I'm trying to lose weight too and I find the best thing for me is to cut out as much fat and refined sugar as I can from my diet. That means that my fridge is a cheese-free zone which is really hard (low fat cheeses just don't feel right). Don't worry too much about starch as you need that for slow energy release. I'm also upping my exercise which means walking every lunch hour instead of sitting at the desk talking to Mudcat. as for weights, don't spend money on hand weights; use tins of baked beans instead (the plus is that you get to eat the beans later as a reward!)