I have been lurking for a long time and thought it is now time to speak!
My weight has gone up and down over the years. About 20 years ago I got down to a perfect weight but then it crept up again over time to by the far the heaviest I had ever been - a BMI of 33.5. Often I would try to diet and exercise but it would only ever last a couple of days. Then, about a year ago it suddenly clicked and I have no idea why - I was eating better and exercising regularly and the weight started to fall off. As I could see my weight falling that encouraged me to continue eating better and exercising regularly. Weeks turned into months and now, one year later, my BMI is down 25.9. Also, my blood pressure used to be at the top end of healthy but now it has fallen to perfectly healthy. The last few months have been a bit harder as I had to have a small operation (ironically probably caused by being overweight), and I put on a couple of kgs (need to learn from that), but the last 6 weeks I have been back on the regime and the weight is continuing to come off albeit a bit slower.
People have asked me what the magic solution has been and I say it's just the plain old eating less, exercising more. Simple. A solid breakfast, lunch, dinner with nothing extraneous. For lunch, at work, I'll have a sandwich or salad bowl and fruit or yoghurt, whereas before it would be sandwich, yoghurt, fruit, crisps plus a chocolate bar mid-afternoon. My target calories a day have been the bottom end of the recommended calories of the NHS calculator. If I want a snack in between meals it's fruit or nuts. Sometimes I'll eat something I shouldn't but the next day I'll just go back to the (new) normal eating habit. I don't try and make up for yesterday as I feel that is doomed to failure. Sometimes I'll have a takeaway, perhaps every other week - in the full knowledge it has blown that day's calories - but it'll be a nice treat and then the next day I'll be back to normal.
I'm hoping to reach a BMI of 25.0 - just about in the healthy range - by Christmas although it's going to be close. From there I'm not sure what my final target is going to be - probably the middle of the NHS calculator's "healthy weight" - but we'll see how it goes. I feel I've got the momentum now and hope, once I'm there, it'll be easier to motivate myself to stay within that healthy range. It's nice now to be taking 20 year old clothes and finding they have magically got bigger! 
Sorry, it's a bit long but maybe someone new to this might help find it motivational!
Nigel
Hungry!! Any tips?
Feeling Rebellious 
Eating more
