 34 lbs! There has been entire months were I bounce up/down and end up back where I started.

I weigh every morning, after I pee, before I dress. I log it on an android app called "Libra", which gives you a trend line after a while. It helps to keep things in perspective.

What I've noticed (for me) is carbs/salt/sugar affect my weight dramatically. I will blow up as much as 6 lbs after eating pizza or chinese food! I can weigh and then go get ready for work, weigh again before leaving the house and have gained 3 lbs. It fluctuates constantly. I only weigh once in the morning now and don't let it ruin my day.

I would suggest you get familiar with your tape measure. I had one month where I gained a pound, but lost 3+ inches off my core! I would suggest taking pictures as you go... it really helps me.

You cannot look at this like a pass/fail test. It's not an event you trained for and then face-planted before the finish line. The older we get, the harder it is to make our bodies change, but not impossible. You have to approach this as a decision towards health and nutrition, that just might yield weight loss. The more you stress out over it, the more your body works against you.

I would say you're doing pretty darn good!

Just keep doing what you're doing. Don't be discouraged by a week or two of low results. You can fluctuate by 5 lbs or more from day to day

I can completely understand you on this topic. It really is difficult.. but you MUST hang in there! Usually what works for me is looking at clothes online, thinking about how i desperately want to be able to buy my old size i used to wear. Why don't you spend some time looking for your motivation?

Have you tried looking at workout DVD's like the 30 day Shred? I finished day 1 about 3 hours ago and i can still feel the burn! Supposedly this workout helps tone and tighten the body; which drops the inches of the body!!

Give it a shot!! Trust me; we can make it through this.. we just need to think about the result!!!!
Add me and we can continue to motivate each other if it helps. I'm always happy to help! )

So here. Here's a huge wall of text that might help. I put this together a while back. It seems to have helped some folks. It worked for me.

1. don't trust the initial setup that MFP provides. If you put in the wrong/inaccurate information, it'll tell you to eat an amount that may not be applicable.
2. Make sure you eat enough.
3. Figure out what works for you and is sustainable/healthy/long term.
4. avoid fads. don't buy in to any "Hey, try the twinkie and vodka diet"
5. Don't cut out anything now that you don't plan on literally giving up forever.
6. GET A FOOD SCALE. Weigh everything. No, seriously.
7. Get an HRM with a chest strap. You'll at least have a better idea of what you're burning. It'll be more accurate than the generic info in the exercise database.. and even more than the cardio machines. This is great for steady state cardio (run/walk/etc)
8. Don't go balls out. You'll burn out. I see 300 lb people show up here, instantly start working out and cutting their intake SEVERELY... trying to cut out all of their carbs at once.. whatever. Take it slow. Figure out how much you need to eat FIRST in order to lose.. then incorporate exercise.
9. Don't cardio yourself to death.
10. Take the information on the forums with a grain of salt. A lot of people that have been here for a while.. and have been successful, may seem jaded. They give out GREAT advice day after day, only to be met with people that refuse to listen.
11. Eat real food. Not diet food. Not "low fat, sugar free, now without X." It's easier to get/find/count.
12. don't set time restrictions.
13. measure yourself weekly. Don't just weigh. Measure and take pictures.
14 BE PATIENT.
15. Avoid forum topics that have "1200" in the title. It's just full of butthurt. Lots of it.
16. This isn't a game, it's about changing your lifestyle. Do that.

pretty much that.

...and don't fall into the "1200 calorie" vertigo of suck because of:

the typical MFP users does this:
1. I wanna lose weight, let's try MFP.
2. OH! Wow, it tells me I can lose 2 lbs a WEEK? AWESOME!
3. I just sit at a desk when I'm not working out, I guess I'm sedentary.
4. MFP tells them 1200 calories, and they don't even eat that.. then they work out on top of it.. creating an even bigger deficit.
5. Lose a lot, fast, brag about 1200 calorie success.
6. Come back in a few months trying to figure out why they're dizzy, tired, not losing weight.
7. Get on the forums, ask why they aren't losing.
8. Get two responses (I eat 1200 and lose) (I eat 2200 and lose)
9. Argument ensues about who is right.

Now. That being said. These threads happen hundreds of times per day. Most times, and I mean really.. seriously.. 95% of the time.. people get the 1200 number because they don't put the right information in when they set up the account. There are a great number of people that are trying to help. I'm one of 'em.

I'm a hardcore advocate of actually finding out what works for the individual.. by means of other calculators, averages, time, practice, and patience.

Blanket prescriptions of 1200 calories "because it worked for me" is more harmful to the generic new user than the "figure out what you need to eat." Unfortunately, one is a LOT easier to type.

Find out what you need: http://scoobysworkshop.com/accurate-calorie-calculator/
Take the tips, links, and info above and make the cart more manageable to stay on.