Make SMALL goals
and avoid cheat DAYS. They don't work for me personally and my friend too. I will allow a cheat "meal" or "snack" but, cant do the whole day.
I agree with Berry . . . SLEEP is VERY important to weight loss.
For me, it is the difference between losing weight and hitting stalls. I have to get a minimum of 6 hours sleep to have a chance of any type of weight loss to show the next morning.
And I can have a night where I get less than 3 hours sleep (fairly common in my job) and be up 2 lbs when I weigh in the next morning!
I simply do not weigh if I have had less than 6 hours sleep, it's a totally artificial number, and sabotages my efforts.