29 pounds lost since August... wanna know what I'm doing?

As someone who has spent years kinda yo-yo dieting and not being able to stay very focused, I can relate to what a lot of the people who use this site are going through. About 3-4 months before my 30th birthday, I set out to lose "30 by 30". Well, I got off to a late start, and that didn't happen. But the age of 30 did bear down on me pretty hard, so I kicked it in high gear this past August, and it's been an evolution from there.

At first I did mostly cardio, lots of running outside and on a treadmill when the weather was bad. I worked up to about 40 minutes per day. After my workout, I'd do pushups and a few stretches, and that was it. A month or so into things, I started doing some resistance workout stuff with free weights. It definitely helped, but the workout was pretty unfocused and a lot of guessing was involved.

Once I'd lost 20 pounds or so, I felt like I'd plateaued a bit. I got with a personal trainer who hooked me up with a pretty solid full-body workout. I only saw him for 5 half-hour sessions ($200), but it was enough to get me on the right, focused track. Since then, I've lost 9 more pounds, and my body has totally changed. I am losing weight at a slower pace, which is to be expected. But my entire shape is changing. I'm doing an 1-hour total body workout 3 days a week (MWF), and running 4 miles on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and doing a long run (6-8 miles) every other weekend or so.

As for the nutrition part of things, this website has been HUGE when it comes to keeping me in line. I'm sort of a binge eater by habit, and I love really awful things like burgers, fries, pizza, and pastries. I've gotten myself on the total straight and narrow Monday thru Friday. The weekends are harder, but I usually let myself eat what I want to within reason on those days. Here's a typical day of weekday eating for me:

Breakfast - Cereal combination (0.75 cup Honey Bunches of Oats mixed with 0.75 cup Kashi Go Lean High Protein/High Fiber cereal w/ soy milk - or 2% milk)

Snack - Banana or Apple

Lunch - 3-4 oz. of deli oven roasted chicken or turkey on 100% whole grain HEALTHY LIFE Soft Style bread (great because there's no high fructose corn syrup, no hydrogenated oils, and no preservatives, and because it's not TOO expensive). I usually add a teaspoon or 2 of honey mustard. Of course you can add lettuce, tomato, etc, but I tend to keep it simple.
OR...
1 4-5 oz. grilled chicken breast w/ a baked potato (very light or NO butter, salt)

Snack - Banana or Apple
or
Peanut butter & jelly sandwich - again Healthy Life Soft Style bread w/ Smuckers Organic Concord Grape Jelly (no high fructose corn syrup or other garbage) and Smart Balance creamy natural peanut butter w/omega 3's (again no extra junk). Keep it to about 1/2 tablespoon of each, and it ends up being about a 180-200 calorie snack that will hold you til dinner easily, and you get a little bit of sweet tooth action as a bonus!

Dinner - You can SORT OF eat what you want as long as you are exercising regularly and keeping it real the rest of the day. BUT, I recommend things like whole grain brown rice (with a teaspoon of olive oil instead of butter), approximately 1 cup cooked, with cubed chicken breast simmered in a sauce of your choice (Indian style, asian, italian). Keep the whole meal to about 2-2.5 cups cooked, and your calories will stay in the 500 range which is great. There are LOTS of dinner options, and this is just one. Some folks like veggies a bit more than I do, and you can pseudo-stir fry a lot of good stuff.

Don't eat carbs after about 8pm or so, depending upon your regular sleep schedule. Keep on this kind of schedule all week w/ food and exercise, and then you can enjoy food more on the weekends, and you'll hopefully drop 20-30 pounds in a few months like me.