Hi, I weigh about 165 and I'm 5'5. I know I need to lose weight. I'd like to lose about 30lbs or more. I know this is a generic question but how do I go about doing this. I thought of only eating 1300 calories a day and then going to the gym and working off 1300 calories but that doesn't seem right. I just want to stick to healthy foods and cardio exercise, not buying any diet programs. Can anyone help me? Maybe lose 10lbs in a month??

Here's a few suggestions:

Calculate your basic metabolic rate using one of the tools in the Tools forum. (It will probably be higher than 1,300.) Subtract about 15-20% from that, and you have your target calorie rate in order to create a deficit. 1,300 calories is pretty low, and if you count calories and portions carefully, you can be sure that you're taking in more than you think you are.

Reinforce that deficit with weight training (which burns an extra 75 calories at rest for every pound of muscle you put on) and at least half an hour of aerobic high-intensity training 3x or more a week.

If you make sure that you take in approximately 500 or less calories a week than you burn off, you should lose roughly around a pound of weight in that time period.

Try not to keep your calorie intake too low, or it will send your system into starvation mode and prevent your body from burning fat effectively.

You should see some results.

Are you saying that within a week if I burn 500 calories more than what I have taken in I should lose a pound a week?

You need a 500-calorie per day deficit to lose a pound a week.

IMHO, 10 pounds a month probably is too high to be sustainable. 1% of your body weight per week (so about 1.65 pounds a week) is more realistic.

What do you eat now?

Might not look simple... but it's only to get started, it get's easy once you've done this groundwork.

Working out how many cals to eat per day

Just do me one favour and don't eat too little. Here's how you work out how many calories you should be eating to lose weight:

Google "BMR" to get your Basal Metabolic Rate (how many calories to consume to maintain your weight if you were to lay about and do no exercise all day... then the Harris benedict equation (adds in your level of activity, to figure how many more calories you need due to how much you exercise) to get the amount of calories needed per day for you to maintain your weight on your average week (exercise included).

The general rule of thumb to LOSE 1 pound a week is to decrease your maintenance calories by 500, or to LOSE 2 pounds per weeks, decrease by 1000. NO MORE THAN THIS or you will NOT have energy for all your exercising and your body will not thank you!

Sometimes makes it a bit simpler if you figure out how many portions of each (protein, starch, veg, fruit, fat and dairy) you can have per day... then you can just set up a tick list of portions broken down into the meals/times you would usually eat them at.

Counting calories, the easy way

Calorie counting can get tiresome

I just go on average calories per portion...

1 starch = 70 (1 slice bread, half medium potato, half cup cooked grains(rice/quinoa)/pasta, 3 health type crackers.)

1 protein = 100 (1/3 of the flat solid part of your hand (palm) when it's facing up or about 100g / 1 cubic inch, or half a cup of pulses or beans like lentils or chickpeas)

1 fruit = 70 (1 cup fruit, small apple, small banana)

1 fat = 50 (1 tsp of any regular mayo/ creamy sauce/ oil/ butter/ margerine, double this for medium to lowfat variants, and 2 tblspns for light salad dressings)

1 veg = I don't count these, just keep yellow or starchy veg to 1 portion at at time.

1 dairy = 100 (these count as protein too. 1 cup lowfat milk, 1 cup yogurt, 1/2 cup cottage cheese)

So if you want to stay under 2000 per day... And keep your ratios:
Protein (includes dairy and beans and pulses) 40%
Carbs (includes your fruit and veg too) 40%
Fat 20%

To find out how many portions of protein you should eat per day, calculate 40% of 2000.
= 800 (this is how many calories of protein you should consume)
Divide it by 100 (1 portion), and the result is roughly 8 portions of protein per day, 3 of which are dairy.

To find out how many portions of carbs to eat, calculate 40% of 2000.
= 800 (this is how many calories of carbs you should consume)
I would take away about 100 cals to account for all the day's veg (as I do not count it), then split the rest of the portions between starch and fruit.
800 - 100 = 700
Divide by 70 to get number of portions (fruit and starch are the same amount of average calories)
700 / 70
This gives you 10 portions of carbs for the day. 6 portions should be starch and 4 should be fruit. (remember that fruit is often 2 fruit portions at a time, as with a biggish apple)

To find out how many portions of fat to eat, calculate 20% of 2000.
= 600 (this is how many calories of fats you should consume)
Divide this by 50 to get number of portions.
400 / 50 = 8
You should take in 8 portions of fat per day. (remember it includes the oils you cook with, and the fat content in all the rest of your foods...)

Phew, hope this is making sense!

Now you've got all your portions for the day:

Protein = 8 portions
Carbs = 10 portions
Fat = 8 portions

Break these up into the food groups as I had above:

Protein = 5 portions
Starch = 6 portions
Fruit = 4 portions
Fat = 8 portions
Dairy = 3 portions
Veg = unlimited (except for starchy or yellow/orange veg)

Now go work out a meal plan for yourself, picking and choosing portions and arranging them into whatever suits you (with your schedule!)

Really hope this helps!