What to Eat and Why.

First, let me say, I am not a nutritionist.  I'm not going to give any specific advice or diet plans here.  You should check with your Doctor before making any major changes to your diet/activity.  That said, I'm going to start with the why, more specifically, the why not.

I've had issues with weight and food my whole life.  Seriously, at least since adolescence.  I've never been completely happy with my body, and weight has always been a battle.  In order to lose weight, I really had to break the stronghold that food has over me.  I've eaten for many reasons over the years.  I've eaten for comfort, out of boredom, because I'm stressed, because it tastes good, etc.  Truthfully, hunger has frequently not played a role in my eating.  I've had to change my relationship with food entirely.  God's purpose for food is to fuel our bodies, not fill empty spaces in our lives and relationships.  Our bodies are His temple.  I finally realized that asking Him to live in a body filled to overflowing with garbage, is the equivalent of asking him to live in the home of a hoarder.  Not cool. The basic rules I try to stick with are, first, stay in my calorie budget.  Within that, I try to eat high protein, relatively low fat, low sodium, and I drink a lot of water.

Healthy food does not have to taste bad!  There are some great sources for recipes that I use.  My favorite is Skinnytaste, and I also like Slender Kitchen.  Their recipes offer healthier options, but taste great.  Even my family doesn't complain (usually) about the meals I prepare from their sites.

Eat often.  I'm aware that it sounds counterproductive, but it works.  One of our local trainers host as "largest loser" program every year.  I participated last year, and one of their main pieces of advice regarding food, was "Don't go more than 3 hours without eating". That doesn't mean eat a full meal every three hours, but rather eat 6 small meals (for me, 3 meals and usually 3 snacks) daily.  Its really worked well for me. Just try not to allow those meals/snacks to be made up of a lot of empty calories.
 
Just remember, how you eat is probably the most important component of successful weight loss.  I've heard it said over and over that you can eat your way through any amount of exercise.  Its true.  I'm a huge proponent of exercise, and muscle burns fart.  There are lots of benefits, but all the exercise in the world isn't going to help if you continue to fill your body with junk.