Reddit reviews BookFactory Food Journal/Small Food Diary Logbook/Diet Journal Notebook/Book, 120 Pages - 3 1/2 x 5 1/4" (Pocket Sized), Durable Thick Translucent Cover, Wire-O Binding (JOU-120-M3CW-A (Food))

http://www.amazon.com/BookFactory%C2%AE-Journal-Diary-Notebook-JOU-120-M3CW/dp/B00BCNM55C

Warning: wall of text, plus links. For some reason your post resonated with me, and I want to help you. So here goes.

Food is the most important thing. Your base metabolic rate is probably upwards of 4000 calories per day. If you can run a deficit of 1000 calories per day, on average, you can lose an average of 2 pounds per week. Losing 1-2 pounds per week is slow and steady, but considered healthy, safe, and will not cause you to "bounce back". Some people here will advocate other methods but this has worked for me.

So, how do you run a caloric deficit? I paid a lot of money for a nutritionist, but what she taught me can be broken down into a few basic ideas.

1. LOTS OF VEGETABLES. Seriously, make friends with your oven. Roasted vegetables saved my life. I eat it 4-5 times per week for dinner. In the beginning I would just cut up a roasting pan full of vegetables, and experiment with different ones to find which ones I like. I would just toss them in some olive oil (I don't do that part anymore) put some seasonings on them (I would choose salt free seasoning blends, like italian blend, or chinese or indian spice blends). Cut up the veggies and spread them out on the roasting pan (you can line the pan with tin foil to save some clean up), queeze half a lemon over the top of it all, and put it in the oven at 400ºF for 30-40 minutes. It's a huge meal, but only like 500-750 calories depending on what you put in it. Typical for me would be cauliflower, cubed yams or sweet potato (like a half a potato or yam, you don't want too much starch), some Brussels sprouts cut in halves, maybe some mini sweet peppers and a few cherry tomatoes, butternut squash (you can find it pre-cut in the supermarket), carrots. Salads are good but they get boring. Someone on this subreddit said "if you're not hungry enough to eat a salad, you're not actually hungry" and I found that to be pretty useful to remember, early on. I also love this simple recipe, takes no effort and is an easy clean up - I have kabocha for lunch or dinner, 3-4 times per week! And tuna fish - instead of mayo, use half an avocado. You'll be surprised, I was.
   
   
2. Eat a good healthy breakfast - every damn day. In the beginning of my weight loss I would have 2-3 egg whites, scrambled or in an omelet (no cheese!). Plus a regular size container of greek yogurt, with a teaspoon of chia seeds and a teaspoon of agave (for sweetness instead of sugar). Now I have one or the other, not both. Sometimes I would have a small bowl of plain oatmeal (1/3 cup) with berries instead of the yogurt, for variety.
   
   
3. Have plenty of fruit (and only fruit) in the house for snacks. Frozen berries are the best. You can eat a small bowl full of frozen berries as a dessert, and it's like 70-90 calories. Frozen cherries are also a good dessert - 90-100 calories in a small bowl of them! Bananas are higher in calories, but again - in the beginning it's about developing good habits, so do what you can.
   
   
4. Don't go too long in between meals. You'll get too hungry and end up eating too much, if you wait too long. 4 hours should be the max between a meal and at least a snack (the aforementioned fruit).
   
   
5. Eat mindfully. Meaning, think about what you are eating, before you eat it. If you eat for emotional comfort, ask yourself if you will really feel better after eating that thing, or worse? When you think about it, you realize you hate being fat more than you like the temporary comfort of bad foods. This has saved me from bad decisions on many occasions.
   
   
6. Eliminate as much meat as possible from your diet. I'm not saying you have to go vegetarian (I already suggested eating egg whites, which isn't a vegetable), but realize that calorie-wise, meats - chicken, pork, beef - pack a lot of calories into a small amount of food. The palm of your hand is ONE SERVING of meat! Get your protein from the yogurt, the egg whites, from green leafy vegetables, and from beans (not sugary baked beans) rather than from meat, as much as possible. You'll feel way more full eating a huge bowl of vegetables than you will eating a palm-sized piece of chicken breast.
   
   
7. Track what you eat. This ties in with mindfulness. I use the LoseIt app now, but I didn't in the beginning. When I first started out I just got a small notebook and I would write down everything I ate each day. I didn't worry about counting calories, I just worried about following the above rules and by writing it all down (being honest with myself and never lying in the book is important!) I became more mindful of what I was eating, and stopped eating crap. After a while I got used to writing it down, it became a habit. Then I switched to the LoseIt app, and started measuring everything, and recording it in the app in detail. That helped me in the next phase, where I am now down to 1500-1700 calories per day (keep in mind that your base metabolic rate will go down as you slim down, and to keep that 1000 calorie deficit you have to lower your max calories per day). But don't worry about all that right now - if you just start small and write things down, it will help a lot in terms of mindfulness, and in developing the habit that you can apply to a calorie-counting app later on.
   
   
8. Last but not least. Get in 20-30 minutes of cardio exercise per day. Walk at a vigorous pace (faster than a stroll but slower than a run) if that's all you can do. Make it a family thing, if you can - having team mates helps a lot. Plus, you will teach your son great habits by example, that will last him a lifetime and help prevent him from getting in the same situation as you are in today. Also, it is quality time you can spend with your significant other and son, going for a daily walk.
   
   The exercise at first isn't really a big part of losing weight, because you won't be burning a significant amount of calories at first, but it will help you feel healthier and it will help you want to do all the other things in terms of sticking to a good diet. Later on, as you lose some weight, you will feel more motivated to exercise more vigorously. In addition to cardio, you might want to start strength training. I highly recommend the TRX, but it's expensive and you said money is tight, well you're in luck - you can make your own for less than $20 worth of gear that you can get at Home Depot. And you can watch some of these free videos that show you how to use it properly.
   
   I really hope this helps you, brother. I want to see you succeed! 8 months ago I was 350 pounds and felt completely hopeless. I started in February with all of what I am telling you. Today I am 72 pounds lighter, and am looking forward to making it to my goal weight by May of next year. I have been losing 1.98 pounds per week on average, and I only exercise about 2 or 2.5 hours per week (I have been steadily increasing it over time, and will continue to do so.) I have a better relationship with food, I no longer obsess about it, I no longer starve all day and then eat huge fast food dinners. My posture is better. My confidence is better. I have thrown out all my 4x and 3x shirts. I actually am starting to feel pretty damn good, I must say!
   
   You can do the same, I am certain of it! It is a mathematical certainty that if you run a caloric deficit you WILL lose weight. Figuring out a good system that you can stick with is the hardest part. Once you get a system going, you will succeed.
   
   Edit: crap, I knew I was forgetting something. WATER. Drink lots of it. In fact, drink only water from now on. Juices, sodas, or any of that diet crap will just mess with your metabolism. You need lots of water to keep hydrated, flush out your system, and it's really super important. Minimum of 64oz per day (2 large bottles of water) but really you should drink more if you can.