1. It's not a race. Make small changes that you believe you can do for the rest of your life. Try each change for at least a week before introducing new changes

1. It's not a race. Make small changes that you believe you can do for the rest of your life. Try each change for at least a week before introducing new changes, and keep monitoring old changes to make sure you're doing them. If you make a big change like a whole diet plan, you likely won't stick with it. And time-bound plans are useless: people who do 30-day diets are usually fatter six months later. The best plan is the one that you actually do, and keep doing. 2. Diet to lose weight. Exercise to feel/look good, and become more capable. When you look into how many calories various exercises burn versus how many calories are in even small portions of foods, it becomes clear that it take vast amounts of exercise to burn the same amount of calories as a small reduction in caloric intake. 3. Look into mindful eating. Slow your eating. Don't do other things while you eat, like watching TV or reading: just eat, and pay attention to your food. Enjoy your food (which increases satiation)! 4. This is more my own personal experience than anything I have evidence for, but changes that are clear and don't require a lot of research to enforce work well. Gathering caloric information on everything you consume is prohibitively difficult, but things like "no caloric drinks" and "no red meat" are clear rules that eliminate some large sources of empty calories. Those might not be the right rules for you, they're just examples of things you might try. 5. Consider adding portions of low-calorie foods whenever you reduce portions of high-calorie foods, as this makes it easier to feel full. Carrots, bok choi, and arugula have worked pretty well for me, and you can eat virtually unlimited quantities of these without consuming significant calories.