Most people get caught into the idea that fad diets and starving themselves is the only way to lose weight, but that is simply not true. Healthy weight loss is the only way to keep weight off for life, and this involves making some lifestyle changes that can be maintained for years to come.
Firstly, you need to understand healthy weight loss. You will lose weight when you eat less calories then you burn. Simple. For this, it is recommended that you cut 500 calories from your daily caloric in-take and burn 500 extra calories every day by taking up exercise. This will lead to a two pound weight loss over one week, which is the maximum amount of weight you should be losing in one week.
Space out your meals, and include three snacks. This will stop your blood sugar from dipping too low at any point during the day, and discourage binge snacking when it gets too low. Also, keep water on hand. Most of the time we mistake thirst for hunger, so drinking water before you eat anything is a good way of making sure you only eat when you are hungry. Make changes in your pantry, removing full fat milk for skimmed milk, and buying low fat options for as many of your staples as possible. Stop eating high sugar cereals, and use high fiber ones. Also, stock your pantry with grains and healthy pasta, as well as remove all high fat snacks you may have in your cupboards.
Make sure you eat carbohydrates, proteins, fat and fiber in your daily meals. Cutting out any one of these will result in your depriving yourself of needed nutrients. Aim to have about 50% carbohydrates in your daily diet, eat no more than 30 grams of fat every day, and eat at least 30 grams of fiber every day. This will keep your regular, and encourage healthy weight loss.
The next step is exercise. Make sure you start off by getting thirty minutes of exercise every day seven days a week. After a week or so, change this to forty five minutes, and keep increasing till you hit one hour. Make sure you do different types of exercises every day, work out different body parts, and keep your body guessing as to which exercise will happen next as this will discourage your weight from plateau-ing. You can do this by walking every alternate day, taking up yoga some days, and doing strength training on some days in the week. Make sure you work out all body parts to ensure every muscle group gets a good workout.
Stay motivated, and understand that you will not be able to maintain this healthy weight loss if you think of it as a "diet" that you "go on" and "come off". This is a lifestyle change, and you need to make sure that any changes you make are ones that you can live with your entire life. Don't restrict yourself from eating anything; instead focus on controlling how much you eat. It is ok to eat a donut once in a while, as long as you realize that you cannot eat a donut every day