Considerations for diets. Consult your physician before jumping into any diet. I am not a doctor.

Most of us go on a diet at one time or another. Here's a few "common sense" approaches. 

Cajun Food

Cajun food, in general, will make you fat if you eat it on a regular basis. You can still enjoy it every once in a while and you should occasionally replace and/or supplement that great Cajun food with other "good things". You can also modify the recipes using low fat ingredients. The biggest thing with Cajun cooking is the food is normally high fat and high carbohydrate. I've heard that these two factors contribute to weight gain.

Diets

There are "grand diets" that are supposed to make you loose weight and keep it off. Some will, some won't. Take a pill and become thin on 30 days! Ha!, another trip to long term failure.

Many of us want to look good (especially the single folks). Proper diet for each of us is a specialized diet because we are each different. We metabolize (process) the food we eat a little differently; everyone is a little different.

Before you go on a diet talk to your doctor. If you have special problems your doctor can tell you what you can and can't do. Respect that. Loosing weight is one thing, hurting yourself is another; be smart about it.

How long will it take to loose the weight I want to loose? Give yourself a year or more. Hey, you didn't get that way overnight, don't try to loose it any quicker. Your body needs to adjust. Diet's involve change, so, know upfront you WILL have to change what you do when it comes to eating. If I told you that you will have to eat half as much cheese as you do now for the rest of your life would you try "my diet"? Of course you wouldn't, but, as we get older, we'll have to "give to get"! It's a natural law you can't get around it.

I lost weight several years ago by doing nothing but using a different sized plate. That was me, not necessarily you. Most overweight people (like me) fill a regular dinner plate. I started by leaving space in the dinner plate, then, advanced to a salad plate to serve myself. Speaking of "serving yourself" you should ALWAYS do that. If you serve yourself you're in control, and, control is what you want. I dropped 10 lbs. in three months, then stayed at that weight. What happened is my body adjusted to the new eating habit and settled there, but, I stayed with the new habit. I made the new habit the normal thing. It's what we MUST do, if, we are to continue to benefit from our initial efforts.  

If you've figured out which foods make you gain weight try reducing the amount a little. More vegetables and less bread, milk products and cheese help me, it may not work for you. Just make small changes at first. The idea is to make that change a permanent one. Fill the voids on your plate with foods that don't make you gain weight. For instance; less rice, more beans. That way you still get the foods you like and won't feel deprived. 

Try eating new foods that won't put that weight on. Consider using sugar substitutes, low fat milk and other such products. You shouldn't have to spend more money on food to loose weight!  Make one change at a time and make it permanent... what's the rush?

Many people eat because it's "time to eat", not because we're hungry. Another thing we do is eat until we can't move... bad move! If that "stuffed feeling" is an absolute must, drink a big glass of water before you sit down to eat. 

I've seen many dieters make themselves miserable going on a diet. They smile and say I'm on such-and-such a diet and I lost 5 lbs. in one week and they're just tickled pink. Then they quit loosing weight, get disgusted and start trying to make up for all the misery they put themselves through. Boom, all of a sudden they weigh more than they did when they started. The problem here is that many people don't understand that the changes they make must become permanent. 

I am not a doctor or dietician. The above is only an opinion. Consult your physician before going on ANY diet. Don't hurt yourself.