I’ve tried a few diets in the past:

Atkins – Fast weight loss but I felt like death warmed-up and knew I wouldn’t be able to maintain such a low carb diet.  I couldn’t, and the weight soon went back on.

Crash – This was as a side-effect of a medical problem I had a few years ago and wasn’t meant solely as a way to lose weight.  For three months I was eating virtually one meal a day and lost 42 pounds in that time.  As soon as I was better and started eating normally the weight returned.

Weight Watchers – Kind of worked but I resented having to pay someone every month just to convert calories in to points.

I’ve known about the Hacker’s Diet for some time but never really sat down and read it all.  The idea is very simple – eat too many calories and you’ll put on weight; restrict the number of calories you’re eating and you’ll lose weight.  Simple really and based on sound science.  There will be people who argue that there are good and bad calories, and that’s probably true to a certain extent, but when you just want to get in the habit of watching how much and what you eat it seems a good place to start.

And the best thing about it?  It’s completely free.  View it online or download the pdf, all 338 pages of it, here.