First let me say Thanks for the great comments!
Basically I just figured out how many calories I needed to maintain the weight I was at and then cut it down by 1000. So that put me at about 1550 calories per day.
And of course I added in exercise. But not right away. I first wanted to make sure that I had the eating part down before I threw in another curve-ball.
Of course I did try to eat some of the "old" things that I use to eat and found out real fast that I wouldn't be able to eat as much as (actual food wise) I wanted. So I quickly went from eating a Cheeseburger at McDonalds to eating the Grilled Snack Wrap w/o sauce. That little move saved me about 150 calories. I then did this with everything I ate. I started to "measure" things by how much would I be able to eat in calories. For example: Someone at work offered me a dove chocolate. Now on the whole a dove chocolate wouldn't be that bad for you, if you weren't only eating 1550 cals a day. Those little chocolates can be as much as 45 calories each!!! That equaled out to my being able to have 1 1/2 cups of California Blend or 4 1/2 jellos. When you see how small the chocolate is compared to how much the veggies would fill you up or how much more jello you can have it just wasn't worth it to me.
That is basically what my mind set is for this journey.
I also keep a food journal. And if I do have one of those chocolates I definately record it. That way I know exactly where my cals for the day went, when later on I am so very hungry.
Hope this explains it all. LOL I know I am a bit long winded. You should see me in real time! LOL
Oh and I almost forgot.
I have averaged about 1-2 pounds a week since Aug 6, 2007. Give or take. Some weeks were better than others (4 # loss one week and nothing the next) but on a whole I was always in a downward trend.
Good Luck with your journey!

__________________