why do I keep messing this up? Help!

For me, logging exercise and food, even when I'm feeling lazy, has been a great motivation. Before I was using MFP I wasn't really aware of what I was putting in my body, but now that I can "see" it, I know why I was gaining weight! I've only been at this for about 2 or so weeks, but that's longer than I've stuck with most things! Just force yourself to enter everything -- if you skip one day, it's easier to skip the next, so don't let yourself get in that position!

"If you do what you always did, you'll get what you always got"

Don't think of it as you messing up. Think of it as your body working as it was designed.

If you've been at a certain weight for a long time, your body is set to maintain that weight and will fight to do so.
To change that, you must change something - how much you exercise, what kind of exercise, what kind of diet you eat, how much you eat....and SUSTAIN at least part of the change.

If it's hard to keep motivation, perhaps you're doing something that's not sustainable for you - too low calorie diet, exercise you don't enjoy, etcetera?

Don't be so hard on yourself, just try something else.

To me the most important thing is to commit to logging your food whether or not you eat perfectly and logging you exercise whatever it is. Dont stop. You do not have to make it public to friends. If that will keep you from logging what you are really eating then don't make it public. Do this your way the way that works for you. If you are too strict you typically wont continue for long enough and it will come back. 2nd stop the weight gain. lose when you can and keep it off when you can't. If you need a little break take a little break. Make sure you don't go over your maintainance calories. It frankly takes commitment. Some progress will be hard won but some will just happen naturally by the fact you committed to being healthier.

Yes, this *must* be a lifestyle change and not just a diet.
It's not a quick fix, it's a lifetime committment.

Make a list of your indulgences - whatever they may be (chocolate, video games, sleeping, shopping) - look at whatever it is that you do to pacify your feelings and/or avoid them altogether. Make a list and then ask yourself for each one "Is this a temporary solution?"

More times than not, temporary solutions are really long term problems.

In order to "cut out the fat" from your body you must first "cut out the fat" from your life. Stop doing the unecessary or potentially damaging things and replace them with things that are better.

Just like swapping Chocolate Cake for Angelfood Cake, swap out shopping online with budgeting your income to put money back, or swap out zoning out to a movie or tv show with writing down your thoughts and feelings in a daily journal.

And just like in a workout, you'll get to a point where you'll "feel the burn" and you'll want to quit because you don't like the discomfort - but if you discipline yourself to build up your strength and fight through to the finish (even with how you may be really feeling) the bad stuff in your life will start to change because *you* are changing.

You shouldn't allow yourself to tollerate being only "fine." Strive for happiness and peace within yourself. Ask yourself "do I really need this?"

Just some advice, ... hope it helps.

Also - don't get upset with yourself if one day you color outside the lines that you've established for yourself. Take every day as it comes, take every meal, every workout as it comes. And just know that even if you get a little sloppy that you'll do better tomorrow.

It's not an all or nothing situation.

There will come a day when some freshly baked chocolate chip cookies are going to stare me in the face and say "You know you want to eat five of us with a tall glass of whole milk!" But instead, I'll only eat two with a cup and 1/2 of 2% milk. I'll log my cookies and go right back to eating well for the rest of the day.

Moderate, moderate, moderate.

Also if you need support - MFP friends just ask. If you include a note why you want to be a friend most wont' say no. Many who are committed want that in their friends here. If you friend people you need to support back. That is one thing that has made logging in here a pleasure for me. However for others it isn't. I found a group on the boards that had similar weight loss goals and that got me my first friends.