How do you keep motivated??

For me, it's not so much about motivation or willpower as it is wanting to eat more optimally for improved health. I had to lose weight for medical reasons, and I need to continue to get my BMI into the healthy range, but I also like the beneficial side effects of improved stamina and mood, feeling full on smaller portions, preferring more nutritious foods, and being able to buy standard size clothes and fit into my old clothes again.

What helped me is realising that no food is off limits. I can have whatever I want as long as it's in moderation. There are some things I won't have in the house, but that's a personal choice not to have them because I know I'll overeat them. I haven't banned them or told myself I can't ever eat those foods again. I just prefer to have them much less regularly. I also have a more relaxed attitude to food. No food is good or bad, "clean" or "junk"; it's just food. Some of it is more nutritious, some of it is less, and I choose to eat the more nutritious type most of the time.

Managing my weight loss expectations is also a big factor in staying on track. I used to get frustrated at 'only' losing a pound or two a week; this would lead me to abandon whatever eating plan I was on, which ended up with me putting on more weight. Now, I'm happy to lose slowly, and celebrate each small success. I don't weigh myself every day as weight fluctuates, and seeing what looks like a gain (which is probably only water weight and not fat) from one day to the next can be very demoralising. I weigh once a month, and that takes the psychological pressure off thinking I 'should' be losing X amount by X time.

I've stopped putting all my hopes and dreams on being thinner. Losing weight won't solve all my problems. It might give me a bit more confidence, but any issues I had as a fat person will probably still be there as a thinner person unless I work to resolve them while I'm losing the weight. I've had to learn to deal with stresses in a way that doesn't involve emotional eating or bingeing. And I've stopped expecting to have a super-fit, perfect figure at the end. That's a nice fantasy, but not realistic. I won't have an hourglass figure or a perky bosom. I never had those before, so why would I expect to have that after? I will have the body I have, and it will be healthier. I guess that's motivation of a sort.

Some basic tips:

Eat what you like within your calories.

Have more nutritious food most of the time, and have moderate amounts of food that's less nutritious.

Weigh and log everything even when you go over calories, so you can see where you can make changes, or identify factors that might trigger overeating.

Don't expect linear weight loss.

Notice the small changes in your body as you lose the weight.

Celebrate the small successes.

Don't fixate on the scales. Weight fluctuates. The scales will only tell you what you weigh at that given moment, not what the weight is composed of.

Don't expect weight loss to solve all your problems.

Be realistic about the body you'll end up with.

Don't rely on motivation or willpower to see you through. The trick is to keep plugging away, working towards your goal every day.

Make small changes to your eating habits that you can stick with long term.

Don't beat yourself up if you go off track. You're on a journey, and will naturally encounter obstacles. Getting back on track and continuing as soon as you can is one of the most important factors in successful weight loss.