Tips

Today is a new day. Keep on trying.

Keep carbs low - less than 50gms per day!!

It's not all-or-nothing - - it's a series of smaller improvements until you find what you can live with long-term.

What a lot of good tips to read through on my first day! Thanks to everyone.

Not to sound trite but its a life style change, if you always do what you've always done you will always get the same results.

Every once in a while...particularly when you feel like giving up, take a look at old pictures from before you started your journey. That always keeps me motivated to not go back!

YOU'RE RIGHT. WE ARE CREATURES OF HABIT.

THIS IS A GREAT TIP

Never miss breakfast!! Choose something healthy to start with..

Avoid the neurosis of calorie counting and eat as much fresh food(animal foods included) as possible.

Change the way you think in order to change the way you eat.

Eat everything (deprivation is not sustainable, so don´t fool yourself into saying "once I reach my goal I can then have some" just eat MUCH less of it! (you´d be surprised how few calories you really need to be happy and full of energy)

Totally true...if you deprive yourself, sooner or later, you start cheating or binging. Eat what you really want, not what you think you should eat. If its not a super healthy choice, eat less of it. Be mindful. Eat slowly and see how you feel after eating certain foods. There are days I can't even think of eating an apple, so why would I eat one? eat what you truly want.

Try to eat real food!

Cut down the carbs (bread), eat lots of veggies and fruit.

Kingkeld, what do you think of this tip?

There is good advice here. Thanks to everyone that contributed thus far

Eat natural foods (avoid highly processed foods)!

First of all set a reasonable goal weight that you can maintain after you reach it. I like to eat and I like my wine with dinner. I am not "skinny" but I feel good when I look in the mirror. Then commit to the fact that this should be a lifestyle change...forever...not a diet.
The greatest help logging in what I ate was it made me aware of portion size and how many calories are in many foods. Now I try to make healthier choices eating more fruits, vegetables and lean meat & fish. I keep lower calorie snack items around so that I don't go crazy. Example instead of ice cream I buy low fat yogurt or sherbet...and I use a half-cup bowl to serve it in. Sometimes all I need is a taste to be satisfied. No food is off limits but if I know it's high in calories I try to limit myself to a small portion. I started with Fat Secret in March of 2011 and met my goal (a 30 lb.loss) by December. I stopped logging my foods but tried to maintain the same mindset. I did well for a long time but I did gain 7 lbs. toward the end of 2012 so I'm back to logging in my foods to lose that. So far I've lost 2 of those 7 lbs. but have fluctuated up and down 2-3 lbs. since then. I know if I got more excercise I'd probably easily lose that last 5...I exercised more when I was losing.

Don't starve yourself! Eat if your actually hungry.Just eat food that is healthy.