I also find it's helpful to take it one day at a time. I lost my weight in 15 months and have worked at keeping it off for about a year now. I know when I first started, I was almost overwhelmed by the thought of losing 100+pounds. I didn't think I could stick with it but I decided that each day was going to pass by whether I actually did something about my weight or not. I could either be lamenting how another year has gone by and I'm still fat or I could actually do something about it by taking baby steps to accomplish things. I refused to think about how long it would take. I just focused on this one day. Eating on plan for "today". Working out "today". Staying cheat free "today" and before I knew it, I had had a string of weeks of "todays" and then months. After a while I became so stubborn and determined that I looked at it like a game (I'm super competitive). I considered it a challenge to go to a party and eat only on plan stuff (even if it meant offering to bring a dish or two of my own). I have even taken my own 100% whole wheat bread to a restaurant if I wanted a burger. This always mortified my teen son but I didn't care.
I didn't develop the determination all at once but once I got a taste of what losing weight was like, I didn't want to let it go. There is an expression in the weight loss world that goes, "nothing tastes as good as thin feels". That is so true. The first time I put on a size 16 jeans I cried. The first time I was able to shop in "regular" sized clothing stores and left Lane Bryant behind (for good), I cried. When I squeezed myself into a size 8 (vanity sized yes) capri stretch jeans, I cried again. These of course were tears of joy. Nothing, no donut, cookie, cake, candy, pie, or anything else could possibly taste as good as standing in front of a full length mirror weighing 109 pounds less than you did 2 years before!
You are so worth it and you can do it. Definitely come here daily (I've been missing for quite a while from this board but I'm back now to lose my last 10-15 pounds), join a challenge, the kind ladies and gents of WISH helped me so much when I was in the major weight loss phase of my program, keep a journal and most important remember that you can do this. Believe in yourself. The most valuable lesson I have learned is that weight loss (for me at least) is 90% mental and 10% what I put in my mouth and my exercise routine. We sure know how to talk ourselves out of doing things, don't we? I figure if I can negative talk myself fat, I can positive talk myself thin. You can do this and we are here to help you!!!
