1) Make a plan (WW has winning outcome forms)
2) Journal every day
3) Don't quit the first time you don't lose (or even gain)
4) MUSIC to exercise with :)
5) Check in to ASDWW as much as possible and join challenges
6) Eat enough to be satisfied, don't try to be perfect
7) Don't quit until you see goal, no matter what happens
8) When you slip, start again, with the Next Meal not the Next Monday
9) Drink that water!
10) Remove trigger foods from sight, put 0 point veggies all over the place,
and soups.

My top five:

Plan the main meals for the week, write the shopping list from the plan,
and buy what is on the list!

If the recipe makes more portions than you need, serve it out into
freezer plates and freeze freeze the extra portions for a busy day...

Feed the whole family the same main meal!  Kids under 5 can get the
extra fats they need from whole milk yoghurts and cheese.

If you cannot resist things like crisps/chips and chocolate cookies,
don't keep them in the house!  Buy them in for celebrations...  Kids
don't *need* chocolate cookies and greasy snacks every day.  (I buy WW
snack bars fro me, and DS has his own jar of after school snacks, but I
restrict him to one or two items and fruit between shool and dinner.  He
eats school lunches and takes no breaktime snack)

Keep a large bowl of apples and oranges and other fruit in the house and
allow the kids free access up to an hour before every meal.  Track your
own snacking.  Also allow free access to tomatoes, carrots, celery,
whatever else on the zero point list floats you boat (or theirs!).  This
teaches them that fruit and veg are great snacks, and they won't learn
your former poor habits.  Everything you gobble out of the fru9it bowl
or vegetable basket counts towards your 5 recommended portions of fruit
& veg per day.  *Never worry about going over quota on the fruit and veg!

These were the things that made me find switching to WW easy.  It was
mostly just a return to good old fashioned childhood habits.  Chocolate
and cookies are fun, but they are expensive and they are treats, not a
necessary part of the diet.  For me, switching to low fat was necessary,
but the health of the whole family had benefitted.  Lower sugar options
(I *hate* sweetners!) like smaller slices of cake and fresh fruit salad
rather than sugar laden bought deserts were a great help to my Type 1
diabetic hubby too.  Also, my son is more likely to dig out an apple,
ask for a tomato, or have a slice of bread and olive low fat spread than
to scoff chocolate and Cheezy Wotzits by the ton!

Some additional things I find useful:

Keep a vat of zero point vegetable soups like carrot and coreander or
butternut squash on the fridge: if you realy feel the worm bite late at
night, have some!  Warm filling comfort food with no penalties and an
extra veg portion!  Virue in a soup mug!

Drink plenty!  Doesn't matter if it's plain cold water or has a
flavouring like squash or tea (so long as it's weak tea).  Very often we
have mis-programmed our bodies to ask for food when really we are
dehydrated.  Try hot water with a slice of lemon squeezed into it...

Never finish the kids left-overs because it would be a waste!  If you
do, it will be a waist - yours!  - that suffers!

Tasting as you cook means a teaspoonful or two during cooking to check
seasoning and progress, NOT a whole mouthful every time you take the lid
off the pot!  Likewise, get the kids to lick the spoons and bowls when
baking!  Have a single lick of raw cake mix just for fun and to join in,
but remember to point it - count it you chocolate treat for the day!  :)

1. Journal every day (www.fitday.com).
2. Find some exercise you enjoy, and can do for "the rest of your
life"

3. obsess - OK this works for me, but it may not be very healthy :)

4. Eat more protein (1gm/lb bodyweight)

5. never give up.

6. If you eat too much remember all you have done is eaten too much.
Get back OP and carry on - it's not the end of the world.

7. If you eat too much regularly then 6 doesn't apply  find out why
and change something.

8. your weight is corelated with the number of calories you eat. If
you eat fewer calories than you expend you WILL lose weight. It may be
slower or faster but you WILL lose weight.

9. be patient. It's taken years to get to where you are now. It's
going to take a while to reverse it, but it CAN be done however heavy
you are.

Ray

happy new year everyone

You've gotten some excellent advise from Lesanne and Ray. In addition to
their tips I'll suggest that you make small changes, one at a time. Only
make changes that you can live with for the rest of your life. Little
things like switching from whole milk to 2% to 1% gradually can make the
transition easier. Switching from regular soda to sugar free or seltzer
can make a difference in the calorie department. If you follow the WW
program and journal, drink your water, eat your fruits, veggies and
dairy there's not a lot of room left for junk. Look for heathly
alternatives for snacking. All of these put together will make a
difference in the long run. And remember this is not a race. Don't be in
a hurry to lose the weight. Be patient and it will come off.

I've really only got one, and if I don't follow it, I'm totally off
program--weigh, measure, and count everything.

--
Linda J

1. Do this for you and only you.
2. Only do things while you are losing that you can commit to for the rest
of your life.  If you do things while you are losing but quit them after you
reach goal you will undo the work you have done.  I lose slower than if I
exercised more but I am sure I will keep off what I have lost.  I do try
different exercises and expect I will find one eventually that I can commit
to, until then I have accepted slower losses in the knowledge I am not
setting myself up to fail by quitting a hated exercise when I get to goal.
3. if you tend toward perfectionism, find a way to be perfect that does not
involve food choices or being on points at all times.  For me it is being
totally obsessed by drinking my water and filling out my food journal.
4. Drink your water.  I hate water but am able to commit to it for the rest
of my life because I drink half my body weight in ounces each day.  This
means I am doubly rewarded by losing.  as I lose I am not only happy to have
lost but get to drink less water as I go.

sorry I don't have much more than that to offer.

Lee