41 year old male needing to lose 10-30 pounds

Welcome! Sounds like a familiar story... I'm a 45 year old male, with 2 kids aged 15 & 17, and have been married for 20 years. After talking to my wife, I just decided to track my calories on MFP. Once I decided that, I thought why not lose 15 pounds? Then, I thought, okay... why not lose 20 pounds? I've always been happy at 170-175 pounds and have been there for 20 years. But I decided I want to be at 155, which is where I should be at 5'7". I like the idea of looking slim.

So, set your weight loss goal (I set mine at 1/2 pound a week) and watch the weight drop off. However, I've already had spans of 7-10 days where the scale doesn't drop at all - you just need to keep on the plan and it will drop and you will feel good. Your weight can vary quite a bit from one day to the next. I don't call it a diet, I call it a 'food plan'.

Here's a tip... Don't eat all your exercise calories back. I try to only eat 1/2 back, but sometimes I eat none of them and sometimes I eat all of them.

I've been doing this for just 42 days, but already feel like an 'expert'. I've lost 8 pounds so far. The first 5 went quick. Yes, I hit Costco at least once a week lately. I try to stay away from the highly processed foods & junk food. My wife is doing MFP too, so we try to keep most junk food out of the house. However, when we've had some I just log it and try to plan for it. On Valentines day I had a 70 calorie piece of chocolate - just one. When you are trying to stay to 1800 calories, 70 calories is a lot when you get nothing from it. I try to eat calories that will keep me satisfied. I don't like being hungry. However, when I'm hungry I just imagine the fat cells getting used up!

When I know that I'll be eating a large number of calories, I plan ahead, eat a light lunch and avoid snacks. The hardest part is eating a large lunch. It's no fun if it's 7:00 at night, your hungry, and don't have any calories left.