So You'd Like to Lose Weight (Like I Do) — Now What?

Oh boy. Losing weight. What a topic for me. What a rollercoaster ride, with many ups and a few downs. This is a tricky one.

Well, it's not really tricky. Because I know what I need to do. It's just the doing it part that I find tricky.

Here's the good part: I like to exercise. I even go through patches of doing it with what I'd call a fair amount of regularity. I don't do as much strength training as I should, and that's not good because it is awesome for so many reasons. But at least I do like to walk on my treadmill (from which I can watch TV and try to whittle down my DVR which seems to hover at 90% capacity) and I like to play Just Dance with the kid (or do anything that involves shaking my boo-tay, even if I look really funny doing it). I enjoy working up a sweat, I love the rush of endorphins that follow and just make you feel good all over.

As I like to say, no one ever says, "I really wish I hadn't exercised today." NO ONE. Well, I mean, unless you trip and break something or suffer some sort of unfortunate exercise-related injury, but basically, you're always glad you exercised. I know that I am.

The terribly tricky part of this losing weight deal (and as I write this, I personally have about 90 pounds I'd like to lose and never find again), is the food.

First of all, I like it a lot. It's delicious.

Second of all, I've been known to abuse it. To use it for comfort when I've had a rough day, or snack because I'm bored, or just go to town and completely disregard portion size because something is just so yummy.

That's my main issue. So how do I handle that?

Well, if I handled it well and often I wouldn't have 90 pounds to lose! But when I have lost weight, the reason I'm successful is because I write it down. Either because I was doing WeightWatchers, which is truly an outstanding program, or if I was using a free website, like MyFitnessPal, which is what I'm doing now.

Well, I'm off and on doing it now!

I get motivated. I have trouble staying motivated!

Which just bugs me, because I have PLENTY of reasons to be moviated, a few of which would be:

• Better health
• More energy for everything, most importantly my beautiful daughter
• More clothing choices (Well! It's true!)

My friends, especially those also trying to get fitter, are tremendously awesome when it comes to staying motivated. I find that talking about what I want to do with like-minded people is really helpful.

Again, I just need to stay motivated. Something that deflates me is looking at the ultimate goal. I know that I need to stay focused on small bits at a time. Like a friend of mine challenged me to lose 20 pounds by my birthday, which is actually something I can probably do.

As long as I do it.

So if any of you want to lose some weight, what inspires you? What are your stumbling blocks? What kind of tips can you offer to me or others if you've been successful?