I have (deliberately) lost some weight in the past year. While I am in no way a health expert, I thought I'd share my experience. I recognize that the idea of dieting is fraught with issues of patriarchy, consumerism, etc.

Let me begin by saying that I was "playing on easy". I've never been obese, and indeed in my youth I was downright scrawny. Most of my life I've been able to get away with eating like a teenager. That said, middle age was finally catching up -- clothes weren't fitting and my gut was unflat -- so I decided to go on a diet.

It still took almost 9 months to lose 23 pounds. There were certainly days when I was hungry but chose to stop eating. I suppose this is the way to get the body to dig into its fat reserves.

I used the Lose It! calories tracker, which has a clean, cheerful interface. I also weighed in every day at the same time under the same conditions. As you can see in the graph, there was a lot of variability -- sometimes I appeared to gain or lose several pounds in one day. The last few pounds also took a long time. Of course, holiday feasts take a toll, but it's important to stay in it for the long game.

Portion control is important. Measuring things out helped. Michelina's frozen lunches are good (and also have the advantage of using no plastic packaging).

Hard candy occupied my taste buds without the risk of absently throwing back a bag of chips or candy in one sitting. Air-popped popcorn filled up space in my stomach with mostly air.

Restaurant food is devastating. Even the basic fast food meal takes up most of a day's allotted calories. I don't know how anyone gets through those Triple Bacon Cardiac Annihilators unless their jobs involve a huge amount of physical exertion.

Exercise is good for a lot of reasons ("a celebration of what your body can do, not punishment for what you ate"), but a long dog walk isn't going to burn off a cheeseburger.

Activities that fully engage me (like programming or video games) would make it easier to avoid snacking.

I hope this is helpful to anyone who chooses (for the right reasons) to lose weight.