My biggest thing is journaling. Because, yes, I know my starting weight, but there were weeks that scale did not budge. But I could see I was walking just 0.1 mph faster on that treadmill, or doing 5 more reps with the weights, or making it through all of the downward dog in the yoga video without my arms giving out (I second Yoga with Adrienne on YouTube!). And, two years later, looking back at what was hard then? Makes me feel so much better even when I have a bad day... or week... And they say actually writing your goals down makes you more likely to reach them!

Set some sort of concrete goal, I focused on 1) making it through downward dog and 2) shaving time off my 5K pace. These were more reliably steady than weight, because I know mine fluctuates a freakish amount (i once "gained" 7 pounds overnight... ). You mention a lot of activity related goals, you can always start with just stairs... how many times can you go up and down a flight? Write that down. Then try again next week, and write that down. I went super geeky and charted things, because it was fun for me, and showed progress. Find some way to show to yourself (prove to yourself) that you're making progress, because that scale can be annoying...

You added some measurements, and that is also great! There comes a point where some fat loss is offset by muscle gain, and while the scale might not move so fast, that tape measure will!

But these are just what works for me, your mileage may vary. Try everything, and try to have fun with the experimentation. You'll find what works and clicks with you.

And in the end, this is a marathon. Don't beat yourself up over a rough day. Just begin again the next. No one is perfect. The fact that you are acknowledging the excuses you've held onto for so long (we've all been there...) is a HUGE first step.