How do you do it!?

The best way to lose weight is just start eating healthy, exercise, and forget about it. The pounds will fall off. When people get too concerned about their progress they end up getting frustrated and decide they may as well go back to business as usual. Losing weight takes a lot of time when done right and can only be achieved through healthy diet and exercise.
That's my opinion on the subject.

It has to be habitual. Habits are hard to change so make good habits instead of bad ones.

As blunt as this may sound (and I don't mean it rude) you have to just stop. I know it's a lot easier said than done but but seriously you are the only person that can help yourself and you're the only one looking out for yourself in the end.

Think about how you'll feel after you eat something bad. Is it worth the "being upset" with yourself. Think about how on weigh day you could have been down a few lbs but instead you decided to eat bad and lay around instead of exercise. Just 30 minutes out of your day is worth more years on your life.

Food too..don't buy bad things. Dont' eat out. If you want to go eat out and are just too hungry to take the time to cook a meal. Have the "suck it up" attitude. Eat a healthy frozen meal or cook enough for left overs the next day. After you eat what you cook, you'll be full and feel better that you didn't run and get fastfood cause the cooked meal at home satisfied you just as well!

I know it's hard. I've quit a lot, also and I'm not doing FANTASTIC this time but I haven't quit. I still eat pasta, bread etc but I switched to whole grain. I still eat the same things but smaller portions and healther versions. Your stomach will eventually shrink and your body will get use to smaller portions. The first couple weeks of this sucks but you just have to deal with the suffering and pain! lol

Think of it as you control the food you eat. The food doesn't control you. It's just a "thing". You're a person and make your own choices. You just have to do it. JUST DO IT!!!

lol Hope this helps.

Honestly?

For me it was a head game. I had to really find my motivation and be brutally honest with myself about why I did the things I did. it wasn't changing habits, it was changing the way i coped with things and reevaluating my relationships.

Why did I eat? Those kinds of questions. Once I answered those, then changing the habits came easier. Not easy, but easier.

Me too. It's always been a head game with me. I gained 9 lbs. -- seriously, I did -- when I went on vacation for a week. I was so upset when I saw how much I had gained, that I almost gave up. But I didn't. I just started eating normally again and taking it one baby step at a time and the weight came off. Like the above post says "Not easy, but easier".

You CAN do it!! One step at a time.

I feel you need to slowly get yourself into a healthy life style. Choose one thing to change with food and one thing to do for exercise. I stopped eating white bread years ago, I just don't buy it anymore. I eat hamburgers without a bun, limit my multigrain pastas each week,... When I bake I use whole wheat flour. I just don't buy the foods so they aren't an option. I keep cleaned fruits on hand in my fridge and vegetables as well.
For my cravings, I buy the 100 calorie packs of things. That way I get m fix with a few calories. I also gof or sugar free and low fat junk foods I need to have. I am a sugar holic so never eating sweets again is not an option for me at my age, 41.5 yrs old. I allow myself the treats when I want them, usually trying to make myself do something toi "earn" them. Whether it is exercise, pay bills, clean, balance a checkbook,.... something positive must get donebefore the treat is to be eaten. I find that I want the treats less and less, except for once a month, grrrrrrrr....
As for exercising, find something you enjoy to start. I love my elliptical and Zumba classes so those are 2 I am always willing to do. I ahve joined some challenges on here and find I do better with "a team" vs being against others. I enjoy seeing our team go for it. Makes me more motivated because I feel I can motivate others. Check out challeges you see and even if you don't join them, try them out!
Feel free to add me as a friend if you'd like. This is huge in most of our successes. The more people to motivate you, hold you accountable,.. the better you will do and the more willpower you will have!!!

My motivation is rather negative. I look at colleagues whose bodies are far from ideal, what they eat: white bread, candy, chocolate, lots of fried and fat, mayo, pickles and so on - and I became much easier to give it up . But after several months 'abstinence', habits are changing and chocolate does not seem so good, I promise:)
No less than this helps the realization that you must not go beyond the limit of calories. Simply impossible, and that's it. Then becomes a choice, eat something sweet and be well-fed for half an hour or to eat vegetable salad, corn bread and chicken breast and be sated until the evening.

I'm really into healthy food so I have always found it easy because on this issue I don't have to try, however, I do get weeks when I just need rubbish! Lol! Fish and chips and mushy peas or battered sausage and chips and curry sauce lol followed by Ben and Jerry's and a chocolate bar! And to be honest I don't beat myself up for this if it happens for a day once a month. I think my body needs it for some reason, the rest of the month the thought of eating like that makes me feel physically sick.

I think if you bann foods you want them more, because your focus is on what you can't have! It's like saying "Don't think of pink elephants!" lol! Of course you're going to.

My advice would be to come up with some really tasty meals for each day for 2 weeks, so thats B,L,D 14x and leave enough calories to have something you really fancy. Buy everything for the meals in advance and do a big shop (if you can) DON'T buy any of the things you may fancy, buy those daily! If you buy a massive pack of fun size chocolate so you can have one each day from your cupboard one night you'll just eat them all! If you allow yourself the things you love like chocolate work it into your plan!

With exersise you just have to simply find your thing, something you really like, yoga, walking, pilates, swimming etc. Choose your favourite and go regularly. Note I didn't put jogging, it is not the best thing to do for weight loss and damages your knees, walking is far better!

Good Luck!

How do you get out of bed to go to work? Or any other thing that might not be fun, but needs to be done? There is no easy answer. It does get easier when it becomes a habit, but even when it is a habit there are still days that it sucks.

This.....

I've been on the same pattern (lose some, backslide a little, then quit) for years. This year I hired a trainer, we work out twice a week at her personal gym and she helps keep me on track. I'm still not doing great, weekends are the real challenge for me, but at least I haven't quit and am still losing (very slowly) and getting stronger (fairly quickly).
I've lost 21 lbs so far (since Jan), 9 lbs since I started with the trainer (in June), still not even 10% of my body weight, but better than continuing to put on weight, which is the alternative!
Good luck!