I can't seem to get it together! I know what I have to do. I just don't know how to start and remain successful. I ordered Jenny Craig; that didn't last before I got tired of eating the food. I started and finished Weight Watchers (just the planning of points). It must be me! I think about lap band surgery all the time. However, that's where my husband places the last straw. He's supportive up until i mention surgery. He says he has seen too many complications with individuals who underwent surgery and are now disabled. I have an exercise bike but don't get on it like I should. My elementary kids get on it more than I do. I'm just in the dumps! What's worked for you?

Calorie counting. That's what has finally worked for me. I did South Beach and found success with it, but ultimately it was unsustainable for me. It wasn't a natural way for me to eat, so I quit.

With calorie counting, I had to pull myself up by the boot straps and get through the first three weeks, but it got easier and easier after that so that today I have no trouble sticking to my calories at all. My cravings even disappeared, just like they did with South Beach.

And best of all, it's free.

CALORIE COUNTING/FOOD JOURNALING!!!! But I'm an OCD freak! I love it! It's like a game to me...how healthy can I eat and meet my daily calorie allowance? I can eat this now...or that later. It's a complete lifestyle overhaul and I love it. Honestly, I can say that "dieting" is not the answer, finding something that you can do everyday for the rest of your life is the key. I started with Nutrisystem which got me to understand portions, but once I realized - I can't eat this crap forever I knew I had to go it my own. If WW worked for you at all, then give calorie counting a try. It's so easy now a days with all the online stuff. Good luck to you!

Well, I'm only 3 weeks into this, so I don't know how much help that'll be, but I'll share anyway

I started by ordering Bistro MD meal delivery. I did that because it's just me and I hate cooking for one (and also, I'm lazy lol) and also because I needed, at least in the beginning, a very structured program - here's what you eat for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, don't eat anything else. It's worked pretty well so far, and I'm using the time I used to spend stuffing my face learning about healthy foods that actually sound good to me. I want to build up my knowledge so when I stop having the meals delivered here in a week or two, I don't just fall apart without that structure.

I think it's been insanely helpful (and not just on the "yay I don't have to cook!" side) because I've learned to stop and think...ok, am I ACTUALLY hungry or am I telling myself that because I'm bored/lonely/etc. This probably isn't as big a deal to some, but to me, it's huge. I've never in my life actually stopped to ask myself that before grabbing whatever junk food was handy. I've also learned that if I AM actually hungry...the world is not going to end if I don't eat right that very minute. Also a big deal to me.

I could go on and on about the other things I've learned in such a short time, but those were the two big ones. Probably the biggest thing that's worked for me these looong 3 weeks (lol) is telling myself...it doesn't matter that I'm not motivated today. I am COMMITTED to learning better eating habits and exercising regularly. It's hard. It sucks. That little voice in the back of my head listing all the delicious junk foods still hasn't shut up, but I don't let it take over anymore.

I hope you can find what works for you. It's so different for everybody. What works for one person won't work for another. When I started this I spent a lot of time looking around this site, reading about all the different things other people were doing. Everybody says this isn't just a diet. It doesn't end when the weight is gone. It's a lifestyle change. So maybe start with one change you think you can stick with in the long run. Get comfy with that change...and then add another...and so on.

I don't know anything about lap-band surgery so hopefully somebody else on here shares their experiences with that! Good luck!

I realized that my normal way of eating made me heavy and I had to change normal forever. My plan was a combination of:

1. Emphasis on whole foods, reducing the amount of packaged/processed foods, eliminating fast foods.

2. Volumetrics - I love to eat! So I needed quantities of healthy food I could eat in volume so I would stay full and happy. Big piles of roasted brussel sprouts, huge salad, etc.

3. Calorie counting - this includes food planning, food journaling, portion control, I still measure problem foods after all this time (pasta, rice, salad dressing, nuts, etc).

Next month will be my 5 year maintenance anniversary. Although there have been some tweaks here and there, maintenance looks exactly like weight loss and I am fully intent on continuing rest of my life. It's easy to want to do this forever - I picked a plan where I liked the food and was easy for my lifestyle!

Calorie counting here too. As I've learned more about food, I've leaned waaay more toward whole, natural foods.

Another calorie counter here. I also tried south beach, but it wasn't a plan I could stick to for more than a few months, let alone the rest of my life.

Calorie counting is so much more flexible. Let's face it, life happens and we're going to eat "non-diet" foods at times. With a little planning, these things can be easily worked into a calorie counting program, with no guilt!

And yes, online tools, phone apps, etc. make calorie counting easier than ever. Plus, with so many restaruants making their nutrition information available these days, eating out is easy too!

I'm not saying calorie counting is for everyone...but it's certainly worth a try. Much less invasive and cheaper than surgery!

Thank you for your responses! I've never tried Calorie Counters before. I'm going to that thread and read up on it. It sounds manageable. I've been roaming 3fc for years. I'm so glad I've signed up and began posting. I think others success and knowledge will be helpful for me. Again, thank you!

My story/plan is very similar to Glory's.

I calorie count with a large focus on whole foods and volume, while avoiding sugar-y, non-veggie, non-fruit carbs. I plan everything in advance, I cook most of my foods from scratch, taking food with me where ever I go.

Even though I eat mainly very healthy foods, I still require the calorie counting because it provides me with built in accountability and portion control.

But the biggest thing for me was the realization that I couldn't have it both ways - I couldn't keep on eating those high calorie/high quantity foods AND be that slim, fit, trim healthy person I always longed to be.

I also realized that I didn't have to be fat if I didn't want to be. That it was indeed something that I DID indeed have control over. Nobody was forcing me to overfeed myself.

So I made the decision, and the commitment to get the weight off and put forth the EFFORT that was required to get it done. In other words I was WILLING to do what was necessary and what was required. I was willing to work past the initial discomfort of changing one's habits, finding new foods to eat, saying goodbye to others.

I always thought it was will power one needed, but nope, it was/is WILLINGNESS.

Calorie counting through TheDailyPlate.com.

In addition drastically reducing white carbs (pasta, potatoes, sugar, and bread), and focusing on getting in lots of protein.

I only keep track of carbs, and in the most general way. I count things like a bowl of cereal, a sandwich, or a dessert as one carb, and allow myself a certain number (usually 1,2 or 3), depending on whether I'm trying to maintain or lose. This probably wouldn't work for everyone, but it works for me because carbs and desserts are the only things I overeat.

The Insulin Resistance Diet has been a godsend for me! So easy to follow and its the only plan I actually lose weight on when I eat how I'm supposed to. For some strange reason when I go off plan I only maintain.

You really don't have to find a "master plan." To lose what I have, I've used several different diets (Atkins, South Beach, exchange plans of various exchange distributions and borrowed heavily from the principles of many other diets - Neanderthin, Volumetrics, The Insulin Resistance Diet and so many I can't remember them all).

I've taken a long time to get the weight off, but I didn't gain in between different plans like I once would have. In the past, if I was sick of SlimFast, I didn't go right into calorie counting, I took a "vacation" between plans (and regained all of the weight, plus a few extra for good measure).

Now, I look at weight loss differently. I have taken a few "vacations" from weight loss, but they've been "working vacations," in that I vowed to always, at the very least, work at maintenance (I've yoyo'd around a stable weight, but have never gone more than a couple days entirely off plan). No significant backsliding, means I'm making progress even when I'm not making any progress (because for most of my life, age 5 and up, I never, maintained a weight loss, I was either rapidly losing weight, or rapidly gaining weight.

What I ultimately chose for myself (which I'm happy enough with to believe I may use it, in one form or another through goal) is a low carb exchange plan (I do periodically tweak the calorie level and distribution of the exchanges, which foods I choose for the exchanges.... so it's really continuity of plan, that I can adapt to if I change my preferences or ideology towards food).

For example, much of what I've read seems to indicate that insulin resistance can be alleviated or even reversed with weight loss. That may mean that the closer I get to goal, the more carby food I may be able to include without hampering weight maintenance/loss (though I may always have to watch were the carbs come from. Maybe a South Beach style of eating will be more appropriate).

Really the only thing that has changed, when it really boils down to it, was committing to "no quitting." I can change my plan whenever, however, and as often as I wish, but no "what's the use, I might as well eat myself into oblivion, because nothing I do matters." It ALL matters, so I can change my plan any time I want to, but I cannot operate with NO plan. The plan needs to at the very least be for maintenance, because backsliding has too many negative consequences mentally and physically - not worth it, never worth it and I have to remember that.

That "vacation" between diets is a social norm. It's a habit that's hard to break, because we've learned, almost by osmosis, that it's how dieting "is done." We know it's not a productive way to behave, yet we do it anyway because it's just the way it is. It happens so often (we see it in others, hear about it in others, read about it, see it on tv....) that we don't even know that we're following the pattern like lemings (which by the way, don't behave like lemings - the jumping into the sea and drowning them is a myth).

Dieting as it's most often done, doesn't work. There's too much of the "I've blown it today, I might as well gorge until..... tomorrow morning, Monday morning, the first day of the month, lent, the new year...." There's always a better time to restart than right after the first mistaken bite.

For me I have to remember the maxim, "If I do what I've always done, I'll get what I've always gotten."

Calorie counting with an emphasis on whole foods.

You can do this. Absolutely 100%. YOU have complete control. Once I truly realized this it was actually liberating.

ETA: Also, I have specifically found that I have difficulty with items high on the glycemic index. You may want to do some reading about the GI if you are unfamiliar. It has been an eye opener for me in recent months.

I've done low carb in the past with some success, but for me it just wasn't sustainable long term. I did Weight Watchers for a while, but got tired of always having to do so much calculating, losing the points slider and having to interrupt making supper to look up points values online, etc. After reading here I switched to calorie counting and haven't looked back. I keep track of my calories each day in a little notebook. I also recently started zig zagging my calories and I love it, it gives me a few days a week where I feel like I can eat more (even though the weekly average stays the same). I look forward to those days when I can have a higher-calorie favourite meal (like lasagna) or a treat like some baked chips or frozen yogurt that I avoid otherwise.