Why?

I try and get some exercise in the morning like a 30 mt exercise DVD. That keeps me motivated to watch what I eat during the day. Every time I have been tempted to eat something, I feel the aches and how hard it was to burn those "x" calories in the morning and question if it is really worth blowing it by eating a snack which has "2x" calories.

Don't even decide to start. Just keep track. Just that one thing--be ABSOLUTELY honest with yourself in your food tracking--measure everything, count everything. If you want it, have it, but WRITE IT DOWN. And then start looking at your records. Start seeing how much of what you eat. Brutal honesty with yourself may be the only way to find a start here. Just faithfully record every single thing you eat and drink, study that, and then you may find yourself better able to begin.

Edited to say that I see KAndrews has already said pretty much the same thing. I agree with K!

Good luck!

Kris

It really comes down to when you are willing and ready you will make it work. I said I'd lose weight and exercise starting like 2-3 years ago...

When my BP hit 144/101 and I weighed nearly the most I've every weighed... I said it was time. I made it a New Years Revolution and then a friend helped me find this site... from there I just input everything that i eat and drink... then I started just walking 15-30 minutes a day. I've lost 6 pounds so far, just in about 2 1/2 weeks.

It's discipline more than anything else...

I agree with ^ ^. I don't like saying that ..it's just in your mind....but from what it sounds like...it's just your mindset. You are not fully committed. You may say you are, but your actions clearly indicate otherwise. You need to make the commitment to yourself and be ready to make the sacrifices necessary to accomplish what you've set out to do. There will be sacrifices. Here's a basic (maybe silly) examples, but they're to illustrate the difference between truly committed and not. Let's say you're hungry. If you're truly committed to getting something to eat, you don't let anyone or anything get in your way. The uncommitted, would get on the computer and surf or go and chat with some people. Being committed is the mind set that nothing is going to hold you back or distract you. Find it in yourself to change your mindset, make the committment and good luck.

I have had the same struggles along the years. My personal tips for success:

1) Find substitutes for your favorites that are healthier. As an example, when I have a chocolate fix, I will have some "Black and White Drizzled Popcorn" or a Fiber One Brownie. Better caloricly, but I still get my "fix". I do the same thing for my salty snacks as well. My family knows that the one shelf in the pantry is all mine...my substitute foods, and it's hands off so I can have them when I want them. What's interesting is that over the last year, my family has started to really dig "my" foods, and we have naturally all but eliminated most of the junk food in the house without even really trying.

2) Try to incorporate a fruit and/or veggie with every meal.

3) Find movement that you like...whether it be walking, or the gym, or martial arts, or dance...movement burns it. I go through stages. In the summer, I love to walk with my husband. In the winter, I like to go to the gym and jam to my tunes on the eliptical. My base is always Tae Bo or Dance games on the Kinect with my daughter. I try to do a formal workout at least 3 times a week, and incorporate 30 minutes of movement (walking, cleaning, outdoor work) at least 5 days a week. Everything you do that moves you burns calories. Find what you like and find a way to have fun with it. I get bored with my Tae Bo, so I go out and rent or buy a new DVD...then I have variety.

4) Water, Water, Water...this should probably be my #1. I aim for 8-10 glasses a day. Without it, I'm hungry, and my body just doesn't function (and I used to drink 2-3 diet drinks a day). I can't say I've cut the diet soda completely, as I do treat myself if we go out to eat and order one. But I also order a water with it, and make myself drink from each during dinner.

5) For me, it's a day to day progression. Some days I have to really talk myself into making the better choices. Some days, it just happens very easily. But I can tell you that I have an internal dialogue with myself regularly, and psych myself up for the day. And along with that...please also know that there are going to be "those days". Give yourself those days. This should be a lifelong comitment, and we're human. We have days when cake will win over carrots. Learning how to accomodate and adjust for those days is important, but even more important is to acknowledge it yourself, psychologically and cut yourself some slack. Otherwise, one bad choice can spiral into a week of bad choices.

6) Read the forums...specifically the success stories. They are SO motivating! And there are a lot of amazing people on this site, and we all support each other in our journeys!

A few tips that have worked for me...and feel free to friend me if you'd like!

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.

Yes! I so agree with this...THIS is the key...

I think in order for you to be completly committed to this is to actually be committed to it. Its not going to be easy and you aren't going to do it unless you REALLY, REALLY want it. With that being said the only advice I can give you is to first actually see what you are doing to your body and what helped you get overweight.

Use this tool without trying to stay under goal. Eat normally. Any food that you eat log it, and honestly. This has been a very eye-awekening experience for me. Before a normal dinner for me every night was any number combo meal from MDonalds, supersized with a soda. In fact most of my food had the word fast in front of it. In most cases it wasn't an excessive amount of food...I thought. However, now that I have started logging my food, I have realized just how many extra calories I was putting into my body. Do it for a couple of days, and be honest. Then try to cut out one bad meal a day. Then try adding healthy meals. And eventually start trying to stay on point. Do it slowly and learn from it...

I guess I was abit different in the fact that I just one day woke up and said that was enough....and started cold turkey weighing in at almost 350Lbs January 3, 2011. I gave up soda on that day too....but what I learned along the way was things I thought were healthy, were NOT!!! I have learned what are my trigger foods and so I dont keep them in my house...I have tried to bring them back into the house thinking I was strong enough....but I WASNT....so I have come to terms with the fact that some things I just cant have around me. I have gone from low-impact Zumba classes to step and weight classes, to getting a gym membership, to teaching low-impact Zumba and now have my own personal trainer. I started that night walking a mile and I now just completed my first 10K and am training for a 1/2 marathon.....sure sure you will have people cheering you on, family and friends encouraging you and saying how much you motivate them, but in the end your the one that has to do the hard work....YOU HAVE TO WANT THIS....REAL BAD......and then JUST DOING IT!!!! Dont wait for motivation to kick in.....start like you already have motivation, eventually it will kick in.....and if you mess up (which we all do), dont start over tomorrow.....start in your very next meal.....
By the way in one year I have LOST 155Lbs.....and let me tell you it is still a struggle......Good Luck

I sympathise as if there are 'bad' foods in the house I would track them down so I just don't get them in.

Try to get your family on side and see if they will support you in healthier eating? If they don't want to get involved themselves they can still help you by for example, taking their chocolates to work to eat there.

Planning meals in advance helps a lot too and accounting for everything in your food diary. I also hate exercise but try a small amount at first so it doesn't feel like such a chore. Even 20 mins a day is a good start and then you can build up to more once you get into it.

Good luck!

I have two suggestions:

1. Log everything you eat, healthy or not for one week. Don't promise yourself you will cut back or do anything extra til you've done this. No diet, just logging.
2. At the end of the week, look back at your food diary and pick ONE thing to change. Maybe you're eating a good breakfast but an unhealthy lunch. So, commit to a healthy lunch every day for a week. Don't worry about anything else, just make that lunch healthy.
The next week pick one more thing and work on that.

This way you aren't setting yourself up to fail every day, you are setting small acheivable goals.
The great thing is that you start winning and that makes it easier to keep going.

Good luck!!

And my sister is about 2 stone heavier than me and I know she wants to lose weight too. The only problem is she doesn't live near me and I only see her every couple of months or so.

This is perfect! You and your sis should take advantage of the fact that you both want to lose weight…even if you aren't living near each other. My mom and I did a healthy eating diet together for a few weeks, and it really helped. We checked in with each other every night on the phone. It really helped keep me accountable, and I knew it would help her a lot too. I think what motivated me the most though was keeping her on track. I love my momma and want her to be healthy! I'm sure you want the same for your sis.

I think as some people have said its lil steps, I find it sooooo hard and im a lot bigger than you as well, its been a struggle and like you have gone of and on the plan.

But I decided that im going to take it one day at a time and not put the guilt thing on myself if I have a bad day becasuse then that leads to more bad days and me giving up altogether.

MFP is amazing for me, I think puting everything I eat down shows me where and when im going wrong and where im going right as well.

Good luck and keep coming on here as the support is amazing

In my experience, it's been more about eating the things that actually SATISFY hunger. Once you eat more of that, there's no more room/cravings for junky stuff. What I have noticed is that if I eat a tub of pringles.... I'll definitely want more pringles. Or something else with the same flavor pallet. I recently watched a documentary discussing the "triggers" in your stomach for fullness. A lot of the refined things or modified things we eat (ravioli, etc.) doesn't trigger the same hormones of satisfaction/satiety. Find some REALLY yummy food that has mostly whole grain, and you'll be sa-tis-fied! No room or desire for junk!

This is so true! I recently decided to only eat foods I LOVE, that calories are too short to waste on bad food... So think up ( and plan for) some healthy foods you actually enjoy eating...try to stock up on something in each category (fruit, vegetable, etc). Best wishes to you!