Motivation!

Hi Abi, welcome to MFP

I'm from Northern Ireland, lost the weight I needed to and have kept it off going on 6 years.

My tips would be:

Log every single thing you eat. Choose the verified items in the database for accuracy.
Use a food scale - we just have no clue in general about portion size and weighing food is eye opening especially things that are calorie dense
Don't cut out any food groups - losing weight is all about eating less than we burn, there is no magic food that makes it happen any quicker.
Move a bit more - find an activity you enjoy doing, for me thats mostly walking or doing at home workouts/stationary bike.
What you can enjoy and do consistently will be what gets you results long term - that goes both for eating and exercise.
I'm a daily weigher, I use a trending weight app (Libra because I have an android phone, for iPhone its HappyScale) to give me the general trends even in maintenance - it helps cut out all the annoyance of the ups and downs that is normal because our bodys are not one consistent number and weight does fluctuate.
Check out all the 'stickies' here in the forums as there's fantastic tips and advice on them.

All the best.
Ruth

I live in beautiful Colorado.

My tip is that motivation is fickle. Better to create new lifelong habits that will help you achieve your goals.

Hi, I'm from England too and I've found that our long dark Winter definitely makes it really difficult to find the motivation sometimes! My biggest tip would be to find what makes you feel good in both food and exercise.

With healthy eating I find focusing on nourishment and learning about nutrients helps me make healthier choices. I mean beyond calories, think about the micronutrients, vitamins and minerals and their benefits for your skin, hair, healing ability, energy levels. At the other end of that spectrum, learning about the nutritional content of other foods can be pretty horrifying (go and have a look at how much sugar is in crunchy nut cornflakes!).

My exercise tip (which may or may not work for you) is gym clothes. My gym clothes vary from high waisted black leggings and a zip up black sports bra that make me feel like a badass super hero/ninja (or something out of 50 shades?) to garishly floral leggings and neon T-shirts. But dressing the part puts me in the mood to exercise. So I'd say get yourself some gear that makes you FEEL good (it doesn't have to be expensive, ASDA and Decathlon do some cheap stuff that's pretty nice).

I've also found the high you get from exercise, when you've finished and you're like a sweaty tomato and your legs won't support you is addictive and for me it goes deeper than looks- I feel strong and confident and invincible which is a massive motivator.

I am from the planet Earth . Motivational tip : it's ok to fail but fail forward and irrespective of how many times you fail, NeVer ever ever give up until we breath. Stay Strong 💪