I cannot express how important it is to write down what you are eating for at least a few weeks. Also, find out how many calories you should be eating a day and don't go over that caloric intake. When you add up your cups of coffee, ketchup, salad dressings etc. you have no idea how many calories you are adding to your day. I always look on the nutritional info and look at calories. It does not matter low carb, low fat, whatever it is only the calories I am interested in because a calorie is a calorie PERIOD! There are many websites that will tell you how many calories foods are including when you go out to eat in restaurants. I have made it my priority to do this and it does work. Many people when they are young eat maybe 2000 calories per day. Well as we get older your metabolism slows down and you want to create a deficit so for example I am 50 yrs. old and eat about 1250 calories/day and when I exercise I might add on 500 because I never leave the gym unless I burn 500 calories. I may not even use all those extra calories but on that paricular day it is no big deal because I exercised hard and my body needs the fuel. There are so many ways to cut back. When ordering from fast food order a kids meal and you will save a ton of calories. I believe that is the biggest problem is people have no idea waht they are eating and even when they say I hardly eat anything well one hamburger and a milkshake could be your entire caloric intake for the day! Educate yourself on what you are eating, keep track and you will see the weight starting to come off. There is no diet out there to fix this problem. A calorie is a calorie and that is the bottom line. If you don't create a deficit then you will never get the weight off and to keep it off. Also, drink 0 calorie drinks. That in itself can help many people. I am so passionate about this obesity crises and I know I could gain weight extremely easily but at 50 years old and 5'6, 128 lbs. there is no way I am going to eat things that I have no idea how many calories or at least an idea of how many calories I am putting in my mouth. After awhile you automatically know what you can allow yourself and what you can't. The good thing is I can eat anything but just can't go over my calories so on a day I may crave sweets I will eat them but then other days I will feed my body with healthy low calorie foods like fruits, vegatables and low fat high protein foods i.e., turkey burgers, low sodium ham, etc. There are so many things to eat and never have to worry about being on a diet. The key is be aware of what you are eating. It is even now easier as items are prepackaged into 100 calorie packs which I keep in my car at all times so I never have to stop at a fast food restaurant if I am out. I can reach for a 100 cal. pack which will hold me over with some water until I am able to have the lunch I want to have. I am in control; not my hunger pains! I wish people would understand this is not rocket scientist material it is simple. The hardest part is going on the internet and finding out about how many calories you should take per day and even cut that down because I have found websites tend to list the caloric intake a bit high. As you get older your body does not need all those calories. Just enough to fuel it!
