Tips/motivation for successful weight loss?

Eat less, and move more is the easy answer. What keeps you motivated is different for everyone, I just got sick of looking at my fat body in the mirror. I've started to get a little lazy as I approach my goal weight, and I need to get back on track. I just picture my fat body the way it used to be and know that I will never get that way again. Just keep pushing forward and eventually it will happen, keep logging and keep exercising

If you haven't come across them yet, I always recommend starting with these links:
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1235566-so-you-re-new-here
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1080242-a-guide-to-get-you-started-on-your-path-to-sexypants
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1296011-calorie-counting-101

And then read these when you're ready to take your logging accuracy to the next step:
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1234699-logging-accurately-step-by-step-guide
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1290491-how-and-why-to-use-a-digital-food-scale

Quoting for personal knowledge! Thanks btw - couldn't find these

Hello, I'm in a support group through Facebook with several hundred people working out various programs (gym, running marathons, and working out at home). We don't require that you purchase any products from us to be added and we don't try to sell you stuff once you're in. We just focus on helping our teams get the best results they can for how they want to exercise. Our current group has ~500 people in there, all trying to improve themselves and support each other. We have small groups for accountability and live team broadcasts via YouTube.

Sent you a friend req, let me know if you're interested or have more questions. Either way, make the life changing decisions today and hope you can stick with them this time!

I'm interested.
And for motivation....feeling better. Proving to myself that I cam do things I never thought I could do. Celebrating the little victories.

I tried to lose weight SO MANY TIMES and I failed everytime until I manage to give myself room to breath.

I'd say swap things to start of. If you enjoy pizza all the time, try to go for thin crust or instead of eating 4 slice, eat 2 with a side salad. If you enjoy ice cream, instead of have 3 scoops, have 1 or 2 with a bunch of fresh fruit on top. You'll cut down calories without actually feeling deprived or on a diet. When you are cooking, use olive oil instead of vegetable oil, it's less caloric and better for you. And instead of using 3-4 tbs of oil, use 2. Those are the easy thing to remove from your diet that you won't miss or realise are missing.

Give your self realistic goal. Don't go from 2500 cals a day to 1200 overnight, that's a set up to failure. Cut down to 2000 for a week and than 1800 for another week, etc... until you find a number that you don't feel hungry on at all time and doesn't make you binge eat every 3 days because you are too hungry all the time or feel too restricted.

Give yourself realistic goal weight wise as well. its not all about the food. You will lose 10-15 pounds the first month if you eat less / exercise more, but you won't keep losing that fast after 3 months. Don't go on the scale every day, and if you do, don't track it every day Water weight, bloating, slower digestion, etc... make the number fluctate too much on a daily basis. Do it once a week and you will see a down ward trend.

Exercise more. I personnaly dislike exercising, the gym or running, etc, it's not for me and I can't commit to exercise. If exercising is not your thing, it's easy to integrate "secret" exercise in your life. You go to work by public transportation? go out a station before your exit. That's 15 minutes or more twice a day that you walk. During your lunch hour, go for a 30 minute walk, it's summer time, you won't sweat and you won't be able to eat back your calorie, but it's moving. You like to watch TV in the evening, try to stand up more, sweep the floor in the living room, you can still watch but you are moving a bit. it's really not exercising in the sense that you won't built muscle or sweat and you'll definitively won't burn 600 calorie, but it's better than sitting all evening.

Give yourself room to cheat. Your friends are going for brunch on sunday morning and you want to go, you should! Try to order smartly, swap the potatos for fruits if possible. If you like benedict eggs, go for the florentine one instead of the bacon one and ask with the sauce on the side so you control how much sauce you get. If you go out on friday night and everyone is having sangria, you should have a drink but just get 1. As long as you don't cheat too often, you'll end up being happier. Being resentful to not let yourself enjoying a night off every once in a while can do worst for you than sticking to a number that makes you miserable on the long run.

And most important of it all, learn of to eat healthy so it sticks with you on the long run. There is a load of crap out there saying how sugar will end up killing you or how you should or should not eat whatever the new flavor of the month is, but just read about it and learn what you like and what works for you. Learn how to eat good food. You have to think of this as your life and not a "6 months diet". Try out recipe and new ingredients, learn portions (that's the hardest one if you ask me), and listen to your body. Don't eat when you are bored, eat when you are hungry.

Good luck!!!!

I tried to lose weight SO MANY TIMES and I failed everytime until I manage to give myself room to breath.

I'd say swap things to start of. If you enjoy pizza all the time, try to go for thin crust or instead of eating 4 slice, eat 2 with a side salad. If you enjoy ice cream, instead of have 3 scoops, have 1 or 2 with a bunch of fresh fruit on top. You'll cut down calories without actually feeling deprived or on a diet. When you are cooking, use olive oil instead of vegetable oil, it's less caloric and better for you. And instead of using 3-4 tbs of oil, use 2. Those are the easy thing to remove from your diet that you won't miss or realise are missing.

Give your self realistic goal. Don't go from 2500 cals a day to 1200 overnight, that's a set up to failure. Cut down to 2000 for a week and than 1800 for another week, etc... until you find a number that you don't feel hungry on at all time and doesn't make you binge eat every 3 days because you are too hungry all the time or feel too restricted.

Give yourself realistic goal weight wise as well. its not all about the food. You will lose 10-15 pounds the first month if you eat less / exercise more, but you won't keep losing that fast after 3 months. Don't go on the scale every day, and if you do, don't track it every day Water weight, bloating, slower digestion, etc... make the number fluctate too much on a daily basis. Do it once a week and you will see a down ward trend.

Exercise more. I personnaly dislike exercising, the gym or running, etc, it's not for me and I can't commit to exercise. If exercising is not your thing, it's easy to integrate "secret" exercise in your life. You go to work by public transportation? go out a station before your exit. That's 15 minutes or more twice a day that you walk. During your lunch hour, go for a 30 minute walk, it's summer time, you won't sweat and you won't be able to eat back your calorie, but it's moving. You like to watch TV in the evening, try to stand up more, sweep the floor in the living room, you can still watch but you are moving a bit. it's really not exercising in the sense that you won't built muscle or sweat and you'll definitively won't burn 600 calorie, but it's better than sitting all evening.

Give yourself room to cheat. Your friends are going for brunch on sunday morning and you want to go, you should! Try to order smartly, swap the potatos for fruits if possible. If you like benedict eggs, go for the florentine one instead of the bacon one and ask with the sauce on the side so you control how much sauce you get. If you go out on friday night and everyone is having sangria, you should have a drink but just get 1. As long as you don't cheat too often, you'll end up being happier. Being resentful to not let yourself enjoying a night off every once in a while can do worst for you than sticking to a number that makes you miserable on the long run.

And most important of it all, learn of to eat healthy so it sticks with you on the long run. There is a load of crap out there saying how sugar will end up killing you or how you should or should not eat whatever the new flavor of the month is, but just read about it and learn what you like and what works for you. Learn how to eat good food. You have to think of this as your life and not a "6 months diet". Try out recipe and new ingredients, learn portions (that's the hardest one if you ask me), and listen to your body. Don't eat when you are bored, eat when you are hungry.

Good luck!!!!

That says it all for me. Its about making changes a little bit at a time. If you do it all at once it can be overwhelming and easy to give up. For me the first step is just tracking what I'm actually eating. Just documenting it seems to help me eat healthier especially if I add it to my food diary as soon as I eat it. Then its all about small changes. Change one thing, once it becomes habit and part of your everyday then change the next thing. I had actually lost 20 pounds before I found this site. But I had hit a plateau and needed a boost. You will have plateaus, but that's still a success you are still down from where you started don't let that derail you!