This is all about simple things that work and don't cost a lot of money.  Sounds OK so far?  Thought so.  That's what you'll find here.  If it doesn't make sense to me, or is expensive, you won't see it here.

     I've had a long battle to control my weight. I'm doing ok with it, and want you to as well.  There are limitless plans and diets, pills, powders, etc. that offer the ultimate solution to weight control, but they mostly have one thing in common.  You're gonna pay somebody something for them.  What I do, (and that's all I'm saying here) is what I call Targeted Calorie Eating.

First of all, you need to make sure you're in good health before you go monkeying around with your diet/exercise, so be sure to talk to your Dr. before making any major changes, particularly if you have any health problems in the first place.

That being said, I looked around and came up with a rough figure that, with average movement during the day, you probably need about 13 times your body weight in calories during a day to approximately maintain your existing weight.  This isn't a scientific formula here, just something that sorta works for me.  For example, I currently weigh about 181 lbs.  181x13=2353.  That's kind of a rough number that I target to maintain that weight.  If I expend extra energy during a day, I give myself a bit more leeway.  I use 1 mile running @100 extra calorie allotment.  I also add that for about 1 hour general yard work, etc.  It's just rough, so you can play with it to see what works for you.  If you are at, for example, 181, and you want to go to, let's say, 175, you need to look at your calories needed to maintain 175 (175x13=2275), so you need to run a little bit of a calorie deficit.  If you set your weight goals in small increments like that, you don't make yourself crazy or walk around hungry all the time.  The difference between the two is only about 75 calories.  That's about 3/4 of an average banana, so we're not talking big sacrifices here.  You can achieve a calorie deficit in two ways: Eat a little less or Move around a little more.

      I've found that it helps me to keep a log of all caloric intake.   Particularly when you are just starting to pay attention to such things, it helps.  Things like salad dressings, butter, catsup, etc.  really sneak up on you, calorie-wise, and can bump your daily caloric intake way up before you realize it.  Keeping a log of everything you eat really helps give you perspective on what you actually consume during a day.  There is a calorie gadget on this blog that you can use, or you can use Caloriecount.about.com.  It gives you a lot of information and keeps track over time of info that you put in, if you want a history for reference.