How to lose weight?

Eat fewer calories than you burn. Exercising allows you to burn more calories and thus you can eat a bit more. Don’t eat so few calories that you send your body into starvation.

That is the only way to lose weight. All other methods are a variety of this rule.

I lost about 12kg in a sahort amount of time when I started eating more regularly, and cut the inntake a bit.. I went from three slices of bread for breakfast to 1.5, and about the same reduction for other meals.
In addition I substituted sodas for water, and It a very easy to live with this change. I notice that I have more energy, no sugar craving and such. Best thing I ever did.

I had tried a lot of other diets and stuff like lo-carb before, but I found them very restricting in WHAT you eat… Now the focus is more on when and how I eat, witch I feel is a better way for me to look at it :)

Same answer it always is: eat less, exercise more.

I’ve tried lots of fad diets over the years, sometimes lost a lot of weight fast and then gained it back just as fast. I finaly came to learn that the only thing that works for me is the simplest (though admittedly, not always the easiest) of formulas: Fewer calories in + more calories out = weight loss. The tricks are to eat three meals a day, keep a calorie colunter book handy, weigh yourself only once or twice a week (not daily!), choose an exercise you like (I walk daily) and start it slow, don’t beat up on yourself if you fall off the wagon occasionally. Good luck!

Eat less, exercise more. Burn more calories than you consume. Blah blah blah. If it was that easy for everyone, no one would be overweight or be asking for weight loss advice. Gotta love the skinny person’s dieting advice.

For me, I need clear, but flexible guidelines to follow when dieting. If I don’t, I’ll quit within a week. I keep a journal of everything I eat and log my caloric intake. I normally plan my meals ahead of time, so I don’t end up with no spare calories come dinner time. I try to keep at 1200–1500 calories, with an average of 1300 daily. I also give myself a cheat day, usually Saturday, when I eat what I want, go out to dinner, etc. There are many studies indicating a weekly spike in caloric intake keeps your metabolism from slowing down, and in theory you could avoid hitting the dreadful plateau. It doesn’t slow down my weight loss and keeps me from going absolutely nuts.

The same old rules apply – drink PLENTY of water, cardio exercise, get enough sleep, avoid sugary drinks and fast food, more fruits and veggies, etc.

I normally do one miserable week of low carb before starting a new diet. Low carb works best for me, but I hate it. It does help get rid of any water weight I’m holding and serves as a jump-start to a low calorie diet.

The goal is to make it so it’s not a diet, but a lifestyle change. Needless to say, I haven’t figured that one out yet.

Don’t make it a diet; make it a lifestyle change. Here’s what works for me.

1. I quit eating processed food.
2. I started eating off a large salad plate, rather than a dinner plate.
3. I eat 3 meals a day, and at least 1 snack.

Avoiding processed foods eliminates empty calories.
Eating off a smaller plate is easy, instant portion control.
I don’t get hungry until I’m supposed to ie. close to meal time.

My idea of exercise is to spend less time in front of the computer or TV.

Of course, “Eat less, exercise more.” is the way to go. Here are other suggestions.

Get up from the table and move around. Do something physical.
Try wearing arm weights under your long sleeved shirt. Start with 200 grams and see if you can last all day. You’ll be amazed at the workout you’ll get.
Brush your teeth immediately after eating and leave a little toothpaste in your mouth. You’ll have fresh breath, the toothpaste will have a chance to whiten your teeth and you will be less inclined to snack.

What have you got against fruits and vegetables? Think of it this way. Instead of saying that you can’t eat things, think of it as things that you must eat first before eating anything else. If you are still craving food after eating fruits and vegetables and waiting a five minutes, then go ahead and eat the other stuff. The great thing about fruits and vegetables and water and soup is that they fill you up without piling on calories.

Eat less carbs and sugar. Try to move more. Eat oatmeal in the morning.

What does your nickname mean @Dunkeepcalm – i can’t wrap my head around it.

I second the reduced carbs and sugar—especially the sugar. Also increase your intake of fibre.

It seems to me that awareness is the key. At least, it is for me.

I haven’t gone on any sort of formal “diet” in the past year, but I have lost nearly 30 pounds. Diet programs don’t work for me, which is to say that I really don’t work with them; that sort of rigid discipline triggers all my rebellious impulses and I end up worse than before.

But if I pay attention, just make myself think about what I’m doing, I can stop myself from much of that idle eating-for-entertainment and curb those seemingly ungovernable impulses.

For instance, I’m not really hungry after dinner. I don’t need another meal. If snacking is a habit and doesn’t represent an actual need for food, I can change it. I can change what I snack on (carrots and not chips, celery and not cake), I can refrain from eating past a certain hour so I don’t go to sleep on a full stomach, and I can detach snacking from whatever my usual activities are. Making sure I have a supply of preferred snacks around (tempting myself less, buying grapes and not cookies, cottage cheese and not brie) is one kind of helpful environmental control.

I’ve also been conscious of how much I eat of what at mealtime: smaller helpings of meat, smaller helpings of starches, bigger helpings of vegetables—small changes that add up. Drinking more water is another beneficial practice.

One trick I’ve learned over the years for changing habits is to take advantage of a situation that arises naturally to interrupt my routine. When something interferes with my usual custom, I don’t have to go back to my former habit. The transition is already half made, and I have a choice of which way to go.

While I was on a road trip last summer, I had to get up early every day, and I didn’t have a refrigerator and cupboard full of food available every night. After returning home, I went back to my late night – late morning hours, but I had changed my eating habits for the better. I simply let the change stick.

In all these examples, reminding myself to pay attention to what I’m doing—to think about it and acknowledge it to myself—and not just mindlessly put things into my mouth has made a difference.

Do I really need another dish of chocolate fudge ice cream in my life? I have eaten lots of ice cream over the years, and I remember very well what it tastes like. This too will be a memory in ten minutes, and I won’t be better off. So I just don’t have it in the fridge in the first place.

I also go ahead and have a treat now and then. I just make sure I’m doing it consciously.

And I do not jabber about food or dieting all the time, to anybody, even to myself. That kind of talk may make you think you’re doing something, but it’s a substitute for action. Just do it and shut up, I say.

I have to add that I have not been able to include much exercise this past year because of problems with my back, an old foot injury, and several other medical matters. Yet with dietary changes alone, I have dropped two sizes and am still going.

Success becomes its own incentive.

Thanks guys :)
@zensky my name means not to keep calm FYI.

Filling up the full volume of the stomach with fiber.

Oh my…what dreadful advice I gave. Crazy how much things change in two years.

My advice was and still is exceptional, and deserved more than one GA. How little has changed in two years.

Hm, agree to disagree…

In some ways, eating healthful foods becomes easier as you go along. I have found that by avoiding foods high in fat content, regular milk is too rich for me and I can’t eat doughnuts. Similarly, by avoiding heavily sweetened foods, I now can eat only small portions at a time of cake and ice cream. Now if I can just think of a way of curbing my craving for carbs.