It's forced me to cut down alcohol to one glass of red wine a night. I pretty much cut out all heavily processed bread/pasta/rice, although I still eat whole grains. And it makes it abundantly obvious that a little exercise goes a long way.
Anyway, just curious as to what others do to get/keep the weight off.
Eliminated daily consumption of sugar drinks, including juice. Many people don't realize how many calories are in the liquids they consume, and some people get a lot of calories from these liquids.
Count the calories is this person's daily liquid diet: 2 Large mocha coffee drinks, 3 sodas; 2 beers, 1 cocktail (or 1 milkshake if a teetoler). That adds up.
Eliminated most dairy products from regular diet. Whole milk products contain an insane amount of fat and are a deceptively dense source of hidden calories. Get milk, butter and cheese out of your house, and when eating out, say "no dairy". The calorie savings are enormous.
Eliminated regular consumption of processed grains: No "white" anything. Bread, pasta, rice, potatoes. Switch to whole grain only, and even then, watch the portions.
No dairy rule and no "white" rule, eliminates by default most of what we consider desert. So, deserts are a treat, not a daily diet item.
Made produce a "free" food. All you can eat!
Made animal products and processed oil a limited consumption item. Dole out in small bits only. For example: you can eat a bushel of lettuce if you want. You still only get 2 Tsp of dressing. And when we do eat meat, mostly it is salmon - not red meat.
Try to stay active as a regular part of every week, ever day if possible. Anything and everything from walking, hiking, biking, gym.
Improved diet after reading The China Study and Eat to Live. Was following some (about half-way to their ideal) of the recommendations to improve health. Side effect (not the goal) was dropping 20+lbs to my high school weight, and keeping it off - over 5 years now.
http://www.drfuhrman.com/
Basically, the China Study research indicates that no other diet comes close to a mostly vegan, mostly vegetable based source.
There are LOTS of diets that will help you lose weight. Most of them are not particular remarkable or that useful long-term. The key problem for many diets designed to lose weight rapidly is they are calorie restricted and very short of nutrients. If you stick with the diet for more than a short period, you become fed, but malnourished.
Atkins is a diet that has been blasted by nutritionists. It is really bad for you long-term. Too high in fat, saturated fat, and protein and too low in complex carbs, produce and nutrient deficient. Atkins long-term leads to clogged arteries, heart desease and cancer. But other than that, it's great.
Since dieting is HARD (they all are), wouldn't you want to expend the effort on a diet that is making positive changes for the long-term?
If you eat more healthy foods, over the long-term you will get sick less often and be less susceptable to "modern" diet caused disease (most cancer, heart disease, diabetes, etc.). As a side effect you lose weight.
Most of these rules are the same things "mom" has been saying for years. Or Jack Lalane.
People just don't want to hear the truth. They wanted a pill to swallow to make up for the fact they are eating empty calories with limited nutrients. They wanted to eat junk food and desert not just for special occaisions, but every day. They wanted to be able to skip their veggies. Unfortunately, there currently isn't any shortcut or pill or other solution. Eat healty, or have a higher risk of illness.
Skinny-fat is the worst thing to be. You have skinny arms, skinny legs, small shoulders and then a poochy pot-belly. It means you've gotten skinny by eating nothing but vegetables, not working out, and haven't built any muscle mass.