I need help

Your body develops a "strategy" for starvation. It goes into a elf preservation mode which robs you of energy and doesnt make you thinner, just more frustrated and depressed.

Ive been trying a trick. ALter your food input from day to day but never go above a reasonable caloric limit for your activity. Then say every other,,or every third day, go into a low intake mode coupled with more rigorous exercise.
!Never eat after a fixed time, like 6 or 7 PM.

2ASty away from all sugar water drinks

3 Reduce , then stop your intake of foods with High Fructose Corn Syrup since this stuff goes right into the blood stream without any digestion.

In addition to farmerman's suggestions it would help if you exercise regularly
for at least 30 - 60 minutes.

Atkins Diet allows you to eat as much as you want, whenever you want, and works for EVERYONE who doesn't cheat. Exercise is optional, but the more you do, the more carbs you'll be able to eat while still losing (then maintaining) weight. Click below for a summary.
http://www.lowcarbiseasy.com/dietplans.htm

Ok, i was over weight and through hard work I have shed 1 stone in 7 weeks .. not bad for someone who was in a wheelchair 2 years ago ... I know this method wont suit everyone, but if you try it please consult your doctor first. I mix 2 tsbs of Cider Vinegar with a glass of water. Take this every day and sip don't Gulp it down, also make sure you don't take Apple Cider Vinegar on an Empty stomach.

Eat sensibly, and exercise regular and the weight will come off, the way to keep weight off is to lose it slowly. that way your weight is controlled more.

People always say that they crave sweet food when trying to lose weight, then give your body what it wants, what is 1 desert going to do??? as long as you work it off the next day what harm has it done, but don't get into the habit of wanting more sweet stuff, one now and then helps.

Anyway good luck with the weight loss, i'm hoping to lose another stone before christmas using this method.

Buffy

Lean meat, skinless chicken, fish.
Lots of fruit and vegetables.
Exercise.

Nothing fancy, no gimmicks.

thanks for everyones help I'll try your ideas

I cut out all desserts, every one. I eat normal meals, but no between meal snacks and no desserts. It was only good for a pound or two a month, but that was 25 pounds ago.

I'll be back (my husband wants to use the PC soon) but I've lost over 165 lbs. in a little less than 2 years. You can do this but you do need to be committed to doing your best -- and don't dwell on failures (they are inevitable, and they do not make you a bad person), just get back to it if you overeat one day or don't exercise or whatever.

You can do this.

For me, portion control was very hard. If I didn't start, I was fine, but one bite and I was ravenous. That's why I cut all desserts. I found I was never really hungry for dessert, it was just a treat after meals, but if I didn't take that first bite, I really didn't miss it. Of course, it's hard to walk away from donuts at work, pastries at training sessions and my wife's frequent home cooked desserts for the kids, but it gets easier with time.

I don't eat much dessert, but I eat some once in a while, ice cream once every three months, for example. About six months ago I made brownies with lots of a couple of kinds of nuts, packaged them individually and froze them - took me about six weeks to eat a dozen. I didn't scarf them all down immediately since I've gotten so away from desserts that I don't get into that craving mode like I used to.. Similarly I can keep a good chocolate bar around for two weeks, eating it square by square - I buy two chocolate bars maybe every six weeks.

I do drink wine or spirits more days than not, usually not to excess - there are good and bad aspects to this, among the worrisome being 'hidden' calories.

I don't eat as much meat as I used to - by far - and try to eat more fish. For example, today I'm making fish/potato/egg/crumb/spice patties and will cook and freeze them. Today's patties will use tinned sardines and a bit of tuna but I sometimes use leftover baked fish such as tilapia.

For snacks I usually eat nuts that I've oven toasted with a small amount of olive oil and spices, or olives with garlic when I've some in the refrigerator - but mostly I don't snack much for days on end..

I make a lot of soups, always vegetable filled, often with some small amount of meat or fish, virtually always with some pasta or potato (sweet or regular potato), or my new interest, barley. I'm fooling around with some dishes made primarily from greens, such as saag paneer made with spinach, or sauteed swiss chard.

Salads are good, and I'm getting back into them, even in winter. Watch out re amount of dressing, if you use it.

Portion control has come naturally - not overdoing it tends to let your stomach not want to get all stuffed. I eat more slowly than I used to, and I think that helps too. Over time, I've made a general shift towards vegetables, having started out as a teen pretty much avoiding them... and now some of my favorite dishes are vegetable dishes from regional cuisines. Plus, some vegetable dishes like saag paneer have many spices in them that are good for you - besides tasting good.

You see that I think cooking yourself brings a lot of ability to control what you eat - but few can do that all the time. Restaurants can be a threat to weight control especially if you eat out all the time - but even there you can make good choices. One calorie filled restaurant meal in several months can be a treat as long as you eat sanely the rest of the time, but a habit of them, uh oh.

Exercise is good for many reasons, including burning calories - for sense of well-being, and many other health aspects.

Jespah, who posted earlier and will be back, has a great understanding of what percentages of your diet should be made up of what components and in what amounts depending on your circumstances - in order to lose weight and maintain the loss without going into starvation mode, and so does Mac11.

I've lost forty pounds over a few years and have kept it off - all quite gradually. My main interest now is getting proper nutrition from what I do eat - so even though I'm no longer trying to lose weight I'm interested in getting enough vitamins and minerals from the food I eat.

Thanks, osso.

This'll be long, sorry.

Okay -- #s.

1 pound = 3500 calories. How many calories do you need in a day? For that you need a BMR Calculator. For example, I am a 47 year old female, 5'6", weighing just about 179. My BMR (this is the # of calories my body burns every day, just undergoing the business of living and NOT exercising) is: 1522.95.

I walk almost every day and go to a gym three times/week. Today, for example, I've burned 1088 calories (according to www.sparkpeople.com). I'm going to eat right around 1800 calories today.

1800 - 1500 (let's just round the BMR #, okay?) = I'm eating 300 calories above what I need to maintain. BUT, I've also burned 1000 calories today.

Hence I'm at a 700 calorie deficit. Do 5 of those per week and, in theory, I lose 1 lb. in a week.

But wait a second! It doesn't always work that way.

Why would I possibly lose less, or not at all, or even gain? Here are a few reasons:
* I underestimated my portions. Portion control or at least portion knowledge is important.
* I failed to record/take into account something I ate. Hence food journaling is important.
* I ate too much salt, so I retained water, which weighs more than nothing. You should intake no more than about 2400 mg of sodium/day. This isn't even a diet recommendation; it's to keep your blood pressure good.
* I didn't drink enough water. Yes, you get water from your food, but drinking water (and the old rule of eight 8-ounce glasses/day is a pretty good one. Personally, I drink ten of those glasses these days) is helpful because (a) it gives you a feeling of fullness and (b) it replaces higher calorie beverages. So, drink water.
* I overestimated my exercise length and/or intensity. Hence exercise journaling is key.
* Something else happened. I'm premenopausal; I don't have to tell you what happens to me every month. Despite my best efforts, there are just some weeks where, hormonally, I just don't/can't lose.
* I have a medical condition that is somehow preventing weight loss. I actually do; I have hypothyroidism. But I've been taking hormone replacement therapy for it for years. I don't blame it for my initial weight gain but it can, at times, make it harder to lose. If I go for several months without weight loss, even though I'm doing what I'm supposed to, I'll call my doctor as sometimes my meds have to be increased. But this is not a common thing.

Why would I possibly lose more than a pound in one week? Here are a few reasons:
* The tail end of "that time of the month" can (without getting too graphic) bring on a lot of, er, release of fluids. 'Nuff said.
* I might have exercised more than I'd recorded. BUT I caution you to not work yourself to death (it's not efficient anyway; you hit diminishing returns). Seriously, you can lose weight doing no more than 2 hours/day of exercise, and often less than that. But the bottom line is, if you're spending an entire 4-hour morning in the gym, it's overkill.
* I might've eaten less BUT not so little that I'm starving myself. A deficit of 700 calories/day is perfectly safe. A deficit of 3500 calories/day is hazardous. What's a happy medium? Hard to say exactly what it is but generally a consistent loss of 1 to 2 lbs./week is perfectly fine. That number can and will fluctuate; I'm talking about an average here.
* I'm taking a weight loss medication. I actually did (I've finished it). It's called alli but it is absolutely NOT for everyone. However, even on alli, I've never lost more than I think 8 lbs. in a week (that happened once, and once I lost seven). My average weekly weight loss on alli is something like 2 lbs./week but for the first six months or so it was closer to an average of 3 lbs./week. Your mileage will vary if you decide to go this route.
* Something else. There are diseases (you don't want them; it's stuff like cancer) where one of the symptoms is unexplained weight loss. This is not a cause for a celebration.
* Something I'm not thinking of.

PROPORTIONS

Eating less is one thing, but 1800 calories of potato chips is not going to help you lose weight as you will not be getting proper nutrition. Aim for proportions somewhat like this:
about 45% carbs tied together with fiber (you want the fiber; it keeps you feeling fuller longer)
about 40 - 45% protein
about 10 - 15% fats (and within this %, about 3/4 should be either monounsaturated or polyunsaturated fats).

What do those proportions mean? A few guidelines:
* You eat out a lot less (although you're not totally deprived of it)
* You cook a lot more
* You eat from a plate divided into, more or less, 1/2 fruits and vegetables, 1/4 starch (like potatoes - nope, they don't count as a vegetable) and 1/4 protein, and the fat you get is partly included in the protein and fruit/veg, plus maybe a SMALL amount added (such as a tablespoon of parmesan or a couple of tablespoons of salad dressing).
* With the water you're drinking (see above, plus you need water to metabolize all that fiber), you generally don't have a beer or soda to accompany your meal. You have water or, perhaps, skim milk (calcium).

And, to add, eat slowly and be patient. Rome was not built in a day, and the same is true of weight loss. Do your best and be honest with yourself about your efforts.

I hope this helps.

I have lost 14 pounds in five weeks on my a 1600 calorie diebetic diet. Although I'm not diabetic it works very well. (it was suggested by my MD)
I have been a sweet addict and always had candy and pastry in the house. Now I find that with my current diet --lots of vegetables and fruit, whole grains and lean meats and fish--I always get enough to eat, my blood sugar is not bouncing wildly up and down, and and i don't get the attacks of sugar-craving that I used to get.

I'm also walking 25-60 minutes a day and I bought a food scale so I know exactly how much I'm eating.

Obesity is big problem. So many diseases are come because of obesity like heart attack, stress, diabetes and etc. Everyone need to take precaution for keeping your self fit before obesity comes.
You can lose your weight by doing regular exercise and taking healthy diet like fruits and green vegetable daily.
Drink 8-10 glass of water daily and avoid junk and spicy in your diet.

Hey thanks for the tips.

I would try looking into a slow carb diet for a bit. I dropped 13 pounds without even trying... it was so easy and I was not ever hungry. I also ate more volume of food then ever since it was all nutrient dense.

Not eating much is not the best way to lose a weight. You need to eat healthy and and calorie free food. Calorie foods include sugary and oily food. Make a proper diet of day and follow atlist for 3 month, you will get best results.

God Bless America!

Ask yourself before eating: Am I hungry?