Alright then, I am very good at giving weight loss advice, considering I used to be overweight myself. This advice is tested and true, believe me.

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1) Don't diet. Dieting is only temporary and is actually bad for your overall health. When you want to lose weight or get in shape, you must adopt a completely new way of eating - for life. No quick plans, temporary fixes or fads. You can't keep up not eating or eating very little forever.

2) Know why you want to lose weight or get healthy. Are you at risk of serious illnesses, like diabetes or heart diease? Before you decide to embark on your new lifestyle, sometimes getting a health check-up at your doctors can give you a rude shock and incite your determination to succeed. Did for me :D

3) Forget the myth of 3 meals a day! This is not true, especialy for wanting to lose weight. Eating six small, healthy meals a day is the best way! Most effective because eating small, frequent meals boosts your metabolic rate and is great for building lean muscle tissue.

4) That said, you cannot eat that much unless you exercise regularly. Now onto this important point. Do intense, short workouts, six days a week! Not half an hour a day, not 10 minutes a week. 20 minutes of hardcore aerobics in the morning, followed the next day by 40 minutes of weight intensitiy workouts, is the BEST WAY TO LOSE WEIGHT! I capitalize to emphasise this point! Working out for an hour actually works against you. Your body adapts to long, boring exercise. But if you do intense bursts of exercise, your body is forced to change and burns more fat. You can constantly increase the level of your exercise the more you do. But if you just do the same thing, over and over, not really pushing yourself, you will never get anywhere. Thats why you often see so many gym rats who are still overweight. They dont push their limits! So, workout for 20 minutes by walking, jogging, on an exercise bike or however you want, three days a week. Alternate between aerobics and weight training for six days each week and have a 'day off'. The best way FOLLOW THIS ADVICE!

5) With every meal, eat protein. Nuts, turkey meat, ham, lean chicken, beans etc. The list goes on. Protein should be your main source of fuel, as it helps to build muscle which in turn burns fat. Cut down - but DON'T cut out - carbohydrates. Healthy carbs are equally as good for you. Brown bread, brown rice, sweet potato etc should be eaten as well. Vegetables should be eaten with at least two of your six meals. Now onto my next point.

6) DON'T COUNT CALORIES. Counting calories is just a waste of your time. Most people will (or should) know that your stomach is the size of your closed fist. COUNT PORTIONS, not calories. A portion is roughly the size of your open palm. So for a decent, well balanced meal; have one portion of protein, one portion of carbs, and two portions of vegetables. Tried and true people.

7) Scales are your enemy, NOT your friend! Scales are okay if you are losing weight over a long-term period, but do not -EVER- step on the scales every weekend to see how much weight you have lost. This is a completely false way of determining how much FAT you have lost. Scales take into account all tissue, from water (which makes up a heck of alot of your total body weight), to muscle mass, to organs, to bones etc. Scales can be awfully misleading. You might be eating really healthily and exercising frequently, but your scales will say that you have gained a pound. That pound could be anything from water mass to lean muscle, which in fact weighs more than fat. The best way of measuring progress is by taking tape measurements of your waist, hips, thighs etc and every few weeks, and re-measure every fortnight or month. You really don't start seeing real progress until after roughly 7 weeks.

8) Positive reinforcement is your best friend when trying to lose weight. Look yourself in the mirror each morning, smile, and tell yourself that your hard work is paying off. Remind yourself on paper why you are losing weight, for whatever reasons you have. The more you repeat these exercises, the more your mind believes in them, and the less likely you are to go off track.

9) Last, but not least. My most important advice. DRINK WATER. Now by that I don't mean gulp down 10 gallons of water in a day. By drinking water, I mean drink the recommended 8 glasses a day. Water is SO SO important to your health.

10) FOLLOW MY ADVICE! And I mean this in a completely non-bias way. I am saying this because everything I have just typed is true, and how I came to lose over three stone over a period of 12 months (a year). If you want more advice you can pm me, and I will answer any of your questions, or even help you out with planning etc.

Jacki knows, so trust Jacki I have been through the ups and downs of weight loss and I have much wisdom to impart for those in need of change.

My favourite methods would be:

Don't skip breakfast!

Eating tomatoes or fresh pineapple whenever I feel hungry because their almost entirely made up of water.

Chew gum as much as possible - It kickstarts your metabolism and you also burn some calories just by chewing

Fidget...alot!! , lols. Even if its just wiggling your toes when your watching TV, it still burns calories.

Eat little and often. If you try and starve yourself then your body will just start storing the fat and your metabolism will slow right down.

And the one that has always worked for me in the past - SPLIT UP WITH BOYFRIEND/GIRLFRIEND/WHATEVER (he,he)

Simstress that is the most awesome excercise tip ever given ever. Its definately something I could follow. Im like 5 4' and 110lbs and when I worked out, basic yoga and pilates-esc excercises I gained like 5 lbs which was good for me at least. Since then Ive been lazing and Im back down. Good luck to all of you cus its seriously a lifestyle if thats not where your body wants to be naturallyy. SO just find something that works for you and stick to it.

I've always been a good "kitchen animal": I grown up with my grandma, that is tre REAL Italian Grandmother. I was there in the kitchen with her (and all the people of my family around... Coming and tasting, and partecipating) since when I can remember. She was a great teacher, in taste and tecnique.
And we have our cooking-session even now that I'm no longer in town. When I come back, visiting from the uni, I make a stop and take time to cook with the women af my family.
All this is very poetic and beautifl, I have to say that, but since I'm also a real wine-lover (how can you resist to a good Chianti? Or Morellino?), eating a lot of good, yes healty and fresh - but still a lot of Italian food and drinking wine is a bit risky.
But I cannot stop eating what I like, I cannot stop cooking&drinking, so.. I made some changes in my habits, so that I can have the drunk wife with the full barrel (old proverb :P).

Firts of all, I live in the center of a town, Siena, where cars/scooters are not allowed. So I have to move walking, ora at least by bike. I walk at least one hour per day just to do my daily things. And that's great.

Second, I try to buy better quality vegetables (organic, if I manage) instead of meat. Meat is really not healty for my body, in my experience, so I prefear to have very good quality meat once every two weeks than bad quality more often. And this in Italy is really saving money, too.

Third, I cook my meals whit love and caring, I try to not eat alone, but sharing the food with friends. Less probability to have leftovers to eat during the study-session of the afternoon, and sure more pleasure!

Fourth, but not less important, I don't eat white sugar/sweets. I have only few cookies in the morning, and sometimes with my flat-mates we bake a cake, but it's very rare.

And.. I try to be really aware of what I need to eat in the moment. In a word, to not let the gluttony take over on me. I eat a little of everything, and I stop when I'm full. Well, not every-every time <.< ... but...

Im obsessed by weight! i think im unhealthy about it. I see models and want to be that thin. I look at the sims and want to be that thin! How bad is that! When you look at me you wouldnt say i was fat, you'd see me as slim. But i havn't got a flat stomach, im obsessed with having a flat stomach. I depress myself over it. I starve myself over it. My brother is one of those people who eats about 10,000 calories a day, just complete junk with zero exercise...but of course he's as thin as a rake. I hate people like that! why is my brother like that but not me. Sure im not fat but im not skinny either. I think im about 8st 12, i havnt wieghed myself in a while.

The thing is i carn't stand drinking loads of water, i hate needing the loo every five minutes, i think people think ive got diarrhea or something. Eating wise i tend to go through phases of not eating, or eating loads, or just eating crap, or just fab dieting. I dont just have one eating plan becuase i carn't stick to it ¬_¬

I once lost loads of wieght when i went wheat free, gluten free and dairy free. It was damn hard as its suprising how many things gluten is in. Anyway eating porridge in the morning set me up for the day. I didnt need anything to eat to late afternoon.

Cereal diets are BS. They dont work and you get bored to easily. Cereal for breakfast cereal for lunch and something like beans on toast for dinner. BORING.

Just eating in moderation is the key. Oh and not too much booze. I have a problem with the booze bit :D

My deal is really forcing myself to exercise. I have a ten month old and I can kind of motivate myself to go on walks on my days off but I really don't want to when I have to work. We have some weights and an incline bench, also an exercise bike. So I try to do a few bicep curls and sit ups and ride the bike a little but I get bored with the bike. My goal is to lose like 20lbs by April. Gah.

I sort of hate the weight i'm at now. I'm 5'1 and I weigh 9 stone. (Thats about 120 pounds so i'm told.. for the record i'm also 13. Most of you will say that it's ok considering it's normal in the BMI, but i've always been bullied for my weight that I just don't believe it) Really my tip for losing weight is to set small goals which you know you can reach, go on a diet you know you can stick too and have 1 little cheat a week to indulge yourself. For example, say your cutting out chocolate. Well maybe on a sunday, you will allow yourself to indulge in the chocolate before going back to the diet. Also excercise is good too, and it doesn't have to be too strenious (if thats a word.) Taking a pet for a walk is good excercise. Losing weight doesn't mean it has to be hard. (:

Unfortunatley in our country weight is a HUGE obsession and not a healthy one.....personally I think people just need to keep it in perspective, eat what you want in moderation and MOVE..exercise!!! thats really all it comes down to....we rely on cars way too much and watch too much tv as well.....just my opinion though, some things work for some while others really have troubles keeping their body at a healthy weight.

Before having kids I was a size 10 (Aus size). I had a awesome metabolism, could eat what I wanted when I wanted without gaining weight. I loved it. But now, I don't have a metabolism, so even just thinking of something makes me put on weight. I cannot stomach eating breakfast as it feels like a lead weight just sitting there and I just want to throw up. So yeah I skip breakfast and lunch, and I only eat a small portion for dinner. I exercise due to the fact I have 5 kids. They always keep me moving. But I cannot loose the weight. And with being depressed, that makes me want to not eat at all, but I have to eat dinner otherwise I feel like crap. So for the last 13 years I have looked like and felt like a beached whale.

I have tried fad diets, but they didn't work. I do eat healthy stuff, like fruit and veggies, but, I just cannot loose the weight. I don't have any type of support with dieting or anything like that, which makes it that all the more harder to get motivated. I don't want to be supermodel skinny, I just want to be able to look at myself in a mirror and think that I look nice and that I someone (my partner) would see that I look nice too.....Which in turn would help with confidence and motivation which I severely lack.

So to all out there.....Don't do what I do and not eat.....I will not help you loose weight.

But that is just me.

DDR is great (if you play for a long time) if you don't like to work out at the gym. I'm not sure if there are a lot of "tips" when it comes to losing weight (and keeping it off) and being healthy. Personally, I eat until I'm not hungry, and exercise at least four days a week.

- Eat smaller meals more often. Instead of three big meals a day, have five or six healthy snack sized meals.

- Cut the soda. Yes, diet too. I can't find the site anymore, but I read somewhere that having one soda a day can make you can an additional ten pounds or more regardless of how you eat.

- Drink water. I know everyone else has already said it but it's true. Water is very important to your health. If your like me and can't stand the taste try Propel fitness water or some of those little flavor pack thingies at the grocerystore.

- Find an exercise that's right for you. Exercise is good for your body but not everyone likes the same method so keep looking until you find one that fits your life and that you enjoy. my life is kinda hectic and I hate that "feel the burn" kind of exercise, so I enjoy yoga. Make sure you stretch first though or you can hurt yourself. I know, I've done it...

- Don't stress it. This can be tough if you have a brother like mine who is 6'5, eats about five full sized junkfood meals a day, and looks like a "feed the children" poster. But its important not to spend all your time comparing yourself to everyone else. People are made differently, so try to find a happy medium, A weight that's realistic your body type.

- Be careful of portion size. Keep in mind, your stomach is only as big as your closed fist. I'v found that if I eat slower and stop right before I feel full I don't overeat.

As lots of other people have said, drink lots of water. Also, try to substitute healthy foods in place of less healthy ones, such as apples with honey or cinnamon instead of cookies, veggies and dip instead of potato chips, and yogurt instead of ice cream. Oh, and don't drink lots of alcohol-- it's bad for you.

Vegetables Salad with yogurt dressing. I'm not on a diet, but I love to eat this salad: corn, tomatoes, peppers, green salad and ham with yoghurt. You can add different vegetables, but the secret is the corn and the yogurt. It's so tasty and so healthy...yummy

Drink water or soda water (not soda). A lot of water will help you. I know it's harder in winter but it does help.
Try to walk every day. Watch the fat but don't eat fake foods...eat real foods..an apple, not apple pie...a banana, not a banana cake...if you like desert, try ices instead of ice cream or eat frozen yogurt.

Losing weight is hard..good luck.

well, maybe not a very common method, but it works for some. Relax, inhale and hibernate! By relaxing, breathing right and meditate you may control your self-image, the way you feel about your body. What you visualize may come true in a couple of months. But, only if you have that kind of temperament I suppose. The idea is to slow down to a point where your body actually digests and distributes the food-intake to a maximum. By "hibernating" I mean avoiding anything or any place that makes your stress-levels run crazy and crave for meaningless food.Instead, try to look inside for your best qualities and dont focus on your shortcomings. Look into a mirror (naked, your whole body) every day (night) and appreciate it. It probably deserves it, even though you dont think/feel so right now. To be combined with exercise and a healthy diet.But in no way used fanatically.

Walk. Just walk. EVERYWHERE lol. And if you can be bothered then walk fast. If you take a scenic route somewhere you will find yourself feeling much happier by the end of it. Walking is generally good for everything: your health, your soul, and the environment! If you take a friend you can have a good chit chat on the way. I tend to go out on walks with my friends rather than going to their houses.
Also, take up trampolining and learn how to do back bounces - much better than sit ups for toning the stomach! In summer I do about 100 a day on my home trampoline but my personal best is 300 XD. I think the world record is about 500...

Oh I just remembered something else!
When I was on a German exchange with my school we were all surprised at how tall and slim the Germans were because they seemed to eat much more than us. Later, I found out it was because they ate their main meal at lunchtime which gave them more time to burn off the calories.

There are a lot of useful tips here
At the moment, I'm struggling to lose a bit of weight - when I moved towns, I was a little bit stressed and ate far too much cake, and now I'm having a whole lot of trouble shedding those kg's. I guess looking at the scales everynight doesn't help, maybe I should throw them out? LOL

if you're a girl, you are weighing inbetween 1 and 2 kilo's more from a week before you get your periods, till the moment they end, cause your body picks up water then. so as said before, don't just look at the scale it's deceiving, those kilo's before your periods is just temporarelly and if you look at the scale and start working out to loose those 2 kilo's, you can end up bad, cause your body acually needs it.


and i am 15, i lost over 1 summervacation 10 kilo's what is a massive number to loose for a 12-year old. i started to do it, cause people bullied me a lot, they sill bully me, altough i have a perfect body now, ok i'm not a real slim girl, but if you are happy and confident you shine too, now i don't mind people bullying, i'm happy with who and what i am. and that's the most important thing around!

I just eat 5 small meals a day. I also dont eat fatty food, being a veggy actually helped me to lose weight. An i go the gym about 3 times a week and in my spare time do yoga, pilates and now i have my Wii (which is amazing exercise)

Laugh. A lot. You burn calories! That's all I can really suggest, because I don't exercise much on the account of sensitive skin and being allergic to my own sweat.

Don't skip breakfast, you'll feel awful! Even some cereal and juice will help, just fill your stomach with something. Gives your system a boost for the day.

If dieting is an absolute 'must' for you, set a 'let' day for yourself, once a week. You can eat whatever you want that day, while still maintaining your diet. It's much better than torturing yourself staring at that chocolate-chip cookie all day, right?

Pilates! They really work. I started doing that 20 minute workout 2-3 times a week for the past year (not religiously though) and have changed my body shape/size. I also lost 20lbs, but I think that was more from stress than exercise, but I did change my body shape, losing inches off the hips and waist with pilates. Went from a 32 inch waist to 28 1/2 (from size 10 to size 5). So I swear by the pilates. Also dancing. Dancing is great for cardio, and it is a fun way to keep fit.

My tips:

• Drink a lot of water every day. I'd suggest filling an empty bottle with water and put it next to you on your desk or something. This way you will probably automatically start drinking more water and once the bottle is empty, you can always refill it with more water.
• Body exercise, of course. Even going out for a (longer) walk helps, or going to fitness, take dancing classes. There are lots of ways to get extra body exercise.
• Don't eat too many snacks. I guess this is very obvious but people I know tend to eat a lot of (unhealthy) snacks. Eating healthy snacks is
  OK though. Things like carrots, cucumber or even whole grain biscuits.
• Eat more during breakfast than any other meals. Breakfast is the best important meal of the day. Oh yeah, don't skip breakfast.
• If you feel like eating a lot throughout the day, try chewing on sugarfree chewing gum instead.
• Try to eat as healthy as possible, and allow yourself to eat something really tasty (and, perhaps unhealthy) once in a while - like once a month or something.
• Don't eat fries more often than once a month.
• Try to bake your food in something like olive oil.
• Use the weighing scale once a week, not every day or ever other day. O

As many have already said, breakfast, breakfast, breakfast! I dropped about 30 lbs when I started eating a big sinfully fatty breakfast everyday. I'd always been one of those who would eat something way too big at night and then pass out in a big gelatenous lump for 8 hours. Now I go to bed with a hint of hunger in my tummy while I drift off to sleep fantasizing about Burger King croissantwiches... mmmm yum

And if you gotta have sweets... tootsie rolls, the little ones pack a big chocolate punch, give you lots of chewing, without being outragously fatty. And oh yeah POCKY is a great snack, you can find it in the international food section at most groceries.

I drink slim fast for one meal a day and eat healthy portions the rest of the day.
I excercise and drink lots of water.
I look and feel great, even though I'm still a lil over weight for my age lol.