James:
Perhaps you should focus on changing your eating habits permanently rather than dieting as a way to lose weight.
Diet has such a negative connotation. Too often we go on a diet, get to where we want and then gain back all that weight -- and more.
Changing eating habits works better. Several have already suggested reducing serving sizes, cutting out seconds and junk food and reducing or eliminating alcohol (empty calores -- but don't they taste good at times!).
Here are several more suggestions:
1. Use a smaller plate. When we use a regular-sized plate, we tend to fill the entire plate up.
2. Eat lean chicken and fish -- baked or grilled -- rather than fried. Portion sizes should be about 3-4 oz. (the size of a deck of cards), rather than the usual 8-12 ounces you see in restaurants.
3. Eliminate or reduce fats. Use salsa on baked potatoes instead of butter. Replace oils with heart-healthy oils (canola, olive oil, sunflower oil).
4. Drink at least 3 servings of low-fat or nonfat milk a day. The calcium helps remove fat. (Saw a study on this on TLC or the Discovery Health channel.) If you can't take the taste of skim milkl, try 2%, then drop to 1%. I took me a while to get to the taste of skim milk, but I did it cold turkey.
5. Choose fresh fruit for desserts. The 94% fat-free popcorn makes a good snack. Eating one of the snack-size packages about 1 hour before dinner will help fill you up and keep you from eating as much.
6. It's hard to resist our favorite foods. You do NOT have to give up on treats, but they should be just that: a treat, rather than a meal.
Also, our taste buds become "jaded" after 3-4 bites of something. The first few bites taste heavenly; after that we're on auto-pilot. A lot of those treats are heavy-duty on fats, sugar, etc., which pile on the calories.
7. Build a meal on more than just 3 items (1 meat and 2 vegetables). I've reduced the size of the meat portion and increased veggie servings. It's basically the same amount of food, but adding bulk rather than fat.