How do I diet properly?
Be aware of what you are eating. A food diary may help.
Set realistic goals and be patient. If you don’t you may be discouraged when results don’t arise as quickly as you may have hoped. Between 0.3% and 0.5% of your current weight per week is a reasonable weight loss goal, with more being possible if you nail it.
Reduce your refined carbohydrates, like added sugar (in processed foods), fruit juices, bread and pasta. Different macro types produce different hormonal responses and the fact is a carb--heavy diet spikes insulin which inhibits fat oxidation which makes fat loss harder to achieve. This is not to advocate a low-carb diet, but it is good reason to consider biasing your diet in that direction.
Consider intermittent fasting. There is no denying weight loss requires a sustained calorie deficit over a long period of time. Intermittent fasting might help because psychologically it maybe easier to eat 2 slightly larger meals instead of 3 slightly smaller meals. IF also potentially helps by giving your body a longer period each day with lower insulin levels which may be beneficial for the same reason as reducing carbohydrates.
Don’t forget exercise. You can’t exercise your way out of a bad diet - but if you do exercise you can reduce the size of the calorie restriction you need to make in order to be in calorie deficit.
Be consistent - try to keep your breakfast and lunch to a consistent menu that have a known amount of calories. Make sure the menu has calorie equivalent options so that you don’t get bored.
Be flexible - don’t try to control every calorie of every meal, but try to keep the uncontrolled meals within reasonable bounds. So keep breakfast and lunch consistent, but give yourself some latitude with dinner so that your dietary regime is something you control rather than the other way around. That way 2/3 of your calories are well controlled, but the last 1/3 is where you can enjoy what life has to offer (in moderation, of course)
Monitor your weight and waist size - measure every day, but use a spreadsheet to calculate a 7 day rolling average and base actions you take on changes on the rolling average, rather than the daily measurement which can be thrown off by differences in water balance. Detecting a downward trend can be motivating to help you keep going, while detecting a plateau or upward trend gives you a chance to review your diet and exercise and make changes if required.
The thing that really helped me was ordering 2 meals a day, 5 days a week from an (Australian) meal delivery service called Lite n’ Easy. If something like that is available where you live, do consider using it.
A version of this post was originally posted as a Quora answer to the question: How do I diet properly?
