Need of expert advice

Here are basic things. Drink water since you don't really want to drink your calories. Try to not eat much pasta, bread, rice, etc. Eat beans, vegetables but not starchy vegetables like potatoes. Salads but a less calorie dressing or no dressing. Try to find foods that have more protein. Jump roping burns a lot of calories and doesn't require much equipment except I don't know how long you would actually want to go. Try to stay away from adding butter like I used to sauté asparagus with butter. A good substitute for rice is cauliflower or at least that's what I've heard. Eggs if you eat eggs. I like bananas. Greek yoghurt maybe. Running/walking is an option. Sports could be an option.

So basically you are trying to lose 3lbs/week? Going by your ticker 12lbs is pretty much all you really have left.

I don't think this is a realistic goal. Aim for 0.5lbs-1lb/week loss.

I am 35lbs over weight now, over the last year. But i wasnt always this heavy, I actually had been able to maintain my weight between 135-145 for the last 10 years by adapting some major lifestyle dietary changes.... I stopped eating white bread about 7yrs ago....I stopped eating "white" starches for dinner about 4 years ago.....I stopped drinking coca cola, or orange juice last year......i started eating as many organic foods as possible 2 years ago....I started eating cleaner 2 years ago, eliminating processed foods....I started eating more slow digesting foods a few years ago....i started drinking green shakes last year....

You see....these changes happened over a period of time for me and most of those changes kept my weight steady for 10 years. Last year....these past 7 months actually......i had a few unique major stressor/obstacles that totally blocked my efforts: being in school full time, 10 hour days at school 5days a week, travelling 100 miles to see my boyfriend on the weekends.....not working out, not choosing the correct foods and I produced loads of stress hormones.

I KNOW DEEP DOWN WHAT I NEED TO DO......and I am actually looking at this weight loss as a friggin challange! I am taking myself on, as if i were a client... and i ask myself what would i tell my client? how would i motivate someone else? .....and i find that I am totally going to coach ma-self!

Girl there are sooooo many ways to learn about diet n nutrition these days! I remember back in my 20's.....i HAD to go to a book store or a library in order to read up on something......NOT TODAY.....I mean knowledge is at your fingertips these days. Going to a bookstore is more of a relaxation trip now, no longer a necessity for me for when i am trying learn something.

Be your own coach! Continue doing your research like you already are doing, learn from your resources....then APPLY all of that information to yourself.....experiment, try and fail....repeat......until you have found what works!

Practical night time advice though: if you're still hungry after your dinner.....but you know you shouldnt eat too much more, right? 3 snack options: 1. airpopped popcorn....... 2. red grapefruit fills you up bigtime, lots of soluble fiber , has een researched that grapefruit are high in enzymes that help metabolize fat 3. small baked or boiled sweet potato

You don't have enough weight to lose to try for even 2 lbs per week. Set MFP to lose 1 lb per week. Eat back half your exercise calories when you manage to get workouts in. Once you get down to 10 lbs to lose switch to lose .5 lbs per week. Log accurately, with a food scale if possible. My recommendation is do some kind of strength training, even if it's just body weight. You Are Your Own Gym is supposed to be good and pretty inexpensive program (I think I've seen $3 thrown around for the app).

If you try to lose more, especially as active as you are, you're going to end up run down, exhausted, losing your lean mass (which is what makes you look good naked), and possibly worse. Once we realize we want to change most people want to switch instantly and be at their goal weight yesterday. But that's not the healthy way to go, and since you are in a health care field, you know that.

Think of the time it takes you to lose the weight as practice for your life. You're always going to be busy. You have to build the habits that will keep you from yo-yoing back up once you've hit your goal: things like planning ahead so you'll have food that fits your goal, fitting in workouts, and getting enough sleep are habits. In my experience (I've been here 3 years and 3 months and have lost 45 lbs and kept it off for 18 months so far) it takes longer than a month to get to that place.