I need help. The first week counting calories was easy and fun - went great! Way under calorie goal all week! The second week was a little more challenging, but still stuck to it. The third week was awful. The novelty had worn off and I was sick of trying to plan meals, of paying attention to everything I put in my mouth, sick of logging into MFP to log calories, sick of eating healthy. I found myself not recording calories right away, lying to myself a little ("Eh, probably doesn't matter if I log this"), and generally not sticking to plan. Ugh.

The good news is that I went out last night and that always re-inspires my motivation. I like how my clothes fit me so much better when I'm 10-15 lbs leaner. I have to get there! Parties coming up in a couple months and I'd really love to be proud of how I look!

So how do you deal with it when your commitment and motivation fail you?:

it's hard, I use MFP and make meals there my most common ones so to add them I just check the meal (you can adjust if you ate more or less of an item that day) I like how you can scan the bar codes so when I snack on things that have barcodes I can scan it really quick. Usually my motivation is losing weight, but for a while my scale was NOT moving so that was hard. I do have a goal (cruise in 2 months) so that's a big motivator. Maybe you can give yourself a prize when you reach a goal. The best thing is to stick to it. I've heard that if you do something for 30 days it becomes a habit and you more or less are used to doing it.

Today I did a chocolate cake recipe that I'm making for my son's birthday party next week so I can just add that 636 calorie monstrosity with one click, LOL.

If one of your car tyres went bang, would you go round and puncture the other three? Of course not?

Then why let one bad week ruin all the rest?

You had a bad week. We all have them. What's important is what you do next. Get back on the horse and carry on. Once you've figured out the calories of the meals you have most often, it becomes easier. Weighing stuff is a matter of course for me; calorie counting is the only way I have ever dieted, so it's second nature.

The first time I lost weight, I bought myself a little present for every stone (14 lb) I lost. This time round I know that the prize will be getting back into all those cute small clothes I've got in storage, so it's eyes on the goal all the way.

I like the idea of a motivating present for myself if I succeed. Perhaps pick out an outfit I can buy when I drop a size? Thanks!

Firstly if you are sick of healthy eating, is your food not very delicious or is it boring. I can't imagine being sick of eating healthy food though there are times when i'm in binge mode that i don't want to cook it for myself.

I also can't be bothered with counting calories. I did it a little bit and i will use the mfp to check out the calorie count of the odd recipe from time to time but its not fundamental to my diet as i have a pretty good idea of how much i can eat and not overeat.

I first learned how to do this from the book CSIRO total wellbeing diet. They have a system that simplifies everything for you so you really only need to consider food in terms of categories and quantities. For example you don't need to know how many calories in a tomato versus a carrot. Its all just vegetables and a cup of them is about equivalent. I think the only veggie they don't treat this way is potato and that's because its high GI. BEcause its high GI its treated more like bread if i remember correctly.


But the books have meal plans for 3 months and you don't have to follow them to the letter. The idea of the meal plans is to teach you how to eat healthily but yummy.

Also this diet is basically high protein but its not serious as atkins or ordeal protein about it. Its more balanced. I only bought the first one which was hard as a vegetarian but now they have one that's for vegetarians or they have vegetarian meal options.

They also have different calorie levels so if you want to lose 1kg a week, they tell you how to do it. If you want to lose not quite so much, they tell you how to add to your intake so that its not so strict.

They are basically trying to teach you how to eat well. There's lots of good quality nutritional info and the recipes are nice. However its not really recommended sticking rigidly to the menu plans because it would be expensive. They are just trying to show you what you can do and so its worth following the meal plans for a while.

The way i structure my diets is stems from what i learned with that book. Only i no longer include dessert. They do.

I don't plan my meals. I just buy a few veggies, lots of fruit and always make sure i've got one non-sugar cereal, whole grain bread which i keep in the freezer, plenty of spaghetti, jars of tomato sauce for pasta, basmati rice, enough spices and herbs, parmesan cheese and at least one alternative cheese, vegemite, extra virgin olive oil, red wine or balsamic vinegar, black pepper, salt, eggs, yoghurt, milk, cans of legumes, lentils beans but not kidney beans because i don't like them. With these things i can make a great many delicious dishes and not get bored. Wine. Sesame oil and if i'm in the mood for asian, asian condiments.
Oh and some nuts and/or seeds. Walnuts are my current favourite to add to salads but they are not for nibbling on.

Things i never buy:
peanut butter,
sweets and desserts, honey and jams
cheap cheese
low fat anything
biscuits - although i could buy dry biscuits like ryvita
rarely processed foods or meals but if i wanted to a break i might get something but they are usually high salt, high calorie and low satisfaction.
bacon, chicken, most meats
soda drinks
artificial sweeteners

Check out my food diary in the vegetarian section if you want to see what i eat. I log all my food and provide recipes.

I"m aiming for about the same low weight as you and we are about the same height. I don't do much exercise but this month i have lost 5kg according to my measurements. its the first month so one always loses more than usual in the first few weeks. Now i just lose slowly.

I find i don't miss eating anything. That might change when i get skinnier and i've been dieting for a while but i will tackle the issue then.

I phase in and out of being all in, and then sort of loosely logging.
All in WORKS. I have had the most success when I don't log in later in the day. My reward is dark chocolate or a homemade cookie at the end of the day. If I've had a bad day, no sweets. I LOVE sweets and I won't ever be able to give them up 100%, I know this, so that keeps me motivated to eat good for the day.

Switching up foods will be the biggest thing that'll keep ya going. Variety is important or you'll get bored/stressed out with what's on the plate.

Preparing foods differently can also make eating healthy much more appealing. Go for the grill! Grilled veggies can have a lot more appeal than their raw counterparts. Especially when it's chilly outside. :/