To achieve weight loss, should I just eat less?

Eating less may be a great start to losing weight, but it isn't a comprehensive approach and it has it's drawbacks. When you simply eat less food, your likely to find yourself hungry after meals instead of feeling satiated. This is because your body is used to consuming a larger portion of food.

In terms of changing eating habits to promote weight loss, I would focus on the following:
1. Increase meal frequency. Shoot for 4-6 meals a day (which is about every 3 hours, snacks included).
2. Decrease the portion size of these meals. You aren't necessarily eating less, you are just spreading out the food you do eat into more meals. Use the size of your fist as a reference.
3. Balance your meals. Make sure each meal has a source of complex carbohydrates, healthy, unsaturated fats, and complete protein. (If you really want to get technical, track your food using online software and shoot for specific ratios regarding the macronutrients. A good place to start is 60% carbs, 20% protein and 20% fats).

Most people have acquired a taste for high density, fatty foods. Because of this, it will take some time for you body to adjust to more balanced meals. Additionally, not all macronutrients are created equal. It takes a lot more energy for your body to break down and utilize protein than it does for carbohydrates.

Achieving healthy, sustainable weight loss is about more than just 'eating less'. It’s about sticking to a balanced, sound nutrition program and exercising more.

Eating less may be a good place to START because these small changes may not feel dramatic, and you will likely lose weight because you are now eating fewer calories than before. However, changing the quality of foods you eat will have a better long term impact on weight loss and weight maintenance. It's important that your hunger is kept at bay and that you have optimal amounts of energy to move more (the other side of the weight loss equation). Eating less to start with and moving in baby steps toward higher volume, lower calorie nutrient dense food choices will keep you feeling better, satiated and more active.

To achieve weight loss you need to consume less calories than you expend. Eating less can certainly help. However, when people restrict calories too much they often lose lean body mass. A loss of lean body mass is not desired because it weakens the organs and muscles, and also slows down metabolism. Research has also shown that the combination of both diet and exercise leads to much greater weight loss. Exercise also appears to be the best predictor of long-term weight management.

So, before you go restricting too many calories and eliminating certain food groups from your diet, first take a look at what improvements you can make to your eating habits. Substitute poor nutritional choices for more healthful choices. Include a wide variety of whole grains, fresh fruit and vegetables, lean protein sources, beans, and low fat dairy products. These foods will provide you with more nutrients and fewer calories than fast food options and other less healthful choices.

Participating in 60 to 90 minutes of physical activity is also recommended on most days of the week for successful long-tem weight loss. This can involve any type of activity that increases your heart rate and breathing rate, and should be an activity you enjoy such as playing with your children, walking your dog, meeting a friend for a brisk walk, or participating in an exercise class at your local gym.

For weight loss the goal is to create a daily caloric deficit. Although eating less is one way to do this, we recommend you achieve your caloric deficit through a combination of eating less and moving more.

To acheive weight loss, No, you should not just eat less.

You should concentrate on eating smaller portions of healthy foods more frequently throughout your day.

And always start your day with a good healthy breakfast.

This is important to get your matabolism up.

Combine that with exercise and good quality sleep and it will help you acheive weight loss.

To achieve weight loss you must burn more calories than you take in.  Yes you need to eat less but you don't want to cut your calories too low where you are not feeding your body properly.  Too few calories can cause slower metabolism, decrease energy and mood swings to name a few.  Just make sure you are getting your 5-6 small meals a day and keeping your deficit at 500 calories a day and you will see the results you are looking for.

You can certainly lose weight by eating less if you’re eating fewer calories than you burn. However, you’ll likely find yourself feeling deprived because of the smaller quantity of food. Instead, replace higher calorie options with lower ones so you get more food with fewer calories. Whole grains, 100% whole wheat products, bran products, fruit, vegetables and beans have more nutrients and fewer calories than refined foods, fried foods, baked goods and processed snack foods (chips, crackers, pretzels, etc.).

I can just about guarantee you'll have to eat less food to lose weight - and you'll need to do a few other things too. And, of course the devil is in the details!  How do you know it's less? How much is enough? What does my body need to lose or maintain weight? The magic answer to all of these questions is "food logging." Take in about 500-750 calories/day less than you are estimated to burn, add about 30 minutes of activity (as a bonus "burn" and a mood enhancer and health benefit), and watch that scale move!