How do you guys stay motivated?

I think for me one of the things that keeps me motivated is feeling in control. I keep logging even on days that I do poorly so that I know what I am eating and how much I am exercising. Also I know my pals here will want to see that I completed my diaray and done my exercise.

well great job on getting started! but ya gotta keep it up its hard work the whole time, and even once u make your goal its hard work to maintain, dont get me wrong things get easier once you get used to them and once you get into the habit of being "healthier"....but for your question my motivation is the mirror, i never use the scale to judge myself and never rely on others, i look in the mirror and see a fat *kitten* and i wont be that fat *kitten* anymore...but thats just me, and i hope you find YOUR motivation cause it different for everyone and i wish u luck in your journey to meet(mmmm meat) your goals

I am going to be completely honest... losing weight is the hardest thing I have ever had to do... Since March 2010 I have lost 50 pounds! That sounds like a lot but that means that I have lost that is an average of 1.5 pounds a week. But honestly I went months without seeing and change in the scale unless it went up. It was not until recently that I decided for myself that now I am doing it for me.. I am going to get healthy whether it means losing weight or just getting healthy. I have stuck to it for the most part but I have had my weekends or weeks that have set me back but those are the times that I want to strive harder and work harder because I am truly not happy with my weight and the only one that can change that is me!! No one else.. they may be able to support me from a far but it all comes down to what I want.

I recommend starting small maybe start with two days a week going to gym.. cut your calories to 1200-1500 and be strict with yourself with your calories.. just don't cut anything out. Dont go on a diet that cuts carbs or sugars completely because once you go back to them that is when your body will absorb it all back and all that hard work will go out the window.

Keep a journal or food.. feelings... ups downs... it will help to reflect back on it!!!!

I hope this makes sense and helps!!

It is so hard to stay motivated. Congrats on what you have accomplished so far! One thing I have done is to keep a rolling list of goals for myself. It is a list of various weights, in descending order, that have some meaning to me. So some of the numbers on the list represent percentages of weight lost (10%, 20%, etc), some are absolute numbers of pounds lost (5 pounds! 10 pounds! 15 pounds! 20 pounds!), and some have some emotional significance, such as the weight I was when I got married, wore some special dress, finished graduate school, etc. I also noted the dates on which I met each of these goal weights.

I'm now reaching maintenance, but when I had difficulties with plateaus or gains, I looked at that list constantly. I kept it on my phone, and would look at it every time I took a break at work, when I was going to bed, etc. It made me proud to see how far I had come, and made the process of digging in less daunting when I only had to think about trying to reach the next mini goal in the next week or so.