How to keep motivated

[cuntyMcCunterson]

I'm 5ft7 and weigh 13.8st so I've got about 3.5 stones to lose. I look and feel rubbish so at the beginning of the month decided I was making changes.
I've been sticking to 1200ish calories using my fitness pal for the past few weeks and today I done (did?!) my first exercise in a long long time (20min walk and a dvd).
I know I'm going to ache a bit tomorrow but need to do something as I cant exercise Friday or Saturday and possibly not Sunday due to a hospital procedure, I just feel like I'm failing already!
I really want to shift some weight before hols in September, how to I keep motivated?
I want to be skinny!

It's 90% diet and 10% exercise anyway so there is nothing you are doing which is failing.

I think motivation is better if your mindframe is you want to be healthy rather than 'skinny'.

What DVD are you doing? I've got some here and haven't made a start on any of them.

That's maybe where im going wrong, I'll try and think healthy not skinny.
Today's was the Charlotte Crosby belly blast, I've got the 30day shred too and I'm going to go back and try the couch25k again in a few weeks.
If It can get me running it will be a miracle!

Yep, ditch the exercise. I lost over 50lbs without a single minute of aerobic exercise (other than walking a fair bit)

(Started running after I lost that weight and bloody love it but at the time it was not for me and it made not a whit of difference to the amount I lost)

I've got the 30 day Shred too. Maybe one of these days it will make it's way into the DVD player

I'm going try and keep up some form of exercise as DH is a regular gym goer. It's good to know that exercise isn't the be all and end all to losing weight though.

Hello there!
Total noob here. Where do I start? I'll be 49 in March, I'm 5' 4" been a bit overweight most of my life. I was athletic once, for about a year in my early thirties, had a baby when I was 38 and due to the shock of this I was about 8.5 stone (54kg-ish) just after having my daughter. Then I gave up smoking completely and ballooned to 13.5st (85.7kg). I have been battling, winning, then losing with my weight ever since. I had some success with the Michael Mosely "5&2", though I did "4&3", last spring and went from 12st (76.6kg) to 10.5st (66.5kg) in about 3 months. I wear a fit2 watch now I got free with my last mobile contract and walk every day with my dog Jake. I average 20k steps a day. However, my weight did creep up a bit as I can really love my food, then at the tail end of last year my dog tore his tendon and was banned from all walks except for toilet trips while he healed, (5 mins, on lead, 3 x a day!00), and, ironically, I slipped a disc and after an MRI it looked as though I was heading for a spinal surgery but, thankfully, I was put in contact with a marvellous chiropractor who rescued me but I was also reduced to being sedentary for months. Both mutt and me are back on track with walking again and I started dieting 2nd week in January when I was 12.5st (79.6kg). I have managed to get down to 11st 5lb (72.5kg) but it's been slowing down and my daughter, now 10, was off school on half term last week and I found it impossible to fast and make lunch for her, so I tried My Fitness Pal while she was off and it wasn't terrible. I lost 2lb. Fasting does make me irritable on diet days, (My daughter calls me "Hangry"!) and I think I'm finding MFP easier than fasting but want to reach out to other users for motivation, tips etc. Questions. Should I go Premium? If you are using MFP do you input all your cardio? It bumps my calorie intake by 700kcals for 2 x 90 min walks. Does eating all those added calories stunt your weight loss much? Using MFP with friends can be a real motivator. How do I add/find friends? (sniff).