I watched a documentary on HBO recently called Weight of the Nation. It's acclaimed, and I agree, that it's the most comprehensive compilation of facts and tips about obesity that's been made. Some things I'm personally working on since seeing it:

1. Any calorie consumed in liquid is wasting your 'budget' - water, skim milk, and black coffee or unsweetened tea only. Even when you juice a fruit you're taking calories that could be spent filling your belly and consuming them for flavor. This adds to the overall calorie count to satisfy you. Your body treats liquid much different than it treats solids in terms of hunger response.

2. Take 2 adults of the same healthy weight with the same lifestyle. One of them has been that healthy weight for their whole adult life and the other was formerly obese and lost weight. The always healthy person can consume 2000 calories a day to maintain that weight as an example. The formerly obese person would need to consume only 1600 calories a day with the same lifestyle to maintain that weight. The metabolism works for the obese size INDEFINITELY. Your body never, according to a lot of research, 'resets' its metabolism. You can NEVER go back to eating like a healthy person who was never obese. This is much of the reason so many people rubberband their weight.

3. Take extremely small steps like not eating after 9, then 8, then 7, or not drinking soda during the week, then include the weekends in a separate step. Master the steps, then move to the next when you're comfortable with it and it has become a part of your regular, preferred lifestyle.

4. If you were to see what obese people's organs look like compared to healthy ones, you'd never look at a piece of fatty red meat off the pub menu the same way again.

You're going to need to be vigilant forever. Don't let that get you down or you will surely fail. I think that's probably the biggest hurdle to losing weight and keeping it off. You need to find a way to not be emotionally discouraged. I can't offer much along those lines in terms of internet opinion. You need to simply change how you do things and learn to love it. Don't let your guard down and don't lie to yourself. Pick goals you feel confident in obtaining and increase them when you're ready.

Good luck.