Way to go James!      Allrighty, here we go.  


First of all congrats, 2nd, before you begin, stop, just stop.
I'm going to be honest here and tell you the hard, fat
truth, diets, bmi and calorie counting DON'T WORK, period.

Obesity is the symptom of a much larger problem and what
you really need is to educate yourself along with a complete
lifestyle change, a detox and brain rewiring (impulses/cravings).

So get your facts straight and understand your body and the
basics of chemistry and nutritional science first, then please
share your knowledge and experience with others.

I'm a 1000% behind anyone with the will to better themselves
in anyway and I'll try and help you as much as I can by sharing
what i know. My credentials? Thin, fit, active, happy, professional
chef, I also work with young people therefore see and understand
the problems first hand and I come from a long line of doctors,
teachers, psychologists and chemists that thought me all the basics
and I was also fat for a while back in my teen years because of lack
of discipline, and I hated myself. Never again. The "happy fatty"
theory is PURE BS! Even worse in adults, it's just sad and shameful.

As a chef I almost rather not tell you what is in your food since
EVERYTHING is basically pure oil/mayonnaise (salty=all sauces
and dressings / sweet=all desserts), the rest is flour, oh, and
this is a certified 4 star restaurant we are talking about. And every
time I go to a supermarket for private shopping i just wanna cry.


So let's begin, your homework is to get and watch these
Award winning documentary films:

- Food Inc (R. Kenner)
- King Corn (A.Woolf)
- Earthlings (J.Phoenix)
- Animals (J.Young),
- Fast Food Nation (R. Linklater)
- The World According to Monsanto (Arte)
* Available (most, if not all, for free) at google videos, youtube, at download
sites, buy or rent, whatever but watch'em!  (warning: disturbing scenes).

2nd you must identify and remove/curb the following from you life:

Sugar
ALL soda (diet is worse), fruit juice, desserts, all pastries, etc.
The #1 offender is high fructose corn syrup (do research).

Oil
Animal, vegetable, lard, mayo, margarine, heavy creams, shakes, etc.

White flour
white bread, white pasta, all cookies, all chips; beware also of white rice.

Animal fats
My bologna has a first name it's P-O-I-S-O-N. Beware all sausage forms and bacon.

Alcohol
LOTS of calories plus if your liver is damaged, it's all over, period.

Stress
When you're chronically stressed, the adrenal glands are forced to
work overtime and eventually exhaust themselves, inhibiting your
immune system and hormones.

TV/PC
Resist the urge! Being an obese, sedentary TV/PC addicted couch
potato makes for speedy self-destruction. Stop sacrificing your
sleep for tv, you need it. Get a (real) dog or a good outdoor hobby.
Take along audiobooks, not music, audiobooks are addictive and
educational and you'll always want MOAR!

Junk Food
Last year, at least 500,000 Americans managed to kill themselves
based almost solely on what they ate. Heart disease is the country's
number one killer due to the fat-laden, sugar-heavy junk we put in
our bodies.

Smoke
They don't call them "coffin nails" for nothing: Tobacco-related
illnesses are America's number two killer, and the most preventable.

Prescription drugs
These will whack your system and hormones of of balance with awful
side effects and cravings.

---

"1/4 of what you eat keeps you alive and 3/4 of what you eat keeps your doctor alive"

"Let Thy Food Be Thy Medicine, And Thy Medicine Be Thy Food." - Hippocrates

...and watch american beauty again for inspiration  

good luck,
Richard

James, Stimpy sent you some great advice. I have battled weight for most of my adult life.

I have found out myself it is a life change. Infact that is how I describe it now. I don't say I am dieting. I refer to it as a life change.

It is an adjustment yet you will soon see the results. I don't know if you walk much, yet it does help.

Personally I gave up all soda over a year ago. I loved a ice cold Pepsi. Well ok so more than one a day was not unusal for me.
I just decided one day I was going to give it up, like smoking. I will tell yes their are still times I want both. However once you see the results and feel better from not having all that sugar you will find it easier to stay away.

Ok so any help I can give you I will as well. I am going for my walk and I wish you a great day...

You have taken the first step, I wish you all the best with the rest..Kim

Ive always been a thin guy, except for when I got sick, then I got fat. Im getting thin again.
If you want to live, cook your own meals. If you are buying your food, you are buying poison. GMO crops are out there, corn is the number one offender. I only eat organic corn. Tomatoes & Grapes are very highly pesticided crops, Broccolli is not, I dont always buy organic broccolli.
Raise a garden, itll make ya work & then ya get to eat, both are good for ya.

Excercise,, yea, Riight.. He!! with that, have FUN, find something that isnt sitting flat on that a55 & do it. Frisbee is outside, painless fun. Dont have to try to set a record, just pick a target & toss at it. Someone to laff with is good.It makes ya walk.

Stop eating the comfort foods. Well, cut down, while ya develop your diet toward eating more healthy & nutritious meals.
Steamer Baskets are a must.
A 25 pound bag of organic pinto beans is about 40$. No white rice, long grain Brown rice. Learn to make cornbread, its easy.
Once you learn to EAT & how to cook & eat `real foods, those burgers from Burger King will taste absolutely disgusting.

IF you smoke, stop smoiking those Chemistry Sets they sell & call cigarettes. Get imported ( Imported tobacco isnt sprayed w/ Thimerosol, ours is) tobacco & roll your own. Youll smoke less &, once you get used to the taste of tobacco, instead of the chemicals in cigarettes, youll really like it more.

White flour has nothing in it for food. Doubt it? Leave some wheat flour & some white flour out for the mice. Youll lose the wheat, they wont eat the white.

Margarine,, NO, not no but hell NO,, get butter.
Aspartame & MSG, POlysorbate 80, polyethylene glycol, these thngs are put in our foods, read whats in it, the corn sweetener is nasty, too, read the labels on what you are buying & talk to store managers. Tell them why you wont buy the toxic crap. That IS WHY there is so much organic available now, Consumer Demand.
Go out & demand Good Food be made available & leave their crap on the shelves.

Simple. Ride more, eat less.
When ever you get the urge to snack, go for a ride instead.
The amount you would have spent on a snack will fill the tank.

Phelonius

South Beach has worked for me.  About 15 years ago I last 40 pounds thru a no carbo diet from Cleveland Clinic's nutrition department.

South Beach is very similar.

As for exercise, of course it's good for you, but doesn't produce much weight loss.  There are 3500 calories in one pound of human body fat, so you have to exercise off 3500 calories to lose one pound.  At 200 calories per mile for walking or jogging, that 17.5 miles per pound.

Easy way to remember - don't eat white stuff.  That means avoid potatos, pasta, white bread, white rice.

Instead, eat sweet potatos, brown bread if you have to have bread, raw oatmeal and not the instant junk, brown or wild rice, and spinach pasta.  All have the complex carbos instead of the simple carbos that make you fat.

Works for me - and lastly, avoid beer.  Beer is the worst of all for loads of carbos.  Whiskeys and other liquors and red wines have far fewer carbos.

arent cod and halabut white,so is lobster tail,abaloni,turnips,
dover sole, mai mai, and a bunch more fish.

Great advice all around. Working out and eating better has worked for me. Lost 20lbs and feel so much better. When you are not overweight and in decent shape life is so much more fun. It's a lot of work but worth it. The cartoon about what fits you busy life stlye one hour a day workout or 24 hrs dead really hit home. I make time every other day to alternate eliptical and bowflex. These are 2 Investments that have paid off very well.