Why?

Would you rather feed the voices in your head or be happy and healthy. Sorry it's that hard. Are you in charge of your life or not

Make sure you start when you're actually ready. If you're not physically, emotionally, and mentally ready for this challenge, you're probably not going to stick with it.

Try not to be too hard on yourself, and remember the cliche: Rome wasn't built in a day.

Like other have said, do what you can. Something is better than nothing.

For example, today I got up. I had a fairly healthy breakfast. And it all went downhill from there. I had chocolate, and tinned ravioli...

You don't have to be perfect you just have to be better...
Babysteps have always been the key to success for me... Do a little something is better than doing a whole lot of nothing...

1) Give yourself credit for your healthy breakfast and remember that just because the day went down hill doesn't give you permission to give up completely


This was the approach that worked best for me...

1) tracking for a couple of weeks before I worried about losing.
(although seeing what I was eating I couldn't help but rein back a bit)

2) seeing where I could make small changes on things that weren't that important to me.
(Don't even think of taking chocolate out of my diet!!!)
--Reducing quantities where I won't notice it so much
--Swapping out things instead of eliminating them.

3) Look at my diary and started adding foods that had positive healthy effects specifically for the health issue in my family.
I found most of the things I "should" add were really yummy too! salmon, avocado, oatmeal, mango, red grapes....
(Sort of think of food as medicine to deal with family history of various health issue oatmeal is good for heart health, mango and red grapes lower cholesterol, tumeric and cinnamon good for arthritis)

4) every couple of weeks I see where I can make another couple of small changes.
If you completely revamp your diet, it's way easy to revert to old ways in times of stress. (and who doesn't have stress?)
If you make a series of small changes, food still offers you some sense of comfort.
sort of a comfort continuum, and after a while the first small changes will seem comforting in themselves.
You don't have to be perfect you just have to do better.

5) also rather than being uberstrict with the target MFP set for me I did the math to find out the calories needed to maintain my goal weight and my current weight and I gave myself a range with 1200 as my rock bottom, lose 1 lb/wk as my target*** and maintain my goal weight as the top of my range. As long as I keep within in this range I'll lose. I tend to naturally zig zag my calories 3-4 at very close to my target and then a higher calorie day closer to the top of my range.

As long as I stayed under maintain my current weight calories I won't gain. So no need to throw in the towel, just pick-up where I left off.

Once I found ways to lessen the stress, I found it way easier to focus on the process and let the results follow. (It's what worked for me some people need the stress to get them motivated. Me I get scared and overwhelmed and don't see the big goal as achievable. I only worry about it 1 lb at a time.)

***also once my lose 1 lb/week target was down to 1200 calories I switch to lose 1/2 lb/ week (1200 cal rock bottom, 1/2 lb/week as my target, maintain goal weight as the high end of my range.)

Food is not the enemy.
Oddly enough on my journey here I've reduced guilt over food.
I have the occasional treat and I fully enjoy it with no guilt involved.
The thing is since I'm not eating crap all the time the occasional treat is just that a TREAT it's special and I enjoy it so much more than when I was unconsciously shovel junk food into my face.

I figure if I've got a good plan that I can actually maintain I can keep this off for a long time to come, without feeling deprived.

Oh I've so been there.

For me, a few things have worked for the past few weeks.

1. Like others said, have healthy things in the house. It's one thing to say no to something when there is a lower calorie healthy food that will satisfy you sitting next to it. If there are no good foods in the house, hunger will always win out.
2. Make good habits. Don't say "I'm going to work out for an hour" Say "I'll walk for 10 minutes". Make it managable, then it will build as your self confidence does.
3. Have a plan. I have the same breakfast every day and I plan how many calories I'm going to allot for snacks and meals. If I find myself at a lunch that's higher, I subtract it from snacks. Keep it simple, but plan.
4. Eat whole foods as often as possible. My breakfast is 2 eggs scrambled with a cup of diced red, orange and yellow peppers and a whole apple cut up. That's a LOT of food for 300 calories.
5. Forgive yourself for where you are. Accept it and move forward. You can do this. Your health is worth it!

I lay out a dish and/bowl on the counter and it has healthy stuff in it like nuts, fruit, veggies, peanut butter. That way I see them every time I'm in the kitchen. I check out the counter first and start making my meals and/or snacks there. I hardly ever go into the pantry anymore. That's where we keep my husband's chips and some crackers and canned staples. I also try to keep processed pantry food out of the house, unless it is for my husband. No cookies, chips, little debbie's etc. There used to be pretzels and popcorn as back up snacks, but nowadays I don't even keep those hardly.

Try to stop thinking that you are "giving up" things. What favor did junk food ever do for you? Dump it like a bad date.

For what it's worth, it's helped me to try to have so much fun with it that I become obsessed.

Instead of eating well and exercise being a chore, a choice or even a "lifestyle change" - try to play a mental game with yourself where it becomes a "hobby" instead.

You'll still falter, but it's easier to stay on track for extended periods that way.

When it's a hobby, you start exploring all sorts of daft corners of health and wellness that you don't really need to know about. The other day I caught myself trying to figure out the whole pathway of a triglyceride from the moment it enters my mouth to the moment it either gets burned for energy or deposited as a fat cell. I was in neck deep - beta oxidation, krebs cycle, enzyme actions, chemical constituents of the metabolic stages, you name it. None of this helps me lose any weight of course. But it makes it fascinating and fun. Play it like a game of numbers that you really really want to get good at. Eating better and exercise naturally follow that.

I personally don't cut things out of my diet...I limit my amount. I know I would have failed if I cut out chocolate and wine. I just try and limit. Today, I could not resist M&Ms at lunch so I ate some and I will work out later to balance it. I might even skip a glass of red wine tonight. Last night I knew I needed to have red wine so I ate a light breakfast and skipped an afternoon snack! I just limit and balance the yummies in life and I have already lost 30 pounds!! Completly cutting out what you love and crave makes it so much harder!

Keeping a public food log helps keep me honest. The idea that my MFP family cant see what I eat encourages me to make good choices.
Taking pictures of my dinner. I like coming up with new healthy recipes and showing them off.

I know it may sounds strange but it works for me.

I would recommend going slowly. Don't try to change everything all at once. Just change one thing and get used to it.

For me, the first thing I changed was I quit soda. I didn't change anything else. Then I quit sugary drinks altogether and now I just drink water. It was slow going, but once I got that down, I started focusing on things I eat. Not everything, but I did start logging everything. It's easier to make better choices when you see how bad everything you had been eating is for you. Then start working in exercise.

If you try to change your lifestyle all at once, it will be overwhelming and making one mistake will lead to another and then you will just quit. I know, I had done it a bunch of times before.

So...take it slow, but keep trying.