Busy mommy with terrible eating habits and zero discipline...

Mom of a 2.5 year-old, and I 100% agree with all the comments about keeping your fun foods within your calorie budget!! I don't like to think about how many calories I'm "allowed" in a day. I think about space. If I can eat foods that are low calorie but super high in vitamins and nutrients, that's a bargain because I'm getting a lot of nutrition while leaving more space for fun stuff. Peppers and hummus? Love 'em. Not because they're a "healthy diet food" but because they pack in a ton of vitamins, nutrients, fiber, protein, and iron while leaving a lot of space for fun foods later.

One major piece of advice: Figure out what your basal metabolic rate is.

A lot of people think that losing weight means they have to go into massive calorie deficits and that feeling hungry/hangry all the time is just part of the deal. Thing is, your body burns a certain number of calories whether you're exercising or not. That number is your "basal metabolic rate" (BMR). It's the number of calories your body needs to do basic things like breathing, making your heart pump, and digesting your food. If you simply laid in bed all day and did nothing, your body would still burn well over 1000 calories just to do all of the stuff it needs to do to keep you alive. If you don't have enough calories at the end of the day to meet your BMR, your body slows everything down. You'll feel tired, hangry, and just plain miserable. And you'll have trouble losing weight because that slow down means your metabolism is in the tank.

If you can find the sweet spot between your BMR and the calories you would need to maintain your weight, it's so much easier to stick with a weight loss plan. So much easier. There are two different formulas to figure out your BMR: Mifflin-St. Jeor and Harris Benedict. With my husband and me, I figure out both. I tend to aim for the Harris Benedict number (it's always the higher of the two) because I usually feel exhausted and hangry when I get below that. Not a good sign.

I just lost 10 pounds over two weeks, and that included Christmas and New Years. I wasn't trying to lose anywhere near that much. I have MFP set up to make sure I stay in a range to lose only a half a pound a week. I still had cake and pistachio gelato and Reeses Peanut Butter Cups. Yesterday, I had grilled cheese that included butter on the bread and full-fat cheddar cheese. Twice. Lunch and dinner. I put full-fat Caesar dressing on my chicken Caesar salad. One evening, to make sure I didn't go below my BMR after I logged a 1 hour walk, I had to have a double serving of gelato (pain and suffering, let me tell you! ). When I weighed myself the next morning, I'd lost 2.5 pounds. Crazy!

My weigh loss has slowed to a more reasonable rate this week... and that's a good thing. I'm in a "cutback" week in my workout schedule, so it would have been scary if it had kept going at the same rate. Even when I rev things back up next week, I'm not expecting the same rate of weight loss. I shared my experience from those two weeks just to give an example of how you can definitely eat fun foods and still have success losing weight. It's really important to make sure you're at least getting enough calories to hit your BMR. If you've gotten enough nutrient-dense foods to fuel your body, that means you've got plenty of space for fun foods. "Oh no, I've hit my goals for my vitamins and nutrients, but MFP is telling me I need more fat and protein in my diet today! Mmm... sounds like ice cream."

Yas789: I totally get where you are coming from. Logistically it is extremely difficult to find time to cook nutritious meals when you work full time and are taking care of kids the rest of your time. We eat 2 meals a week of healthy prepared foods. We are lucky enough to have a place in town that does this. If this is feasible financially (for us ~$15 main dish for 4) and add your own veggies, I highly recommend it.