Today is the first day of my healthy eating attempt

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I ate Special K instead of pancakes this morning, I'm already dying

I'm aiming to loose about 30 pounds, and am using myfitnesspal to track calories

I'm feeling quite positive about it, whenever I try and diet I set myself ridiculous goals and starve myself, but this time i'm doing it healthily, ugh

Going to try and eat a salad at lunch, it's going to be hard because of all the new tastes but its worth a try

wish me luck

(i'll probably post updates in the comments for myself)

Good luck Don't try to cut your calories down too quickly.

Also you may want to add some strength training to help keep your muscle. When dieting without strength training, the body will burn muscle as well as fat, and some muscle mass will be lost. You can avoid this by adding some strength training to your week, if you don't already do so.

If you build muscle, you will actually be helping yourself to burn calories as well.

Day 2 - I have stuck to my goal of 1200 calories a day, I'm doing surprisingly okay, I'm allowing myself one sweet thing a day (mixed into my daily calories) to try and avoid binging. I'm going to weigh myself next Thursday.

Day 3 - Still sticking to my goal, I'm so proud of myself, kinda hungry right now

Good luck, don't starve yourself as most extreme diets do not work.

The key is to replace processed and sugar foods with better alternatives of carbs. Avoid white flour, bread and wheat, they are the starchier foods. Go for seeds, oats, brown rice, sweet potato, hemp oil, coconut oil, kale and vegetables are all great foods to start with.

You should look into Cacao power as well, it is unprocessed chocolate and it is very healthy with four times the antioxidants of dark chocolate. You can make great tasting smoothies with cacao powder and coconut oil.

A healthy calorie deficit to lose weight is about 10-20% of one's current calories intake. A 2,000 calorie a day consumer should have about 1600-1800 a day.

Good job, OP. You're certainly doing better than me regarding diet. Due to the fact I'm bulking (gaining muscle) rather than cutting (losing fat), I'm less strict about eating unhealthy, but still generally try to eat a healthy, balanced diet.

Strength training is a good idea to maintain muscle. Working out isn't as hard as one might think, and only needs to be done maybe three times a week to maintain muscle.

I also advise to calculate not just calories but macro and micronutrients as well, if you aren't already. These are the daily nutrients your body requires. Macronutrients include Protein, Carbohydrates, Fats, etc. and Micronutrients are your vitamins, minerals, etc.

Also, things such as Fats and Sugar are NOT bad for you, in reasonable amounts.

There are some people who go to extreme lengths to avoid Fats and Sugars, but this is not necessary. Fats are an essential nutrient, and sugar, while not necessary, is a type of carb, and can also be consumed in a limited amount.

So if you calculate macros, fats should be included, rather than cutting them out of your diet.

I wouldn't be overly-concerned with 'fat-free' and 'sugar-free' and 'reduced fat' and all that other stuff.

If anything, a better choice is to just healthier stuff in the first place. Drink water instead of 'diet coke'. Just drink no coke at all!! for instance.

Good luck! You seem to have a plan:)
Do you have planned meals for every day, or do you just make something up on the spot?

Good goal and good job! Praise yourself for good days. Forgive yourself for bad days. Try to find out what caused you to make the mistake and learn from it. Maybe you can learn to avoid some in the future.

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31st of July, 2013
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a good mental shortcut you can take, is to cut out the white foods from your diet- things made of or containing sugar, flour, potatoes, corn, white rice. that also means no fruit juices and bread and pasta 6 out of 7 days per week, you gotta give yourself a cheat or lazy day where you can eat [within limits] the foods you don't eat the other 6 days, this is the only way you can maintain this diet for the duration. as for fats, avoid rancid ones, olive and coconut oils are hard to find in fresh condition unless you live in a large city, by the time oily stuff gets to the hinterlands it more often than not goes rancid. otherwise those are the two best non-animal oils for you. if you're not allergic to them, boiled eggs are nutritious and a good resource for your body to repair the wear and tear of its tissues because of the cholesterol they contain. the FDA has basically said that dietary cholesterol from eggs is not a primary health concern so go ahead and eat an egg a day or every other day. in place of the carbs you are gonna want to eat more veggies and nuts but not too many nuts, no more than a handful per meal so as to avoid excess phytic acid buildup which can interfere with vitamin absorption. a large salad every evening meal is a good practice. as for exercise, it doesn't have to be brutal but it does have to be reasonably vigorous and consistent- enough to elevate your breathing and heart rate but not huffing and puffing. fast walking up and down hills will do this. good well-padded walking shoes are a MUST. if you have a bike, then riding up and down hills is a better exercise, that is known as interval training because climbing up those hills you are going to be pedaling flat-out, maximum effort, then you rest on the downhills. interval training lets you get your fitness in much less time than ordinary aerobic exercise due to the anaerobic sprinting added to the mix. you will be huffing and puffing but in exchange your fitness level will be higher than for walking. in any case a half hour of walking or interval training via bicycle ever day is enough.