The Change

I have never been one to get up and just start doing crunches or go out for a walk. I've definitely never thought of carrot sticks or an apple as a snack. But we're changing that! Everyone has to start somewhere.

First, I suggest changing your habits slowly.
Change that comes on too suddenly has a tendency to be too much of a shock and can be overwhelming.
I also suggest changing your diet first, before changing your exercise routine. Eating healthy is the foundation to any weight loss program. Let's just say: if you eat like crap, you're going to feel like crap.

When I first started my diet, I went out and bought as much fruit and vegetables I could afford. I'm on a rather tight budget, so I thought that going on a diet was going to break my bank. To my surprise it actually wasn't that bad. I don't remember exactly what I bought or how much I spent, but it wasn't that bad. I bought things such as: bananas, apple, cucumber, spinach, and other such foods that can only be found in the produce section of the store.
I already had chicken breasts in my freezer, so I just stuck with that for my meats and didn't eat anything else.
I really suggest doing research, or looking at recipes, for losing weight and what to actually buy. (I will write on this later)
Try to stay away from fad diets, such as the 'Lose 10 lbs in 7 days', the '3 Day Military Diet', juice cleanses, and others. These are short term diets made for short term results. All of these types of diets generally lead to starvation  (which puts your body into hybernation mode slowing down your metabolism), vitamin deficiencies, and other such medical issues. Generally, after you finish these short term diets, you will gain all of the weight back in just a couple of days.

When I first started my diet, my weight fluctuated so bad because I didn't really know what was good or bad for me. I had never thought about what I put into my stomach before, or read labels. This was all completely new!
I was eating so many calories in a day, I don't even want to know how many!
Definitely count all of your calories! The app 'MyFitnessPal' has changed my life! It allows you to input any food and it will give you the nutritional value of anything. I have yet to eat anything that I couldn't find on this app. It sets daily goals for me and I try really hard not to exceed them.
To have successful, consistent weight loss, you're going to want to cut out or minimize the consumption of: fats, sodium, and sugar. Calories are not my personal, main concern because if I go over on my daily limit I can always burn them off at the gym. Because there is really no way of 'burning off' fats, sodium, and sugar, those are my personal concerns. Sodium will make you retain water, causing the lower belly pooch. Unrefined sugars and fat will cause you to gain weight. (I personally don't know exactly why, but I've noticed a considerable difference in my weight loss since cutting these out.)

The next fun part: adding exercise into your new routine.
At the beginning, after the diet wasn't doing enough for me, I went up to gym every day for 15 to 20 minutes. I have a gym at my apartment complex, so I was able to just walk right up and start exercising without having to go through the trouble of finding a gym and paying for a membership. If this is not available to you, I suggest working out at home. There are a lot of body weight exercises out there that you can do right from your living room!  (Eg. Squats, push ups, running in place, jumping jacks, etc.)
If working out everyday isn't your thing, I suggest working out 3-5 times a week at the least. No less than 3! If you really want results, you're going to have to work for them!
Even a 15 minute workout, 3 times a week is better than not working out at all.

This is what has worked for me and I really hope that it helps you. Even a little is great!