I've put on 20 pounds in the 3.5 months since I quit smoking
And I needed to lose weight before that, so I seriously need to lose some weight now.
I started today. I'm not on any kind of diet or plan besides that of my own making. I figured I'd just cut calories and exercise. My main problem is that I don't seem to recognize when I'm full until I'm stuffed so I overeat.
Any suggestions? What's worked for you?
= new reply since forum marked as read
The Japanese have a great expression concerning healthy eating habits: Hara hachi bu. Hara hachi bu means “Eat until 80% full” (literally, stomach 80%). This is excellent advice and it’s pretty easy to follow this principle in Japan as proportions are generally much smaller than in places like the US. Using chopsticks also makes it easier to avoid shoveling food in and encourages a bit of a slower pace. This principle does not encourage wastefulness; it does not mean to leave 20% of your meal on the plate. In fact, it is bad form to leave food on your plate. In Japan, and in Asia in general, we usually order as a group and then take only what we need from the shared bounty in front of us. I have found — ironically perhaps — that if I stop eating before getting full I am more satisfied with the meal, I’m not sleepy after lunch or dinner, and I just generally feel much better.
http://www.askmen.com/sports/foodcourt_200/201_eating_well.html
Part of that success is a product of lifestyle. Japanese people tend to exercise more than we do, and part of it is due to diet. Not only do the Japanese eat healthier than North Americans do, their diet is made up of low-fat, high-carb and protein-rich foods that are loaded with all sorts of nutrients and antioxidants that our diets don’t come close to matching -- but they also eat less. The ancient Japanese proverb hara hachi bunme says it best: “Stop eating when you are 80% full.” So, while our society glorifies terms like “supersized” and “all you can eat,” in Japan, foods are eaten slowly and in smaller quantities. In order to eat like the Japanese, you'll have to understand that meals are appreciated as much for their excellent taste as they are for their beautiful presentation. Not surprisingly, the Japanese eat about three-quarters of the calories per day that Americans do.
Cutting calories and exercising have always worked for me, and they should for you. There are some very good ideas in this thread; I'd give them a shot.
One thing that might help is to eat more slowly. Drink lots of water too. Stay away from sodas; they're full of sugar and calories!
One other thing I always try to remember is that it went on slowly, and it should come off slowly too. A couple pounds a week is great.
Good luck!
Yeah, I got the drinks sorted out: water, black coffee, and unsweetened tea. That's it. I used to drink a ton of diet soda, but I gave that up a few weeks back. I hear they can make you crave sweets.
I went from 175 to 122 in a few short months. I just ate enough and while still hungry, after a half hour or so I wasn't anymore. The weight just fell off. I'm back up to my 130-135 range (healthy weight). The smoking thing is directly tied to the "need to do something with your mouth". I suggest you ask Jen for some suggestions on that one. 
you'll keep on keepin' on puttin' on the weight. 
I'm not kidding! I never weigh myself, because my scale isn't accurate. If my pants feel tight around the waist, butt, or thighs I know I should cut back on food a bit.
So, if you like to wear your overalls wear a belt while at home, or try on some less forgiving pants every few days, so you can feel the difference as you lose weight.
It's basically calorie counting plus exercise facilitated by free web tools (and smartphone apps) to make it easier to keep track. I never changed what I eat, just the quantities. I also found it helped my motivation to exercise; I knew, for instance, that if I could work in 30-60 minutes I'd be able to have some ice cream for dessert.
Prior to that I'd already pretty much trained myself to drink water rather than anything with many calories. That leaves a lot more room for, say, ice cream 
Another thing I found myself doing was craving variety. I'd eat just a little of this, just a little of that, and I felt like I was getting away with something...
A kitchen scale is really helpful. After about 6 weeks of logging everything, I developed a much better eye for assessing the likely number of calories of anything I was about to eat. I think most of our intuitions, aided and abetted by people trying to sell us more food than we need, are way out of whack. One "serving" is rarely what the typical American would take as one serving of anything!
Even the fact of logging everything both slows your eating (giving you more of a chance to feel "full" before eating too much) and interrupts the process of mindless eating that makes it all to easy to pack on the pounds. It's one thing to grab a bag of chips and go watch TV; it's another to go to the kitchen and get a plate, weigh out a serving of chips, and go watch TV. If you want more you really have to decide to get up and do all that again. I'll do that sometimes, but at least I'm doing it mindful of what I'm doing, rather than just shoving another handful of chips into my mouth!
... except to congratulate you on quitting!
I'm walking more, trying to eat healthier, no significant progress. But at least I'm not smoking.
Carbs increase your appetite, proteins and fat satiate it. So it's not just a matter of reducing calories - the types of calories you consume will make a difference in your willpower.
300 calories of pasta isn't the same as 300 calories of beans, eggs, peanut butter or meats.
I have the same ability to eat til I am gorged, instead of just slightly full. If you know you eat too much at the end of a meal, instead of fighting that tendency, plan for a giant salad or helping of other veggies you like, more than you can eat, and have it ready for the end of your meal. If you pig out on steamed spinach, you might feel uncomfortably full and stuffed, but you won't gain weight from it.
If crunchy chip things are your weakness, get a dehydrator and make veggie chips. I have a bunch of dehydrated salt and chili rubbed green beans, and they are good enough that my high school students munched through a quart of them one day when I put them out for a snack, and asked me to bring more the next day. This is in an age where kids complain if school lunches have vegetables, so that says a lot. Chili roasted chick peas are another great snack, high fiber and high protein. Kale chips are also great.
Giant omelets are a great way to get filled with veggies and protein and feel like I ate a house. This isn't great food photography here, but this is a typical diet breakfast for me:
[img]
[/img]
It's ridiculously enormous for someone my size (now that I've lost weight) but guilt free.
I find that "virtual tour" recumbent bike to burn a lot of calories while it doesn't kill your knees and back, etc.
Make healthy food and have most of your calories before later in day. That's how the Europeans seem to do it.
I'm happy you quit smoking!
