Find a website with tools--I've seen fitday and livestrong listed on the forum and there certainly are others. I am currently tracking at calorie count. If you google "calorie target" I'm sure plenty of hits will lead you to sites where you can add in your particular info, current weight, height, age, gender, and your goal weight, then a daily calorie count will be suggested for you. I have played around with that on a few sites, but using my starting weight and a small goal, say 10 pounds, and a mid-way weight of 30 pounds, and a fantasy weight that I will probably never reach, lets say 60 pounds. Its quite interesting to see the results.
So that may be a good place to begin. Find and set a reasonable daily requirement for yourself. Don't do anything drastic
because there is no need for drastic. All you need to do is create a 3500 weekly deficit in calories, 500 daily deficit, to achieve weight loss. If you immediately give yourself a too low target of 1200, you'll be miserable...so don't set yourself for failure. You deserve success!!!
Also, don't put into place an all or nothing program where you eliminate all of the supposed evil foods where if you do treat yourself, its then "off the wagon" and stay off. Incorporate some decadent treats into your plan--you'll be able to so long as said foods aren't a trigger that lead you to consume endless amounts of it.
Try to eat a variety from all the food groups. Unless you have special dietary needs, do eat some fat/oil daily, have veg, fruit, dairy, meat/beans/poultry/fish, and starch/bread/grain. Your body utilizes all of those foods.
Lets face it--we all know what's healthy and what isn't. If you can make changes from whole fat foods to reduced fat, great. Replace Wonder bread with whole wheat or whole grain, or light. Choose 2% dairy products over whole. If you drink, lite beer over regular; wine spritzer over wine. Little changes like that add up, and you may not taste a noticeable difference, but you will see it on the scale.
Become knowledgeable and use that to your best advantage. You know what you like to eat, start with those foods. Locate the calories in those foods. For the worst offenders, eat less quantity, and eat it less often. Modify where possible; eat less when not.
www.skinnytaste.com has some fantastic "diet" versions of classic dishes. For instance, there's a no-bake cheesecake that is amazing...and it doesn't contain artificial sweetener and even if you're not on a diet its enjoyable...so you could bring it to a party and everyone could enjoy it. Personally, after the 1st time I made it, I eliminated the sugar altogether--I found it too sweet, but it still was quite delicious and decadent tasting! I've been meaning to try the oven baked crumb coated eggplant. There's also an onion ring recipe there. It isn't always the ingredients that change, sometimes it is just the cooking technique -- oven "frying" instead of pan frying in a vat of grease.
After you find your daily calorie target, get comfortable with a website that you like and can log your foods at (or at least locate the calories of foods at if you prefer to write it all down). It really is quite an interesting process. The more you do it the easier it becomes. The values of foods become repetitive and familiar, as we are creatures of habit and tend to make similar choices.
Good luck to you. Donna