And motivation! So here I am I am having a hard time losing weight and have tried different approaches SBD, Paleo... maybe I just need to count calories though? I have a good amount to lose and just need to find the right approach. I workout at home doing various things (zumba on the wii, wii fit, Carmen Electra's dvd's and some basic stuff on my own.) Any advice is greatly appreciated!

Welcome to the forum! So glad you have joined us!
My first piece of advice is to throw the word 'motivation' out the window. Motivation may get you started but it will not carry you through. Replace that word with 'Determination' and 'Commitment'. You need to be determined to lose and committed to following your plan.
I chose calorie counting, it is flexible and allowed me to eat what I wanted as long as it fit in my calorie range for the day. My weight loss was not fast but it worked for me.
Keep up with the exercise, any amount you can get in will help burn calories and will help you feel better mentally and physically.
Lastly, if you have a bad meal, a bad day, heck, a bad food week. Do NOT let this be a reason to throw in the towel. Get back on track at the next meal. You can do this!!!
Best of luck to you!

Thank you! You are right I need determination and to not let a bad meal/day/week bring me down. I am wondering if maybe WW would be an easy route to try since I am feeding a family of five. I just don't want to try another "diet" and "fail" (i.e gain instead of lose)

Welcome! Congrats on getting started I also do calorie counting and that is the only plan that has kept me on 'plan'..

Hello and Welcome!

I do WW and love it. I've tried EVERY "diet" out there and nothing has been able to keep me "Commited" to the process. With WW, I can feed my (small) family and eat with them. Another great thing is the sustainability of this program - I feel whole heartedly, that I can use the WW system forever.

I agree with NEMom, its all about commitment to change. Motivation gets us out of bed and started, but the commitment carries us through.

welcome! I'm a calorie counter myself and LOVE it! for me it came to the realization that any "diet" can make you loose weight.. but what about after your loose weight? you go back to all your old habits and it's starts a vicious cycle I've been yo yo dieting my whole life I've tried Atkins, south beach, the cabbage soup diet and an extremely low calorie diet and all of them made me loose 30-40 lbs and I fell off the wagon because I couldn't do that forever... calorie counting in a "healthy " range of calories for me is something I can do Forever! the way I eat now is the way I'll eat forever and I'm ok with that because I can have anything I want with in my calorie range. Nothing is off limits and that is a great thing for me! I'm learning to eat " normal" normal portion sizes normal servings. and I still get all the foods I enjoy! I'd suggest what ever you do find something you can live with FOREVER! because that is what it has to be... about a lifestyle change.. best of luck to you! you CAN do this!

What's worked for you before? What made it stop working? What changes can you make to your current diet and commit to keeping?

I started with "I'm going to try to eat five servings of vegetables and four servings of fruit a day" - I didn't always make it (and still don't), but putting fruits and vegetables at the forefront of every day has helped change the way I see food and meals.

Exchanges worked for me for quite some time, and I haven't given up on tem. I'm currently focused more on counting calories, but only because I'm particularly interested in counting fiber, and it's easier to just log everything in fitday than always be looking up fiber grams. Calorie counting usually doesn't work for me in the long term, so I'm hoping to get another way to judge fiber intake before the calorie-counting makes me crazy.

What works for weight loss is a pretty individual thing, though, and it's worth the time to figure out why things haven't worked for you in the past.

I am not sure why they haven't worked, I've just fallen off the wagon too many times. South Beach worked pretty well for me in the past but for the past year my husband has been deployed and we have eaten out far too often out of convenience so that is the problem this time. But I want something that will be easy and where I will not have to cook several meals just to feed myself and my family; so I have ordered a WW kit and it just came in today actually I'm going to start using my points tomorrow, so wish me luck! Also thinking of breaking out of my comfort zone and joining the Y so I have extra dedication to my workouts; if I am paying for a membership I'm not going to want it to go to waste; it's too easy to just "do it tomorrow" when you only workout at home.