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Message: <blockquote data-quote="ragboy" data-source="post: 2179678" data-attributes="member: 4151">I researched this at the beginning of the year. The most logical approach I found has been talked about here, some, but entails a lifestyle change and losing no more than 3-4 lbs per month (about a pound a week). This prevents your body from going into 'fast' mode where you retain your fat stores, and the food/activity change is gradual enough that you don't even really notice it.  I have a whole program I constructed from various health sources. My goals may be different from yours, but the long and short of it was:  1 - Figure out your ideal body weight (YOURS, not a generic person of your height)2 - Figure out your metabolism (again, your particular rate of burning calories - taking any planned regular physical activity into account.) Once you know these two, and given the amount of energy needed to burn a pound of fat, you can then:  3 - Build a weekly 'menu' that includes enough calories per day to maintain your current weight minus 1 pound and ensure that it's balanced between Protein, Fat, and Carbs (there's a formula out there) 4 - Include an 'activity' plan to keep your metabolism at the rate you need it to be to sustain weight loss. 5 - Stick to it.  I built a menu and a variety of regular exercise that rolls over every month to ensure I don't get bored. Since the first of the year, I'm meeting all of my goals. What's interesting is that when I built my plan above, I found that I wasn't eating enough food on a regular basis throughout the day to prevent being ravenous at dinner. I was skipping breakfast, eating a light lunch, a bad snack then gorging for dinner. Contrary to what many have said here, what I found in research and over the last three months for myself was that if I eat about six small meals per day, then I'm almost never hungry. And water. Lots of water. Flushes out the system, keeps your metabolism going, and if you're increasing your physical activity, lack of water can actually harm your body more than not exercising at all.  Edit: Oh! And on what Bryan said -- Figure out your fat to muscle ratio in step one above. And continue to track it every month or so. Once you get that ratio to where you want it, you don't care about losing weight any more. Then you have to decide if you want to continue to accumulate muscle mass or hold steady. The beauty of the system above is that you know how your body is working and you can mold it to your goals by adjusting food/activity levels. Anyway...good point Bryan...  Good luck!</blockquote>

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