I've been overweight most of my life. When I graduated college and got a desk job, I ate a lot of restaurant meals and packaged food, and got no exercise at all. I was 50 pounds overweight at one point. I never liked it - after all, nobody *wants* to be fat - but I never had much success with dieting. I could count calories for a while and lose some weight, but eventually I'd get tired of it and quit.

In recent years I'd managed to lose a little, but was still 30 pounds overweight. I'd quit trying to diet, and was just resigned to being a bit plump for the rest of my life. Unfortunately my bad eating habits finally caught up with me in the last year. I started feeling bloated all the time, and having vague pains in my stomach and side. I told my doctor about it at my annual checkup in May. He thought it could be gallbladder related, and told me to eat low-fat for a few months, and exercise.

At the time it seemed like a tall order. I like cheese, Tex-mex (particularly chips and queso) and fried food, and ate all of those pretty often, even though I knew it wasn't healthy. I was also a complete couch potato. Could I change? After all, I've tried (and abandoned) so many diets over the years. But my stomach pains were a motivator, so I decided to try.

I stopped eating the bad stuff: no more cheese, chips, or fried food. I ate lots of salads (dressing on the side), light sandwiches or wraps, and fruit instead of ice cream or sweets. I also threw out most of the packaged food I had, and quit eating processed food as much as possible. I still have treats now and then, but much less often than before - maybe only once a month. (For example, I love chocolate ice cream, but I no longer keep a tub of it in the freezer at home. Now it's a rare and special treat. I love to go to Amy's when I'm in Austin and have a tiny cup of Belgian Chocolate. Pure bliss!)

Exercising was a little tougher. When you're in the habit of NOT exercising, it takes some discipline to set aside time for it and actually DO it. And since I was completely out of shape, I got pretty tired after only 10 or 15 minutes of walking. I ended up writing a little fitness app for my iPhone to help me stick with it. And it's worked: now I'm up to a regular 20-30 minute walk-jog workout every other day. And I can actually run for short distances... that would have been impossible a few months ago.

I've been at it for 3 months now, and I've lost 20 pounds. I still have 10 more to go until I get to my "goal" weight, but I'm sure I'll get there; I continue to lose a pound every week or so. Sometimes I'm surprised that I'm still losing, because it doesn't feel like I'm dieting at all. The changes I've made to my diet don't feel like stop-gap measures I'm doing to lose weight; they're permanent changes to my way of eating. And I feel a lot better now too; no more stomach pains (except when I splurge on Mexican food).

Here are some suggestions if you're trying to lose weight:

• Start by making small changes. Replace some of the high-fat, unhealthy foods in your diet with healthier choices. Make small changes, and commit to sticking with it for 30 days. After then, you may find that you've developed the habit of eating that way, and won't miss the old foods at all. (And if not, you can re-evaluate things after 30 days.)
• Eat more of the fruits & veggies that you like. Whole foods are so much better for you than all that processed junk. But healthy or not, if you don't like brussels sprouts or cauliflower, there's no point in trying to force yourself to eat it. Pick the fruits & veggies you do like, and eat more of them.
• Occasional treats are ok. You're less likely to feel deprived if you can still enjoy your favorites now and then. But not too often, and not too much. The first few bites of anything are usually the best, so have a small amount... and savor every bite.
• Exercise. You might be able to lose some weight by cutting calories, but it'll probably be difficult and slow going if you aren't exercising too. Exercise primes the body's weight-loss engine; it keeps your metabolism revved up when calorie-reduction would otherwise slow it down. And exercising is pretty easy (walking is good, and it's free); the hardest part is often just putting on your shoes and starting.

Of course, there are easily as many successful diets as there are dieters. You have to find what works for you. Here are a couple of other sites I found inspiring:

• Zen to Slim: A Simple, 5-Step Weight Loss Plan
• 30 Days to Success
• The Hacker's Diet - it's a bit of a long read, but it might appeal if you're a geek and/or like to crunch numbers. Don't miss the part about trends; this shows how you should ignore daily fluctuations on the scale, and instead pay more attention to the overall trend.

I also used several iPhone apps to help me lose weight:

• FitLevel is the one I wrote. It's basically just a workout timer, but you earn points as you work out, and can level up if you get enough points in one week.
• WeightBot is a cute weight-tracking app by the guys at Tapbots. Tap to record your weight each day; rotate the phone to view progress charts and extra info.
• LoseIt is a free calorie-counting app, which I didn't use much (I didn't count calories), but it has a built-in nutrition database that I sometimes found useful. (And if you want to count calories, LoseIt is the app for you.)

There are also about a bazillion weight loss books on the market, which I won't even go into. :) I didn't use a book, although I have an old copy of Thin for Life that I enjoyed re-reading; it's full of inspirational stories from people who lost weight and kept it off.