>Surely I had earned an extra margarita. You can stop reading right there, that's the problem. You have to both eat well and exercise to lose weight. You don't

>Surely I had earned an extra margarita. You can stop reading right there, that's the problem. You have to both eat well and exercise to lose weight. You don't get to eat extra things just because you exercised. Focus on two things: First, portion control. I know it's wasteful for the environment but I get the single serving versions of (healthy) things (e.g. pre-sliced cheese, single cups of greek yogurt instead of the big tub, etc) so you know exactly how much you're eating. Get a kitchen scale and some measuring cups for everything else, the odds are excellent that you're a crappy estimator. And bring your lunch to work. Second, blocking out time in your day for exercise, even if you don't work that hard. It's important to put on your workout clothes and at least go through the motions until it's an ingrained habit (1-3 months in my case but ymmv). Once it's an ingrained habit it's much easier to keep going. I start to feel gross and unclean if I go more than three or four days without some kind of strenuous exercise. It's a lot of work and it's very difficult, but it's not complicated. With these two things I have lost 70 pounds and kept it off for seven years.