If you'd like to see numbers everyday, I recommend a bodybugg (or bodyfitmedia, or similar alternative). I'm a calorie counter, averaging 1200 calories/day and 40 minutes of exercise. At my size, this means averaging a 1400calorie/day deficit, which means I lose 2.8lbs/week. Some of the fastest losers on the site follow Ideal Protein, but with my plan it's easier, less restrictive, and I average a similar weight loss to most of them!

I think the bodybugg/calorie counting system is perfect for me, because I can always see numbers that keep me motivated. The scale is constantly going up and down for all of us, and frankly, you can't trust it! It will always tell you you've gained weight at the wrong times, particularly at TOM or if you've eaten too much salt. And although you may know that it doesn't necessarily mean you've gained fat, it's always discouraging. But with bodybugg, you can get a good estimate of how much fat you've burned every day. The numbers are dead on with the scale for me (in the long run, when the scale's done having a fit) and you can always be proud of what you've done. For me, it's amazing to see at the end of the day that I've burned 1400 more calories than I ate- so I can be sure that I've burned 0.4lbs that day.

What worked for me starting out was to have a drastic change for the first little while -- I am on a plan with a Phase 1 that includes just lean meat and green veggies, egg whites, olive oil and a few other things. Getting that big change from my normal habits helped me to break the bad habits I had, and gave me a nice big loss to start off with. In my first couple of months I was losing 10 or more pounds per month.

Also, daily weighing, tracking everything I eat (calorie counting) and any exercise help me to feel in control and to understand how my body reacts to different food/exercise.

Do you have any particular plan in mind that you might like to try?

I started a small work out routine. I did my first 18 mins of cardio
Its not much but its enough that i hope to do twice a day and not hurt myself lol. I have a 3 year old so eating right is hard. I try to do lots of baked chicken and veggies.

Calorie counting and at leat 30 minutes of exersize and eliminate simple carbs for the most part.. and no soda no diet or regular its just extra sugar and sodium you don't need.

I'm following the Dukan Diet -it's a low fat and very low carb plan. You eat a couple of tbs of oat bran (not oat meal) every day, and no other grains or sugars or starches. It's lean proteins and veggies and low/no fat dairy.

I have been thrilled with my results and am losing weight much more quickly than I did when calorie counting so it keeps my motivation high to see a good loss consistently over time.

It's a pretty restrictive plan - there are 100 foods and you can have as much as you want of those foods but you don't eat anything that isn't on that list of 100 foods. But it's actually made it easier for me to follow - I am not tempted to go off plan. And in terms of the ease of following, I find it easier because I am not trying to be creative so it's easy to buy and cook the same foods over and over and not have to put much thought or effort into it. Plus I don't have to weight, measure and track so that helps save time too.

For exercise, the plan calls for walking 30 minutes a day. I'm a single mom of a 7 year old, so still too young for me to leave him home alone and get to a gym or go for a walk. So I do exercise DVDs (or OnDemand on cable) or the Wii at home.

I'm doing the 4 hour body diet. I need lots of restriction with good rewards to stick with it, I can't just have a little of anything I love...it's all or nothing, so this diet works for me.

i believe in simplicity since it's very easy to follow and remain disciplined on it for long. This is my plan; i don't take junk, white bread and other fatty foods and spent at least 30 minutes in the evening doing some exercise and running around my home compound. The exercise is scheduled to at least five days a week.
take a lot of water and in the meals that you take you can add a small amount of protein powder to add energy to your body.
I can assure you that this works.

I keep it simple and clean. I don't eat meat or fish or eggs so that makes it much easier to choose then. I eat tofu, some dairy like cheese or milk in my coffee, grains, beans, as much veggies and fruit as I want, pasta, bread, rice.. I don't like sugar so I have to watch out for salty snacks like chips. I did cardio every day until my foot injury, now I'm getting back slowly. Did some pilates, outdoorsy stuff, cycling.. I also do intermittent fasting most days. I only eat one meal a day. The rest is fruit, coffee, tea, maybe a small sandwich.. Depends on my schedule.. I do drink a lot of plain old water.
I try not to think about food at all, no counting, no weighing, no planning, nothing..

My plan is pretty basic: I calorie count (1400 per day---cycling the calories sometimes) and I try to get one hour of some sort of activity into most days (at least 5 days). I have been down the road of super-strict eating plans and gung-ho working out many times in the past, and it has not worked for me long term. This time, I've finally accepted the reality that 1) I cannot eat as much as I used to; 2) I MUST do some sort of physical activity regularly in order to be healthy and fit. So, I've accepted that those are my realities for life. As such, as I continue on this journey, I refuse to commit longterm to anything that I do not believe I can sustain for the rest of my life.

I don't have a "diet" or "rules" just a few simple guidelines:

1. Calorie-count, even if it's a little bit of an estimate. I do around 1200-1400/day. Sometimes I log it, sometimes I mentally count.

2. Grains and carbs in moderation. I used to track (150 g a day) but now I generally know what that looks like over the course of a day so I keep a mental running log of it.

3. No empty carbs except if it's a small dessert. No fruit juice (only fruit), no white rice (only a small bit of long-grain, brown, etc), etc.

4. Whole foods. Nothing packaged or processed, except in small quantities on special occasions.

I know you have a 3-year-old, but wouldn't you need to cook healthily for him/her anyway? There are tons of recipes that are either a) healthy and quick or b) made in big batches so you can make them once, freeze them, and then pop them in the oven on a busy night. Lentil soups, taco salads (with fresh beans made in the pressure cooker and fresh veggies), homemade tomato sauce for lasagna or eggplant parmesean, healthy veggie casseroles you can make when your little one is asleep and freeze for a few weeks until you need one in a pinch, baked chicken, baked or seared fish (just takes a few minutes of prep!), stir fries with just a bit of soy sauce and a tiny bit of oil, etc. Most of these just take about 20 minutes or so.

Sometimes it's just about making creative substitutions for recipes you would already cook: spaghetti squash instead of spaghetti noodles, sweet potatoes instead of regular potatoes, whole wheat lasagna noodles and veggies instead of beef, reducing the amount of oil, etc.

Just some thoughts. Good luck on your journey!!!

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