One summer I switched to diet sodas and started swimming four times a week for 15-20 minutes at a time and lost 30 pounds. Of course, the 30 pounds was gained during a period of zero exercise and eating nothing but chocolate chip cookie dough and ice cream (breakup ). Anyway, I have since gained 10 of it back because I stopped swimming. Swimming is an awesome full-body workout. I enjoy dancing/aerobics too. Also, when I feel hungry, I drink a big glass of water and then wait 20 minutes to see if I'm still hungry. I heard somewhere that people confuse hunger for thirst a lot. Sounds hard to do, right? It actually works quite often for me.