Claude and I are losing weight just by eating healthy foods, and tracking what we eat at the website SparkPeople. It's an amazing free site that lets you track your goals, what you eat, when you exercise.

It shows how many calories, grams of fat, and grams of protein you need in a day (to maintain your weight OR to reach a specific goal that you've entered). You also have the option to track any other nutrients you want. I've added fibre to my list to make sure I get enough daily. The site has a huge database of foods and their nutritional info and it totals the foods as you add them so you can see if you're eating enough, too much, or the right amount, and if your calories are balanced.

I've found it extremely helpful to take a few minutes each morning and plan my day in advance. That way I know what to eat and when (spread out nicely throughout the day). If I eat something not planned, I can add it and adjust. That way the calories/fat grams don't sneak up on me and I don't get hungry throughout the day,

You can also track your exercise, but I haven't gotten there yet. There are drillions of recipes, articles, blogs, etc. to inform and motivate.

Anyhow, I've been very impressed with the site, and I highly recommend checking it out. Good luck with whatever you do!

I'm trying to cut out sugar and limit wheat items like bread.

I did lose about 14 lbs last year. I had a visit with a nutritionist at our hospital, and she told me how many calories she thought I could consume and lose weight (based on my age, activity level, etc.). She gave me a little book of calories, and I kept a journal of calories consumed, and it worked. I've packed some on over the holidays--and then Girl Scout cookies came along--but I'm trying to go back down. Those G.S. cookies are sold just as people are trying to dump the holiday pounds--bad timing, but that didn't stop me from consuming them.

Our local hospital has a nutrition program with free classes and free counseling. If you have a major hospital near you, you might call them. Ours also does diabetic classes. It's all free and a wonderful asset to our community. We just attended the diabetic class last night for DH who is newly diagnosed.

I am a big believer in Weight Watchers if you want to join a group. Good luck to you!

Tracking every bite. every bite is key. really.
what a wake up call. Portion size too. Real portion
size, measure and weigh. Portion sizes for Americans
will look so small compared to what most are used to.
Especially from restaurants.

It's no secret that I've been doing Weight Watchers.
Lost 125lbs. But have gained back 17 with chemo.
boohoo! lol

I needed accountability. Needed to report in to someone
other than myself. I'm not good at independent study!
LOL

good luck!

spark people is great. You can find groups, I found
a Washington group. They get together and exercise,
walk and support. I haven't been to one of the
meetings though... too much other stuff going on

hungrygirl . com for great recipes and ideas

weightwatchers . com for recipes

fatsecret . com I heard that was a really good tool too

I've been TRYING; been eating more fruits/vegetables and only whole grains. I've been walking between 2 & 3 miles a day. NOTHING, NADA, ZIP weight lost. I am so frustrated at this point I just may sit down with a bag of cheetohs and a pile of snickers. :(

i realize somewhere, somehow, I am taking in to many calories and not burning enough off. I think the food journal is in order!!!

I find the best way for me to lose weight is to eat three healthy meals a day and nothing in between meals. If i do that faithfully, I can usually keep it under control. Fortunately I've never had to lose a lot of weight. It must be very difficult.

Am I dieting? PERPETUALLY! I keep losing and regaining the same 15 pounds...ugh!

kat___wa is correct...tracking every bite is a key.

Another website that is quite helpful is MyFoodDiary.com. I've been a member for 2 years. You can enter your frequently eaten foods into a "refrigerator", and that makes logging quite easy. There is also a section on logging exercise, weight, body measurements, etc... The forums are very informative, also. The only downside is that it costs $9.00 per month, but it really is an incredible diet resource. I've heard of sparkpeople, but have not checked it out. Hungrygirl.com is great, too. Sign up for her emails!

Here is a link that might be useful: My Food Diary

I've lost 20.2 pounds in the last 2 months. I don't eat that much and I exercise a whole lot. That's the only thing that works. I space out my calories - breakfast, snack,lunch,snack, dinner and I always have a glass of soy milk at bedtime.

Started a diet on Monday, attempting to eat around 1500 cals day and exercise. I track every bite, which is a pain, but the only way to really know what you eat. I also exercise every day. I walk the dogs 3-4 miles and am doing slim in 6 with Debbie Siebers video. Man, that is hard. The last two days I have done 800 exercise calories a day.

My hormones have been really out of control lately. I will be 51 in May and am "perimenopausal" which I guess means kinda menopausal. But the cravings for starchy foods this past year have really increased and I have gained about 20#. Thank goodness I like to exercise and now just have to discipline myself to stick to tracking which has really helped me in the past.

Last year I lost 15 pounds (of the 20 I wanted to lose). I started out 2009 at Weight Watchers and got to know their system, found a few things I liked to eat (WW and other brands), figured out the points and just ate that and drank Slim Fast each day. I also started hiking and I did cheat on the weekends.

Everything was going good until the holidays and rain hit (no hiking). It didn't help that Slim Fast recalled their product. I put about half the weight back on. I've started again now that the weather is nicer. After three months, Slim Fast finally brought back their product but the new formula is just horrid. The generic brands taste fine but leave me hungry in no time.

I'm now back to carefully counting WW points and hiking. Hopefully I will take all of the weight off by mid-summer and start feeling good again.

I think the trick is to not get discouraged when you cheat. Tomorrow is a new day to start fresh.

The one thing last year's weight loss proved to me is that at 56, my metabolism has not shut down like previously believed and I can lose weight if I stick with it. And that's very encouraging.

Jodi-

I started The Flat Belly diet on Monday but have been less than strict for two of the days....and I still lost a pound.
I exercise for at least 30 minutes a day six days a week and usually so an hour four of those days.
I think I would have lost more but eating corned beef and cabbage one night followed by Reuben sandwiches last night didn't help. One of the features of FBD is really low sodium.
I think not only changing my eating patterns on a permanent basis in addition to consistent aerobic exercise will be the key in long term weight loss.
I know I can do it!

Oh yeah, Jodi's post reminded me....

We have decided to consider Saturday an "off" day for now, and we're finding that HUGELY helpful. We need that for the time being at least, while we get used to the new way of eating. We can have treatier foods, but only on that one day a week, so we're not indulging too often. And we don't go overboard on the Saturdays to set ourselves back too much.

I find tracking foods at SparkPeople.com so useful and easy.

It's working for us so far.

My entire life has been a constant diet and exercise.

I just try to watch what I eat - little red meat, no fried foods, no diet sodas, no white bread or white pasta.

Are you dieting? Always.

I am on a candida diet right now which bans sugar, sweeteners, yeast, breads, vinegar, most fruits. It's very hard to follow and with a recent change in my thyroid medicine I've actually gained 10 lbs!!

The last diet I went on I lost 22 lbs., it was the "Bread For Life" diet. You eat lots of breads and vegetables as well as some meat. I may try that again but substitute sugar-free tortillas (candida diet friendly) for the bread.

Low carb and/or low calorie use to work for me... not so much anymore with my thyroid issues.

Another vote for SparkPeople. Tracking my intake (and my exercise) really helped me lose weight last year.
There's lots of great information and helpful tools - and it is free.

Definitely keep a food journal and see how many calories, carbs, and fat you're taking in every day. It can be a real surprise.

Most people take in a lot more than they burn.

I've been watching carbs because of my diabetes and have lost some weight with that.

I lost 47# last year during chemo,and after i went on Aromasin.The aromasin seemed to be what was helping the weight come off,but the SE'S were so bad i couldn't tolerate it,so the onc switched me to another medicine and i gained back 7 of the 47 that i lost.I weigh myself every morning so i don't continue to gain,i hope!!
Kathi

I don't really diet any more but I do pay pretty close attention to what I eat. I watch my weight closely and if I creep up more than 4-5 lbs I make sure I lose it before things get out of control. When I got an iPhone I got an app for tracking exercise and what I eat. This was really enlightening and I think important as others have said. The app I use shows how many calories you can have based on age, weight, exercise, etc. I was amazed at how little you can eat if you don't want to gain weight. I mean you really have to stick to a healthy diet and control portion size. Fortunately I eat pretty healthy to start with or I'd be doomed. I find exercise is becoming more and more important to my weight control which is of course no surprise.

Scales, today, at gym, said MINUS TEN POUNDS!

Will weigh in on MOnday and see.!

We changed our way of eating when Wegman's opened up last fall. They have so much fresh food, and fresh meats that I stopped buying frozen anything (except ice cream)
The only canned goods in the closet are tomato puree and cranberry sauce(we eat a lot of turkey).
I have an herb garden, and buy other herbs fresh.

We cut out a lot of soda, and mostly drink coffee, tea or water.

Don't count calories, just keep carbs down (no bread or open face sandwiches, for example), make sure to eat enough fat and proteins to balance carb intake.

We've both lost weight, very slowly but surely....but feel better than in years.

It's not just a crash diet...we've changed our way of eating, for the better.