I dropped 10lbs and 1.5 inches around my waist so far since the beginning of Dec by eating a net of 1500 calories a day. I tracked everything I eat and worked out. I also spent 20 minutes on the exercise bike three times a week which burned about 180 calories leaving me a bit more to eat for dinner ;-)

At the end of the day there is no magic bullet to losing weight but the good news is that there is no magic at all. Just eat less calories than you burn. Honestly, eat 3500 less calories than you burn over a given time frame and you will lose 1lb.

You can check an estimate of your basal metabolic rate here:

http://health.discovery.com/tools/ca...sal/basal.html

You can see different activities and what they burn here:

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/exercise/SM00109

If you have an iphone, Shape up will let you track your calories and progress. If not, type in calorie counting in google and pick any of the million sites there that have the info and allow you to track your progress.

Don't weigh yourself daily as water retention is all you will track. Take measurements such as body fat percentage or waist line measurements at the beginning to see your progress. Take the waist, arm, and leg measurements somewhere that you can easily replicate. I made the mistake of having someone else do it and now every measurement is a guesstimate as to where we did it the last time ;-)

Lift weights... I know it seems counterproductive to losing weight but here is the interesting part. Muscle burns more calories than fat. So if you look at it this way, having more muscle mass on you is like your salary where doing cardio is more like a bonus. If you build a good base of muscle you will burn more calories constantly.

Let me know if you have any questions.