one thing people often overlook is the sheer amount of food that they eat. i for one just cut my portions in half and lost about 10 pounds over 4 weeks. no exercise, no gimmicky diets, ate whatever but just cut the amount of intake in half. it saves money and most importantly it works.

A low income budget is good. Stay away from the expensive processed foods. Do more shopping in the produce section, better yet, find a good fruit market.

Do not waste your money on healthy foods, low fat, low carb foods. Buy regular stuff and control your portions. Drink a full glass of water 30 mins before each meal. Do not eat after 8 o'clock and walk at least 3 miles a day at least 5 times a week. Eat something sweet once a day, a piece of chocolate or candy or whatever it is you like, but limit it to once a day. Limit eating out to once or twice a week. I went from 225 to 150 in one year just by doing these changes. I was never on a diet, I was never hungry, my stomach srunk just by eating less, and now I am full after eating very little. I still keep loosing weight. I lost it little by little but I know that it will not come back. I never bought any pills, protein shakes or bars. Nothing. Just eat less, wait 30 mins after eating, even if you are still hungry after a meal, you need to let your stomach digest the food, and let your brain know you are not hungry any more. If after 30 minf you are still hungry eat some fruit, or a snack, like a granola bar. Good luck

Just don't eat.

I was 140 (had a baby), now I'm 125. What really jump started it for me, was the Zone diet. Also, sparkpeople.com is awesome, you can log the foods you eat, it tallies the calories you eat, etc. I had fun using that as well. I am a vegetarian, I eat really healthy foods. No soda, very little sugar. I have no junk food in my house, that way it's not accesible. Drink a lot of water, eat a lot of salads. I also didn't exercise. :) Good luck to you!

***Remember, please, to check with your doctor before starting any weight-loss or exercise program to be sure there are no medical precautions for you.*** One can lose weight without paying a diet program or following a strict regimen; there's a simple formula: Calories eaten < calories burned. There are 3 ways to make that happen: 1) Eat fewer calories 2) burn more calories, or 3) do both. Sometimes people decrease their calorie intake in a way that is not healthy or productive. Cutting calories too much will defeat the purpose, because your body goes into "starvation mode" and slows your metabolism; put simply, Mother Nature thinks there's a famine and conserves your "resources" (i.e. fat stores) to help you survive by preventing you from burning calories very quickly. The other problem is that many people don't eat a healthy balance of foods, so don't get good nutrition. The basic idea is to eat proportions of types of food based on the "food pyramid." You can see a good diagram of the food pyramid, and some examples of servings here: http://www.diabetes.org/nutrition-and-recipes/nutrition/foodpyramid.jsp The proportions given are not for weight loss; follow the last link below for some suggestions on that. You may need to alter the proportions a bit for your own body; for example, I am hypoglycemic, so I need more protein and fewer carbohydrates than the pyramid shows. For burning more calories, increasing your activity is the simple answer. That doesn't mean you have to run a marathon; it just means do more than you do now. If you don't exercise at all now, taking a 10-15 minute walk at least 4 days a week is a fine start. Maybe you'd rather do an exercise video, or lift weights, or climb mountains - whatever appeals to you is best, because you will be motivated to do it. Doing exercise with a friend also helps - you motivate each other. To exercise at a healthy level, I often tell my patients (I'm a physical therapist) to work hard enough to increase their breathing rate noticeably, but not so hard that they can't carry on a little conversation without gasping. This would be a light aerobic level, and benefits your heart & lungs as well as your weight. As you become more fit, you will find you can exercise a bit harder and still meet that guideline. The best part is, if you combine both decreased calorie intake and exercise, you can actually eat a little more than you could without exercise. Most weight loss programs will say a woman should consume x number of calories a day; I find the "calorie calculator" to make much more sense: http://www.freedieting.com/tools/calorie_calculator.htm Now that you know how many calories you need to lose fat (I wouldn't shoot for the "extreme" number the calculator gives you - remember "starvation mode"), you can adjust your eating based on how many calories you burn with exercise. You can use the "calories burned" calculator here for general guidelines: http://www.freedieting.com/tools/calories_burned.htm For example, if the calorie calculator says you need 1400 calories per day to lose fat, that means NET calories - the calories eaten minus the calories burned. If you burn off 250 calories by exercising, you can actually eat 1650 calories and have the same NET calories, and the same weight loss. A few final words: *** Don't be too rigid or hard on yourself. An occasional piece of pie isn't bad, and neither are you for eating it. *** If you find you are not losing weight on the scale, but you are exercising and your body shape is changing (clothes fitting better, etc) you are doing it right - by exercising you are building muscle, and muscle weighs more than fat. Plus, extra muscle will help you lose weight even faster, because muscle burns calories. *** Weight is just a number; health is what matters. Once you've reached a healthy size, don't abandon the principles: keep eating a balanced diet based on the food pyramid, but with more servings, similar to the first link I gave. Use the calorie calculator to determine how many calories to eat to maintain that weight. *** Keep exercising - it's good for your heart and lungs, helps prevent osteoporosis, reduces stress, maintains healthy muscle mass, improves sleep, and can help with depression. Best wishes to you, and congratulations for wanting to be healthier! Great site for lots of info: http://www.freedieting.com/ Site with very limited info but good serving adjustment levels (see "using the food pyramid for weight loss" link): http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/the-essentials-of-healthy-weight-loss.html

Sure fire way... Eat veggies only and eat constantly. Keeps you busy, keeps back hunger, and takes more calories to digest than is in them. And drink massive quatities of water.

Read my profile on how I'm doing it. Low cost and works for me.

You don't have to find a fancy diet to lose weight. It's more of a lifestyle change if you're willing to do it. You don't even have to give up the things you love, you just have to eat LESS of it. People eat because its such an enjoyable experience but if you'd look at it as supplying fuel to your body you may be successful. People usually eat too much food. You could start by eating 75 percent of what you usually eat and then get down to 50 percent. Don't eat too stuff yourself but eat to feel comfortable. You also have to concquer the snack foods. No snacks after 7pm! People eat snacks to satisfy something other than being hungry. Again, its a lifestyle change and you have to be willing to do it.

I used desert burn hoodia and lost 33 pounds and have kept it off for over 3 years now. I had back surgery in 04 and put on some weight because I was laying on my back recovering for a while. My buddy mark is practically a personal trainer although not certified or anything, just that he;s really up on all the latest fitness and nutrition supplements and stuff. Anyhow, I asked him what to do and he told me he heard good things about hoodia. I did some research and found out the desert burn was one of the best. I got some and took it on the first day and literally forgot to eat. My appetite is very strong I might ad so when i forget to eat it's kind of a minor miracle. So I took it for a couple of months and my will power was very high and I dropped 33 pounds in just a couple of months and it didn't even seem like I was dieting. I was so psyched about feeling better and losing the weight that I started my own website dedicated to back health, diet tips and all around wellness. You asked, I'm telling you. try hoodia. It worked like a charm for me. If you want, cut and paste: online health desert burn hoodia :into your GOOGLE search and you can read all about how I did it complete with before and after pics (the same pic on my profile I might ad) and just tons of good diet and nutrition advice from a guy that lived it and still does. Best of luck and take care my friend. You just need a little help. Hoodia will help. Cole F.

go to fitday.com. There's a start.

in the past 3 months i have gone down a dress size,but i haven't gone on a diet to do it.i spend an hour a day,monday to friday doing stepping exercises in my bedroom on he wii fit.i haven't changed what i eat but maybe changed the amount of sweet stuff.instead of a mars bar or something of similar size i have a curly wurly or a fudge.two days ago i got into a pair of jeans i haven't fitted in for two years.what i'm trying to say is there is no need for diets jusdt get active.it doent have to be hard work just enough to build up a sweat.good luck.

Read the fat smash diet by Dr. Ian Smith. I have a friend who did the diet and lost 40lbs. It takes dicipline, but you seem determined.

Cut your portions to half. Your stomach will adapt in a week or two. Cut down on the potato, rice and bread and oil. Add veggies. Forget soda. You will have savings too on top ot it.

Being on a low income budget should make it easy. Eat less, damn it.

Most of the diets out there all come with ONE factor that is common to all .. EXERCISE ! So; I'd suggest the following: I'd kinda fast/power walk a mile from my home and a mile back at least once a day ... Be sure to swing your arms to and fro as you walk ..(You MIGHT need to start doing a half mile each way at first ) I'd drink EIGHT ; 16 ounce glasses of water per day. One before and one during EACH meal , and then you have two xtra during the day ... NO: White Bread type food items .. CUT DOWN on Do Nuts, cake, Pies, Pizza and Pasta etc .... by 75% !! You WILL see a difference in about a week to ten days ... I went from 350 pounds to 190 pounds in about six months ...

Just out of curiosity - how is the diet going?