healthy food options.

100 pounds in 8 months would be about 3 pounds per week. Most doctors recommend a rate of around 1-2 pounds per week. It will probably take you longer than 8 months to lose 100 pounds in a healthy manner.

The most important thing is a calorie deficit. It doesn't matter whether you eat your calories in three meals, six meals, or one giant meal. Some people prefer three meals a day and a few snacks, but I prefer to eat five or six smaller meals throughout the day.

My advice is to cut out sugary drinks like soda and juice. A lot of people notice a good amount of weight loss just by cutting these alone. Drink lots of water!

For food, just go with what you like! I love making things like chicken with brown rice and broccoli for dinner because it's easy, cheap, and delicious. I also don't deprive myself of things I enjoy eating. I had two chocolate chip cookies at Subway yesterday (210 calories each) because they fit into my daily calorie allotment. And if I'm going out to eat somewhere, I determine how many calories I'll be eating at that meal and eat less during the day before then. Portion control and moderation are definitely important!

Good luck!

Actually, you may be able to lose fairly rapidly at first, if you're 100 pounds overweight. Expect the weight loss to slow, though, the closer you get to your healthy weight.

"Eat whatever you like" is only good so far as it goes. Eating just a little bit of pizza instead of a full meal including protein and carbs is going to leave you unsatisfied and much more likely to snack or binge. Most of us don't have the self-control to feel hungry all day every day, and there's no need to make things harder on yourself.

I use steamer bags of vegetables or pasta/rice and vegetables and add a protein. Just remember when logging that most of those bags are not labeled as one serving! Stir fry has also been my friend. Lots and lots of veggies and whatever protein you want (I use tofu, most people use chicken); easy to weigh each ingredient right before you toss it in the pan. Served with brown rice, it's low-cal and you can have quite a bit of it to fill you up.

I eat when I'm hungry. Three months ago, that was three meals and two snacks per day. These days I often skip one of the snacks. Some people just eat one big meal per day, which seems bizarre to me, but if it works for them, hallelujah.

For me, fullness-enhancing foods are protein and veggies with fiber, so I focus on them, and eat less of things that do not keep me full, like regular bread.

http://www.nutrition.org.uk/healthyliving/fuller/understanding-satiety-feeling-full-after-a-meal.html

...Tips on how to feel fuller

So how can we best try to enhance these feelings of fullness to help us control how much we eat? Here are some top tips for helping you feel fuller:

• Foods high in protein seem to make us feel fuller than foods high in fat or carbohydrate, so including some protein at every meal should help keep you satisfied. Foods high in protein include meats such as chicken, ham or beef, fish, eggs, beans and pulses.
• If you are watching your weight, opt for lower fat versions, using leaner cuts of meat, cutting off visible fat and avoiding the skin on poultry as this will help reduce the energy density of the diet, which can help to enhance satiety (see below).
• Foods that are high in fibre may also enhance feelings of fullness so try to include plenty of high-fibre foods in the diet such as wholegrain bread and cereals, beans and pulses and fruit and vegetables.
• Alcohol seems to stimulate appetite in the short-term and therefore drinking alcohol is likely to encourage us to eat more. Alcoholic beverages can make you forget about your intentions to eat healthily by making you lose your inhibitions. Alcoholic drinks are also calorific, so you should cut down on alcohol consumption if you are trying to control your weight.
• The ‘energy density’ of food has a strong influence on feelings of fullness or satiety. Energy density is the amount of energy (or calories) per gram of food. Lower energy density foods provide less energy per gram of food so you can eat more of them without consuming too many calories. Low energy density foods include fruit and vegetables, foods with lots of water added when cooking such as soups and stews, and lower fat foods. Click here for more information on energy density.

You didn't ask for advice on what to eat or meal planning, but what I found really helpful was to log (or simply think through and write down) how I was eating when gaining weight (or maintaining an overweight state). It was a simple way to understand what I was doing wrong: for me, too much snacking on foods I didn't even care about (emotional eating), poor planning so that I'd often buy a bagel for breakfast, which wasn't satiating for me, poor planning so that I wouldn't have anything to eat in the house when tired after work and could easily justify ordering food (Indian is my weakness), and the idea when I went out to dinner that it was a special occasion so I could indulge even though I go out to eat 1-2x/week.

I fixed this by planning ahead: I have a couple of regular breakfasts I alternate through that are satiating (because they include a good bit of protein, mostly), I have mostly eliminated unplanned snacking (at first this was hard so I let myself snack on low calorie things like raw veggies and berries and just logged them), I kept my main meals which were pretty balanced and continue to focus on including protein and vegetables as the main part of them, I plan better so I have food in the refrigerator I can cook quickly that fits my plan, and I still go out to eat the same amount but don't ignore serving size or calories when I do, but make it fit in my plan.

Having been where you are myself (290lbs to 160lbs). I would start by saying, walking/jogging everyday became very hard on my knees. I would recommend adding 3 bike ride days per week for the same time as your average walk, stationary bikes work just fine. As far as nutrition, I have found out that some things are universal and others are individualized. This http://scoobysworkshop.com/weight-loss-meal-planner/ is a good place to start though. It helped me tremendously.