How long did it take&how many times you fell before..

I had to sub new habits in place of old, they would not just go away with workouts and low calories.
It is a life change. With so much activities around food and drink I have to control it.
It is very hard. It is now my life, what goes up can go down, I just have to work at it!
( Sw was 272 loss 157, to much,
weight now is 132 goal is back to 127)
It is work in progress.

It's NOT easy.
I was struggling with my weight for about 5 years now. I'd do well for a few months, then mess up one day, and before I knew, I gained back whatever a little bit of weight I lost. I went through this cycle for years.

But I got REALLY fed up around January. It's a new year, I'm turning 22, and I haven't changed at all. I just felt so angry at myself for putting it off for so long.

I don't have a huge support system in my life. I have like 3 super close friends, and just my family - which is a very small family. lol
So, don't feel weird that you don't have this HUGE social life like some other people. Everyone's different, and that's okay.

Anyway, the journey isn't easy. That's the main thing you need to realize.

I thought, once you get motivation, you'll do perfect from then on.

That's not true. Maybe for some people it is, but that's not how it works for me.

I still slip up sometimes, but I don't let that get me discouraged. If I have a bad day, I try to make up for it the next day.
A week will go by, and I won't lose a single pound.
And that's OK.

But, just from changes my eating habits little by little, and adding minimal exercise, I've managed to lose around 18ish pounds in the last 4 months.
I have ways to go, but I'm happy with the progress so far.

Don't put too much pressure on yourself to lose a ton of weight in a short amount of time.
Just start off with little changes, and give yourself small goals. Like, just focus on losing 5 pounds first. When you get there, take that as your first step accomplished.

BUT I can totally relate to what you're going through. I mean, I know I'm not in your shoes, nor do I know what your life is like on a day to day basis, but when it comes to falling off the wagon and feeling depressed about it and feeling like you want to give up, I KNOW that feeling.

It's never to late to fix things and start over, though.
And remember you're still trying, which is way better than saying you gave up and threw in the towel long ago and you don't care anymore.
Failing a million times is better than giving up, because failing means you still believe in yourself.

I know it sounds cheesy, but that's how I like to look at it. I can get very depressed sometimes, and I'll beat myself up for the mistakes I've made in the past. But I have to keep reminding myself of the progress I've made so far.

Too many falls to count.

Fat kid, fat teen, lost weight in my late teens, maintained until about 23, fell hard, regained it all, plus double.

Took me 8 years of fits, starts, and failure to truly get back on track. By that point I had over 150lbs to lose in order to get lean.

Now I'm less than 30 lbs from goal.

If you want it badly enough, if being fat is no longer even an option because you LOATHE it so much, then you'll press on.

But I won't kid you. If your motivation and drive aren't extremely strong, you will not likely make it. If you're struggling and still justifying fat as an option, you will take that option almost every time.

Even when I was over 300lbs being fat was NOT a valid choice. Ever. It was always, always a matter of when I'd lose the weight, not if. There is no room for IFs.

You know what needs to be done. Leave the past where it belongs. You are working towards a place in your life where you feel good about yourself ... you are willing to help others achieve their goals, make time for yourself to do the same.

I have not yet reached my "goal" but I originally just wanted to get back to my usual weight of 260-something, when I realized I was at 307 (all time highest weight in Nov 2008). I achieved that in a couple of years through walking a LOT and just cutting back on fast food breakfasts and Starbucks. Then I just kind of leveled off and stopped losing until I joined MFP (March 2013) and have lost more this way (reflected in my ticker). I don't feel that I have fallen off track in the year that I have been on MFP. At Christmas I was indulging in fudge or caramels daily, more than a couple...that wasn't so good and it did cause my loss to slow during that time. But it wasn't what I'd really call falling off the wagon, as I did not go over my calories. I just felt tired more often and lost more like 0.5 lb/week instead of my usual 1-1.5 lb. I'm at 190 right now but I plan to lose at least 20-25 more lb.

I have not been what I'd call a yo yo dieter at all (never really tried to lose weight until I hit that unusual high of 307) ...but there was one other time in the past that I lost a significant amount of weight. I bounced from about 240 to 299 due to inactivity and steroids used to treat a serious spider bite. I was a single college student in my 20s so I just started drastically limiting my food and I got down to 227 (previously my lowest adult weight) by eating scrambled eggs, mushrooms, rice, and Diet Pepsi. It wasn't the worst I suppose, but definitely not as healthy as I eat now and definitely too few calories. I'd estimate most days were around 700 cal back then. I stayed around 227 for only about 6 months and when I started dating my now ex-husband, who proclaimed himself "fat & happy", I went back to eating badly and too much and quickly rocketed up to about 260 where I stayed for a decade.