What was the first thing you changed?

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Significantly reduces wine intake.. Not exactly what I wanted to do but the desire to lose the weight was more important..
At the same time I logged all food and drinks and exercised on a daily basis.. It helps to keep me focused..

I did baby steps....first to go was soda...then sugar in my coffee....then small things here and there like hash browns...one piece of bread instead of two...more veggies and fruits...etc...

the MFP! That's where it all really came together for me.

1 - Stopped drinking pepsi/cola
2 - Cut out pasta and bread most of the time
3 - Forced myself to exercise. Even if only for 10 min

I remember the very first change we made, going from two large size bag of chips a week to one. lol, it seems so funny now, but we knew in our house we had to go slow and steady.

Every week or two we stopped bringing something else into the house, no more soda, no chips at all, no more ice cream. Also, we started introducing more produce into the house. It worked for us, my husband lost 100 pounds and has maintained for about six years or so.

We only have junk on the weekends, and I track it all, the good, the bad, the ugly. And the tasty.

Replaced colas with water, Cut out the white carbs, bread, potatoes and pasta. Stopped shopping like a kid in the candy, cookie and frozen treats sections of the store. AND drove by the fast food places without stopping at the driving thru window.

I gave up soy and almonds. That was the very first thing.

It was many years ago, but I stopped eating anything processed. If it had a shelf life, it was gone from my pantry.

I cut out sugar. I figured if I could tackle the hardest thing first, everything else would be easier because it would train me to really pay attention to labels and what I was eating/drinking. It worked!

exercise regime.

I started making healthier choices to stay within my calorie limits. Added exercise later.

The first thing that I did was I cut out all the white stuff - white pasta, white rice, white potatoes, white bread, sugar - and substituted for brown - multigrain pasta, brown rice, sweet potatoes, wheat bread, cane sugar. If I ate out and there was only white stuff, no brown options, it meant that I couldn't eat it. I learned to prepare the stuff I could eat at home. That meant fewer calories because I knew what went into my food - less butter, salt, etc. The first six months I refused to start moving - NO exercise. I lost 27lbs. Then I started the exercise, because I realized I had to do more. Years later, things have changed. I exercise six days per week. It's just what I do, out of habit. I know that my weight goals and success are 75% - 85% dependent upon getting the eating right. If I don't eat properly, I can exercise all I want, the weight is not coming off and I am likely to gain because my body is used to the activity. There's a delicate balance between my intake and my output. Don't let anybody tell you different - it's all about the chemistry. You have to find what works for you and keep putting one foot in front of the other. Dont' forget to keep tweaking it to overcome the plateaus.

Wow, um... must've been the switch to diet soda, when Coke Zero became a thing.

Used to drink 2Liters of Mountain Dew a day or more 880 calories just to drink. That doesn't even include the Coffee Coolatas I used to get a few times a week. And I used to eat a whole bag of Knorr noodles.

Upped my water, moved my culo a lot more, cut back on drinking alcohol dramatically.