Get Lighter!
I can remember waking up on my 39th birthday and thinking "I do not want to wake up on my 40th birthday still weighing 292 pounds." I had been heavy all my life--over 200 pounds during my teen years, and steadily up the scale thereafter. I had tried dozens of diets, including the liquid protein diet, which was popular then. I did lose about 30 pounds drinking the ugly tasting stuff, but gained it all back after I stopped the diet, plus more. It seemed an impossible task to get down to even the heavy end of the weight scale for my height.
The very next week, I started on a diet through a weight loss clinic. I lost 130 pounds by my 40th birthday, and have kept most of it off for more than twenty years.
I lost the equivalent of a whole person, and learned a lot in that year, about food, about myself, and about other people. I know what works and what doesn't.
What Works
Lose weight because you want to, not because someone else thinks you should.
Eat a good breakfast. It really helps!
Number One secret of weight loss? Keep track of what you eat. Boring, yes, but a recent study shows that people who keep a food journal, even a simple one, lose twice as much weight as those who don't write down what they eat. Download Think You Can's food journal--folds up to fit easily in pocket or purse. Get Lighter Food Journal Weigh yourself regularly. Write that down, too.
Get rid of your "fat clothes" as soon as they don't fit.
Hire a coach to help keep you on track.
What Doesn't Work
Thinking that if you eat one wrong thing that day, what the heck, it's down the tubes anyway--and have a big bowl of ice cream.
Not planning meals ahead.
Keeping the fact that you're trying to eat healthier a secret. Enlist a friend or your mate.
Obsessing about the whole thing. Relax. Be patient with your body.
TIP: BE PREPARED. Know what you are going to eat, and pay attention to what you put in your mouth! Planning for snacks is a great idea, because it keeps you from getting too hungry and just grabbing something.