I've lost about 25 lbs over the last 15 months and I have some advice. 1. Make health and fitness a permanent lifestyle. Don't just diet to quickly lose weight to look good temporarily. 2. Learn about fluid / electrolyte balance (sodium, potassium, water), protein, carbohydrates, fat, saturated fat, trans fat, starch, glycemic index, fiber - these are inputs that can all be measured objectively in order to optimize nutrition. 3. Learn about blood pressure, blood sugar, heart rate, body fat % - these are outputs that you can also measure objectively to evaluate your health and fitness levels. 4. If you're trying to lose fat, shoot for no more than 1 pound of weight loss per week. Based on my own experience it is difficult to lose weight faster than this and keep it off. I personally lost 2 lbs per month on average. 5. Try eating the same thing every day. This way you can easily and consistently control your calorie intake and you don't even have to count calories. If after a month you don't lose weight, you know you're eating too much, and if you gain weight, you know you're eating too much, so you simply adjust 1 or 2 meals to increase or decrease your calorie intake. Just make sure you eat a large variety of foods to ensure you get the nutrition you need to be healthy. A good way to eat a variety of foods but also eat the same thing every day is to eat 6 smaller meals instead of 2 or 3 large meals. Also make sure your meals taste good. If you try to eat "too healthy" too soon it will be difficult to do every day. 6. If you're interested in growing muscle, bodybuilding, weight lifting, etc check out www.mikementzer.com. Regardless of whether or not you agree with his bodybuilding method, he was an Objectivist and much more honest than most health / fitness experts. I found out about Objectivism from reading one of his books. 7. Try completely eliminating caffeine, alcohol and any other kind of legal / illegal drugs, pills, medicine, etc from your diet. I still can't believe how great I feel all day long every single day since I stopped consuming caffeine and alcohol. 8. Sleep! Adequate sleep is also very important for muscle growth, fat loss and health in general. I try to get 7 hours per sleep at night and if I'm tired during the day I try to take a 5-10 minute nap at lunch time.