YES, i need to diet, but starting is the hardest part.

I know that I need to diet, but do not know WHERE to begin. I enjoy exercise and try to incorporate some form of activity into my daily routine. What I do not know how to do is regulate the amount of food i eat. I used to know how to enjoy my food, eating whatever I wanted slowly and until I felt perfectly satisfied. Lately, however, i have been eating mindlessly and stuffing myself until I feel sick. I want to stop this unhealthy cycle and get into a healthy routine, but WHERE DO I START? I have spend a decent amount of time practicing unhealthy habits: how do I dispose of these habits and start appreciating food again?  

One day at a time.  I set mini-goals for myself every morning such as I will eat a healthy breakfast, I will not order nachos at the restaurant...ect.  I find setting small goals has really helped me reach my bigger goals.  I had to stop the "I'll start tomorrow" mentality.  Your first step is your next meal!  You CAN do it.  Consistency will bring you the changes you want. 

It helps me to ditch the "on a diet" semantics for improving my lifestyle semantics.  Even though we all have a "diet" it has come to mean "overly restrictive radically calorie reduced purgatory" to many of us who struggle with obesity.

A healthy lifestyle includes adequate exercise (yeah -- you already have that nailed!) and reasonable quantities of food with adequate nutrtition for good health.

Back in January I identified the 2 biggest problems in my lifestyle, insufficient exercise and exessive portion sizes of pretty healthy foods.  I made a commitment to start moving more and eating less, and that has progressed to (now) exercising at least lightly every day and eating a balanced diet of about 1800 calories per day (for a 500 calorie deficit).  But I did it one step at a time, and have given myself lots of time to succeed (my goal weight is at least 1 year in the future).

What is the one step that you can take now (not tomorrow) to improve your relationship with food?  Do that, allow yourself to get used to it for as long as it takes, then take the next step.  Try to enjoy the journey.  Try to let go of the mistakes from yesterday.  Use all the tools here at CC.  Set reasonable goals.  Love yourself.  Good luck!

I would like to start by eating 1 meal for bfast, lunch, and dinner: having 1 serving of foods instead of 3 or 4 servings of that food. I want to enjoy this food, eat it slowly, and feel it fueling my body. eating too much often has a negative affect and can slow me down rather than energizing me. 

When i was living in argentina for 5 months i really learned how to relax, slow down, and appreciate life. I appreciated the food i ate, the walks i went on, the nap i would take, social hours etc. After being back in the states for a full year i have slowly fallen back into american habits. I constantly feel rushed and stressed and rarely stop to realize how lucky I am. 

The one thing that really helps me is throwing away some of the bad/temping  foods in my fridge and pantry, so that I no longer have them around to eat. Then I go to the store and get a bunch of healthy groceries: a bag of frozen chicken breasts, green beans, asparagus, tuna, long grain wild rice, low cal salad dressing, maybe a rotisserie chicken, low cal fruits, whole wheat bread, low cal wraps, etc...

That really helps jump start everything for me because I can't wait to get started and cook a good meal for myself.

Also, once you do get started try to plan meals out a day ahead, or at least get an idea of what you might want, so that you aren't rushing around trying to throw something together.

I would recommend doing no changes for a week and instead keep track of your calories -- what you ate & when and also keep track of why you ate it.  Were you actually hungry or bored or it tasted good and you wanted more?  Then you'll be able to identify where your excess calories are coming from and it will feel less overwhelming because you can concentrate first on, say not eating while bored and then eating smaller portions, etc.

Good luck!