Seriously...HOW???

For me, it works to take a period of time where work and life are relatively calm (and that does not happen often) and do a "reset". For example, right now I have a couple weeks off work so I am off alcohol, wheat, dairy, refined sugar and coffee. Plus I am working out every day. What I find is that if I take a week or two and reset all my appetites, no I don't continue as perfectly as before once I am done, but what is "normal" has changed for me and it will carry me through until the next time I get a reset opportunity.

If my life was calm enough that one week out of every four could be a reset, that would be divine

My goal is only set to 20 pounds but ultimately I'd like to lose somewhere between 40-50 for my ideal weight.

The pressure of getting THERE was too much for me. It helped me to stop looking at the end goal and just concentrate on making better (not perfect) choices today -- faced with a pie, I take a smaller piece today than I would have yesterday -- and looking back at where I've been gives me the encouragement to continue. When I focused on the end goal, the weight came off faster but I just didn't stick with it. Now it's slow but steady progress and no stress.

You CAN do this.

Bump for later

Simple-consistency and switching up your routine to keep body guessing alone will help. Consistency/persistence and determination alone can help you which you seem like you don't have enough of persistency.

when we talk about emotional eating it sounds so vague and intangible but really its the key. once i unlocked that key (and it takes work and its lots of things not just one thing) i found losing weight became dare i say...easy?

May I ask how you went about "unlocking" your emotional eating? Did you have to resort to professional help or were you able to gradually figure it out as you went along? I'm interested if I can learn something here. Beyond being able to say to myself at the time "I am eating this big bowl of pasta right now because I need comfort / am bored / ****fill in emotion", I haven't got to the bottom of why I need comfort / am bored etc. Is it this latter that you were able to figure out? Thanks....

what i have done is made it my part of life!!!!! it is just as important as my family and friends because it is ME!!!!!!! i need to take care of me. I have dragged my family and friends along for the ride making my children apart of counting and showing them what is good and bad. my reason for this those boys will keep me on track!!! lol.. they think it is so cool to be telling mommy what to do. I make fitness time = family time. so it is not boring or dumb but a way for me to play with my boys and teach them good habits. find joy make it fun do not think of as work. have fun with it. do a game with find new ways to eat. one we do is send everyone on a hunt to find a way to make our fav foods more health for us. the first to find the best way wins a prize. lol. make this fun!!!! it is all about you your worth it. you are worth it.

today you are you, but tomorrow you are possibilities!!!!!

A lot of people have told me in the past 'you can't do that'.

Gradually I've found out I damn well CAN and will, just dig deeper and find the strength from within.

If I don't feel like getting up and exercising, I do it anyway.

Logging is fun to me though. I don't really know why.

My hardest thing is forcing myself to exercise

I managed to cut soda out for almost 3 weeks. So far so good!

I've been using this website steadily for 3 years, but signed up 4 years ago. It took me a year to even start logging (I had actually forgotten that I had an account until I tried to sign up...). I was at the heaviest I've ever been and decided I needed to change, but even then I logged only sporadically. The biggest turning point for me was a change in mindset - as soon as I stopped thinking about it as a "diet," and instead began thinking about it as a lifestyle and journey towards better health, I was able to stick with it. I know many people on here are able to eat whatever they want as long as they still within their calorie limit. It works, but not for me only because I couldn't control myself around certain foods. It was stressful and I would simply stop logging. As soon as I started focusing on fresh, whole foods and felt much better about myself, I was able to stick with it. It was about a year ago that I finally reached my original goal weight and I've continued logging (and losing) ever since. I am finally at my "final" goal weight and trying to maintain (which I find perhaps harder than losing!). I've definitely fallen off the wagon a number of times before I got here, and I've learned a lot about myself along the way. Some key points:

1) It's not a "diet" - this needs to be a lifestyle change. However you were eating before is how you put the weight on. If you want to continue losing and keep it off, you need to make this change forever. Therefore, it also must be sustainable.
2) If you fall off the wagon so to speak, it is ok, but, GET BACK ON!!! You're not perfect, you're only human, and there will be slip ups. Just don't let one day of overeating turn into a week, a month, etc.
3) If/when you do fall off the wagon, think about why it happened - is there a psychological connection to your eating habits? (For me there absolutely was.)
4) Don't give up all "treats" - if you can't eat them in moderation, then find alternatives/healthier versions.

This is what worked for me in order to be able to stick with it. You need to find what works best for you. Good luck!!

I do it every day because after two months it became part of my routine.

I mean, fuark it. I'm either going to get fatter and resign myself to wearing sweatpants in public like the rest of America or I'm going to build my body to be the person that I feel is representative of the 'real' me.

Besides, my girlfriend is two years away from being an ivy league lawyer and she is pretty hot, so I have to do something to keep up otherwise she'll find a younger, much sexier man.

Easy. Fall in, fall out.

Motivate yourself, keep pushing.

i made a fitness instagram to keep me accountable and i talk to as many friends as possible on here every day. i sift through the website and read success stories every day. you have to immerse yourself in it. i like to make pictures with inspirational quotes to hang on my fridge, too. my favorite is 'imagine yourself 6 months from now. don't stop. you're worth it.'

I recognise everything you're saying but this time, I'm taking a different approach.

For me, it's down to 4 things:-
1) I'm not dieting, I'm budgeting.
2) taking the long view and not rushing
3) having a visual reminder of progress and
4) setting mini-goals.

"Dieting" makes me into a mad woman but I'm sane when dealing with money so now, instead of looking at a Danish pastry and thinking "that's bad", eating it and then feeling bad all day, and probably several days after too, I think "that's not good value", ignore it and look for something that's a better deal for my calories.

For the second, well, I've loads of weight to lose so I'm taking it slow. My target is only a pound a week and I know that, for me, this slow loss takes the pressure off me and stops me thinking of good days and bad days. They're all just days and there'll be a clean slate tomorrow when I can start again. I'm learning patience.

For the third and fourth parts, sorry but my Inner Geek kicked in and I've done a spreadsheet which shows my projected weight at the 1ib-a-week rate, my actual weight each week, and other stuff like my weekly BMI/% target lost/etc. I've marked on there small milestones like moving from obese to overwieght BMI, losing 10% of my starting weight, and anything else I can think to put a significant number on. I've also done graphs because, again, for me a "picture" of the weight loss helps. It'd be easy to use an alternative, e.g., colouring in a square on a piece of paper for every pound lost.

I've also downloaded the Countdown widget onto my phone and at the moment, it's showing that to reach my next target, I've got 26 days to lose only about 2lbs, as my loss is actually a little more than a pound a week. Easy! This gives me real focus without putting pressure on myself and also stops the days slipping by unnoticed as they tend to do for me. Each time I reset the countdown for my next mini-goal (10% original weight lost), the number of days is relatively small (21) and I can imagine making it to that milestone.

According to my trusty spreadsheet, it's going to take me well over a year (close the Christmas 2015) to get to a healthy BMI, and that's fine by me. I've also accepted that my progress won't always be a downward line, but I'm just going to keep getting back on that horse (my only metaphorical likeness to John Wayne).

Good luck, All, and just keep pluggng away at it!

You've really got to want it. Not just want it, but like WANT it! Like need it. Like be really, really desperate for the change. Just can't live like you are anymore. And when you have that attitude, then you'll put in the energy and the effort and the time. I started with weighing myself. Then I worked out and counted calories that same day. Then the next morning I weighed again. I had lost a little weight. In the beginning you will lose rather quickly and it helps with motivation to keep track of it and see the weight going down and getting slightly closer to your goal. Then you don't want to go backwards so you keep at it. I've been at it a long time now but I feel a million times better now than when I started. It's worth it. Good luck!

First - let me tell you that I just started in the spring to care about my health...I had to wait until I was ready and in a mind set to start ... for me it was finding my passions again.
Like my photography passion I used to do before I felt stuck in my life as a single parent struggling to get through each day. I stopped kicking myself and started accepting myself as the person I am...not who I wanted to be. So you slip for a day... oh well, get up and go again the next!
For me it is the fitbit that is driving my success... I may have a low day in counted steps, but I am parking farther away, and walking the stairs instead of the escalators (or walking up the escalators when possible)... little tiny things that add up and are working towards a healthier me. I stopped looking at weight because as I gain muscle, it has not changed much, but am totally excited over my blood pressure dropping! Plus my clothes feel better!
I am a single parent with 3... and have approx 40 lbs to go.... but I am learning that it doesn't take much extra time to park farther away, or get the kids invested in how many steps I do... so when we walk farther to get somewhere...they understand
Side effect is that my kids are getting healthier too!
So just go in by one tiny improvement at a time, try something like a fitbit and become religious about wearing it... then take those numbers as the pat on your back...cuz if you are like me, I noticed a great improvement in my steps per day and when I have a lazy day - I just try to do a little more the next... small little goals will drive the change you want, and suddenly changing seems easier!
Good Luck