Getting started - Pre diet week

My biggest tip for weight loss has to be 'get informed'.
I thoroughly recommend spending a pre-diet week just finding out how many calories you are eating.
It will shock you, we all have preconceptions about what is healthy and what isn't, but we are also really good at lying to ourselves.
The one that really shocked me was Pringles. I very much doubt I am alone when I say I could very easily eat an entire tube of Pringles to myself in a sitting. Sometimes even with dips. To put this into context, when I looked up the calories I had just decided to go with the Hairy Dieters book advice of sticking to 1500 calories a day (as I am a woman). A tube of Pringles is close to 1000 calories!!! Two thirds of my daily calories intake in between meals.... Yikes
Even the things I classed as me being healthy shocked me. One of my go to lunches was houmous, raw veg and a couple of pitta, a nice light lunch but comes out at nearly 700 calories.
There were also shocks the other way round too. I thought my beloved black pudding was going to have to be a no go area whilst I lost weight but it has less than 3% fat and a slice is 70 calories.
Please don't believe the hype and read labels carefully. Just because it says low fat doesn't mean it is low in calories and definitely doesn't mean it is good for you. I have found chilled soup in the normal range with less calories than those labelled as low calorie, two lots of falafel from the same brand where one was twice the calories of the other and so many biscuits that are far less calories that diet ranges.
It may sound really boring but you get into it, just keep reading those labels and keep yourself informed.
Make the vast majority of stuff from scratch and you will be able to have great meals that don't make you feel like you are on a diet and it means that the diet doesn't have to shrink your wallet too.
I love the hairy dieters books, their curries are amazing. In fact that has just reminded me of a conversation with a fab bridal shop, I pointed out I could have two portions of my favorite chicken jalfrezi for the same calories as a creamy cooler from Costa. Curry every time for me.
Hit your local library (if you still have one) and flick through their cookbooks. You just need to find one with calories listed. There aren't many so don't buy a book until you know it does and you will use it. Good Housekeeping ones do and so do some Jamie Oliver ones.
Use sticky notes to bookmark the ones you know you will use week in week out and be realistic. If you only have time for a ten minute prep type dish then find dishes that fit with that, don't pick ones that you will never have time to use.
There is another good reason for having a pre-diet week. It gives you chance to get rid of the things that will tempt you in the weeks to come. We gave away a load of tins, packets and freezer food, which felt really wasteful but really helped us in the first few months.
If you can't face doing this or can't afford to do it, then make your pre-diet week longer.