friends

Hi Jody. Lean meat, chicken and fish are the best, not hotdogs or processed lunch meats.
Lose the starches, (potatoes, pasta, rice, dried beans, and breads, cakes, and cookies) and sugars.
Go green, as in vegetables. Make me a friend and you can see what I am eating, and I usually am under 1200 calories. Once you stop the insulin/sugar/insulin merry-go-round you won't be hungry. Read labels and try not to eat anything over 5 grams of carbs regularly, only occasionally. Try to stay under 50 carbs/ day and only worry about trans fats, the others you need to digest the protein.
I found that if I find something with a similar texture I am okay. Like I eat pork skins instead of crackers or chips, fried zucchini instead of fried potatoes. I eat lots of eggs.
Broccoli and cauliflower are staples. Brats and sauer kraut, but brats not hot dogs. Cheese, all kinds of cheese. Butter, just not on bread. What used to be a staple becomes a treat, but, honey, a half a baked potato never tasted so good, and you can load it with butter, sour cream and cheese. I find that anything I used to put on crackers also is good on a piece of celery, including tuna fish salad, peanut butter, grated cheese and miracle whip, cheese balls of all kinds. Remember you aren't cutting out carbs, just counting them and choosing which ones you really want to eat in a day.Try stay under 50/day, When you have that down you should have less of an appetite, then, work on portion control and calorie counting. I hope this helps. EmmyBee