1. TRACK YOUR INTAKE!  You must know with certainty what's going in.  You think you eat less calories than you do.  Grab a free app like www.myfitnesspal.com and start tracking.  It will ask you a couple simple questions to establish your goal and then you enter every single thing you eat each day.  You will quickly get an idea of which foods take up a large amount of calories.  (Hint: junk food is high in calories and low in nutrients and satisfaction!  It will leave you wanting more 30 min later!) One of my clients said , "Tracking your intake is like eating on a budget!  Your bank account is your calories and you get to choose how much you "withdraw" at each meal."  Great way of looking at it! 
2. GET YOUR SWEAT ON!  Yes you must work out.  Working out speeds up your metabolism so you burn more calories, it builds muscle tone (you don't want to lose all that weight only to have no muscle tone), and it prevents disease.  The key is find a workout you LOVE, and if it sounds daunting start with just 5 min of working out and increase it by 1 min each day until you are working out a full 30 min.  Shoot for 5 days a week and never let more than 3 days pass without a workout.  
3. CHANGE YOUR MIND - This is the hardest part and its entirely up to you.  For the longest time I had many clients who lose weight, gain some, lose some, gain some, and it would totally puzzle me.  Others would lose it all only to gain it all back.  You see that happen on the Biggest Loser TV show all the time.  There is that small percentage though who lost it all and kept it all off.  I started to wonder--what makes them different?  And I finally realized it ultimately it comes down to your mind.  They had a high level of self confidence and positive attitude.  You must start seeing yourself at your ideal weight.  Know that you deserve to be your goal weight. Love your body starting now.  Think of yourself at your ideal weight. People that gain the weight back often hate their body and think bad thoughts toward it and focus on the negative.  They look at every roll in the mirror and dwell on it.  Stop that at once--instead think only of the positive.  Write a statement something like this and read it EVERY day, "I am so happy and grateful that I wear a size _____ and weigh _____."  Fill in the blanks with your ideal goals.  And then get your emotions involved with that.  Buy a dress in that size and think about how AMAZING you are going to look in it. Don't focus on the time it will take.  Keep following steps 1 & 2 and the weight will come off. Never let your mind wander into self-hating thoughts.  Always think of the positive and begin to see yourself only as you want to be.  You deserve it!  Conquer your mind!  It is a discipline but with daily repetition and practice you can do it!

Today as I was grabbing my workout clothes for the day I went to the wild side...... 😜 I'm wearing this partly because I haven't yet hung up my clean "sane" looking clothes that are at the bottom of a hamper (true story) 😉 but also crazy as it looks it matches how I feel today! I am happy, joyful, full of life, pumped up, feeling great, and ready to get my workout on! Not sure why I even own these crazy clothes but I do know for SURE that I will NOT be forgetting to workout today! This outfit is a "guaranteed – to – get – your – workout – on" kind of outfit! All I have to do is look down for an instant reminder! And I definitely won't be leaving the house in these clothes....and I'm not changing clothes till they are covered in sweat so it's on! What's your workout today??