Long but worth the read I promise! I need every single one of you (adults and teens)!

I concur! Weigh, weigh, weigh your food. People are so good at trying to fool themselves. They normally under-estimate how much they are eating. So measuring and weighing will clearly show you where your calories are and which foods are the most calorie dense.

My plan is the basic 'calories in-calories out' system. I'm going on the theory that if I cut 200-300 calories from my diet everyday, it's pretty painless, and if I exercise enough to burn an extra 200 calories a day, it's still pretty painless and I have cut out 500 calories in the day. At the end of the week that is a pound lost or a loss of 4 pounds a month.

That's about as much as I can manage because otherwise I know I will burn out and return to my normal habits, thus regaining it again.

17 is too young to be here, as its against MFP rules.

Stopped reading after seeing you are 17. Too young to be here.

Try Sparkteens-this site is for those 18 and over.
You sound very determined-I know you will reach your goals healthily!
Best Wishes!

Must agree, the site rules are 18 and over (though sometimes I think it would be a bit silly if a 17 year old poster only had weeks to go before being 18, but oh well, lol). Rules are rules.

TOS states you must be 18, which means you lied entering your age. SparkTeens is where you need to go.

Thanks for your questions. They are a pretty decent set of questions.

I have questions for all of you guys!

- What is YOUR story? Why did you want to lose weight?
Im nearly 51, 5'5", female, and was 179 pounds or so at the beginning of the year. I"m now about 138 pounds.

- What dietary supplements have worked for you?
Absolutely none and its something i am proud to avoid. They cost a lot of money and a lot of the pills go down the loo. I eat whole foods and a varied diet of nutritious foods, although i don't eat red meat or chicken and only seafood a couple of times a week.

- I'm planning on joining a Planet Fitness the first day of November. What workout plans have worked for you?
- Weightloss is not about fitness. Its great to be fit but when you link your weightloss to fitness, your weightloss efforts can fail when for various reasons your fitness activities fail. When you stop being active people tend to pile the weight back on because they can't adjust their calories this is probably the main cause of yo yo dieting. It was certainly true of me. So if you do create a work out plan, make sure its something that's not overly demanding of your time and energy. Make sure its flexible. Find something you really really love doing and if its got a social aspect, it will likely be much more rewarding. Take up a sport not a gym membership.

- What dietary plans have worked for you?
I personalised my approach to diet and i think its the key. Over the year, I have dabbled in a couple of things which were interesting experiences but i tend to come back to my way in the end. The things i tried were Atkins style low carb and 5:2 fasting. Both i did for about 2 months each. Key elements of my personal approach are eating lots of vegetables cooking in interesting and delicious ways. Eating fruit. Enjoying healthy fats and not bothering with the outdated low fat idea. Eating sufficient dairy for my calcium needs. Avoiding hunger - eat when hungry. Quit sweets. Eat meals, not snacks.

- What's your trick to stay motivated?
I only struggle with motivation when my mood fails and i think this is probably true of most people. So i seek out counselling and i have a regular psychologist and my gp mainly as my go to people. Also food logging. Calorie counting gets boring after a while but just keeping record of my food and weight in a spreadsheet helps a lot and its a lot easier. Stress is another thing that can really bugger you up. Again i seek a councillor for resolving stressful situations.

- What's your trick to saying no to unhealthy foods?
Rules but rules that don't make me feel deprived. Because i have a tendency to binge on sweet foods i chose from the start to quit sweets. Fruit is my only source of sweetness on a regular basis. And the longer follow this program the more committed i feel and the easier it is. My rules allow me to eat sweets when its offered to me but only one serve regardless of how small. And i can order dessert if at a restaurant with other people. I've recently ruled out sweets at all in a buffet situation. Its too hard. I experimented with making sugarless desserts for a while but some of these used rich and sweet dried fruits with lots of butter which triggered binges when my mood was low which is when you want to eat sweet and high fat foods anyway. In end i decided it was too risky and have gone back to my reliance on only stewed and fresh fruit. I can eat dried fruit but not in a dessert type situation. More just a single date or fig on occasions.

My second trick is loving to cook healthy food. If you don't cook, i don't think you can expect to maintain a reach and maintain a low weight over the long haul. Its just too hard and processed foods tend to be less satisfying.

- Is there anything you would advise me from your personal experience?
Beyond all of the above, understand that weightloss and maintaining low weight is a highly psychological matter. Read up on some things and monitor your own responses and insights. There are physiological reactions caused by low mood and stress. So look after your mental health. Get plenty of sleep. Alcohol affects your judgement so don't get drunk to often. When you are studying your appetite will increase. Rather than get upset it about eat more healthy food. Its better to eat a bit more so long as its healthy stuff like vegetables and nutritious stuff rather than trying to avoid eating and just ending up in a binge and more stressed and upset than ever. Try to take a more relaxed approach when these necessarily stressful situations are unavoidable. Don't do anything to add to the pressure you will be under.

Don't be in a hurry. Don't make unrealistic demands and expectations. Try to make your weight loss plan easy and rewarding.

Weight loss should be regarded as a reward not a punishment. So cheating is not a reward its stupid. If you make a mistake, its a mistake or slip up, but its not the end of the world. Forgive yourself and move on. Be flexible but don't keep breaking your rules. If you do find yourself breaking your rules a lot there may be a problem with your rule.

I've just taken up tennis. I'm close to goal. My food is more enjoyable than ever and i am excited about learning tennis. I started at the beginning of the year and have lost i don't know 30-40 pounds. It could have gone faster as yours probably will but my goal at the beginning of the year was to reach my goal by the end of the year. If i don't actually reach my goal i'm fine with that. I'm only about 4 pounds away from it and i'm quite happy with how i look and how i feel.

I am not young so i have some of the wisdom of years on my side. Its harder for younger people but you might as well start anyway.

(*) comment removed.

@Kalikel - yikes. I guess I should read better before commenting. sorry 'bout that...

@Polishprinsezz - Yes I see that now. I removed my comment, although it already has been quoted twice. My bad.