I've got a situation which might probably benefit from being discussed here.
One year ago, due to a long term foot condition (plantar faciitis), I had to stop doing martial arts entirely. Since them, my exercise amounts to some biking here and there. I have therefore gained a little weight.
To be perfectly realistic, I wouldn't mind losing maybe 15-20 LBS. I would like to modify my eating habits to do so. Here's my plan, I'd like to know what people think. It might also be a good occasion for us all to discuss diets in general and previous experiences of our own.
First of all, what I eat: The quality of what I eat is already not too bad. I avoid greasy fast food like the devil, and I try to limit the "healthy" restaurants as much as I can.(Subway sandwiches, Lebanese grills, Vietnamese restaurants are my three favorite). I almost never drink soda/soft drinks, I drink very little alcohol (one glass every 2 months or so). I never eat candy, only eat (a bit of) dark semi-sweet chocolate and I'm not a fan of chips either.
My three biggest problems are:
-I eat way too big portions.
-I much often between meals, generally cookies or crackers
-(Worst one) I have very irregular sleep and wake often at night. Around 3AM I am usually tempted by a slice of bread of 2-3 cookies.
My resolutions would be:
-Stop the night-snacks, that's an obvious.
-Eat smaller portions, eat slowly. Allow my stomach to register that there is stuff incoming and stop when it's reasonable, even if I still hunger. About 15 minutes after I stopped my last bite, the hunger passes.
-Keep munching because that's what helps me NOT eat a ton of food at meals, but replace the cookies by a random fruit/veggie.
-Drink lots of water.
Also, I tried to cut a little on meat and bread and replace with veggies.