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Originally Posted by hoob
I pretty much agree with everything that pleasureplay said, but what he didn't say is how to decide how many calories you are actually eating, how to measure it, etc.
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i think that telling someone to know thier daily caloric requirements, the exact number of calories per day they eat, calories per meal and how many grams of protein/fat/carbs is in each meal/day, is VERY specific. almost all foods have nutritional info - if not, buy The Encyclopedia of Food Counts by Corrine Netzer (sp?) or go to USDA.gov and look it up and the values and it is also helpful to buy a food scale for greater accuracy.
using some measurement like "the palm of my hand" which some diets recommend, does nothing to give someone a solid understanding of what they are eating, its caloric content and how many grams of protein/carbs/fats is in it. furthermore, it robs someone of the abilitity to accurately reduce or increase their fat, protein or carb intake which is often necessary. how do you measure fat intake at all this way? you can't. you can only guess and hope... and when every gram matters and a single tablespoon of oil (110 cals @ 9 calories per gram = 12 grams) with a single meal, can put a small person over their daily fat requirements, guessing is not an option.
substituting foods for other foods is fine as a general idea... but still, we are talking about how to lose fat... people as a general rule, tend to substitute with foods with similar content/calories because it is what their body is craving... i.e. they eat less fried food and then eat more olives, peanuts etc etc ending up with no net change in calorie intake and satisfied their craving for fat. i am not saying its not a good thing to eat those types of fats, i am saying that must know at all times how much you are eating to the gram. its too easy to substitute food a with food b and have no net change in total calories and macronutrient values. its quite possible to substitute foods for what you "think" is "natural" or "better for you" and end up eating more calories than you thought or than there are in the food you thought was worse for you.
doing it the way i described, fully educates a person and gives them a solid understanding what they were eating wrong, what they should be eating and how they always need to eat, so that they may change their life forever.