As I keep being asked how I lost weight a couple of years ago (about 65 pounds, thank you for asking), I thought i'd record it here for easy reference. Depending on what you eat, my recipe for losing weight (whilst unemployed, which is much easier), was:
1) Eat breakfast. Some people find it increases their metbolism and makes you use calories quicker through the day, but that's debatable. What it will do for sure is give you that boost in energy when you need it, to get you more active. Sugar, fats, carbs, all fine in moderation here. I used to have just a couple of slices of toast and jam.
2) Resist snacking. Don't eat anything more until your main meal. If you absolutely cannot manage your hunger until then, have an apple, which use up about as many calories in eating and digesting as you gain from them. Before allowing yourself anything other than planned, have a pint of water (or something else sugar free) a lot of the time when we think we're hungry we're actually just thirsty. Don't drink diet drinks containing aspartame, as that has been found to have the effect of actually making you more hungry.
3) Eat your main meal as lunch. Double the amount of protein you would normally eat (e.g. a slab of meat about the size of the end of your fist, x2), add vegetables, increase in size until you feel full after it, don't deprive yourself. Cut back on carbohydrates (potatoes, pasta,rice), especially if you have a sweet tooth. If you can cope, cut them out altogether of your main meal, and then you can still allow yourself some as dessert.
4) Do eat dessert if you want it, but again keep carbs to a minimum: I found chocolate to be more satisfying, and overall much less calorific than bread/cake/biscuit. One snack size mars bar is the calrie equivalent of just three biscuits: I know which I'd rather have.
5) If you get hungry again before the evening you can allow yourself a high protein soup.
6) Do not have another meal until supper. Try and avoid sugar, but have a large bowl of high-fibre cereal (bran flakes, special K, porridge) with low fat milk. You might also want to have a cocoa (not a drinking chocolate) or a decaffeinated coffee with it. The cereal will help you stop feeling hungry overnight, and the milk will help to flush fats from your body.
7) Exercise if you feel like it, certainly won't hurt (and it would make you healthier), but don't make it your focus. We lose calories just by existing, it's much easier to just not eat a slice of bread than exercise for an hour.
8) Drink lots of water. Your body needs water to work properly, and you're going to be making it work harder than normal in using fat for energy, instead of using carbs. Give it a hand or it'll lie to you and tell you you're just hungry.
9) Be prepared to be hungry, especially at first. Your body is probably used to more calories than it needs, so it will complain. Ignore hunger, it's a lie. Eat when you're tired, not when your stomach rumbles.
10) If you're weighing yourself, remember the work you're doing to lose weight (and gain it, when that's the case) takes a while to show. The weight change this week is down to what you ate last week. Anything else is meaningless. And don't try and lose weight too fast, aim for about 2lbs a week, much more than that and it won't stay off.
Hope that all helps, and good luck!
