Bellyrub and Cooltoned I don't want to be a weight loss bore but since you asked, I will tell you!
I had gestational diabetes 2/3 years ago which gave me a kick in the arse to do something about it. It changed things from "I'll have to do something about this at some point so my health isn't affected in the future, but for now I'm going to keep eating" to "I have to do something now so my health isn't affected now." It helped that I controlled my blood sugar through diet when pregnant and stayed the same weight from week 28 (so effectively lost weight) which gave me an idea of how I could go about changing things.
So I went from a typical diet of:
Breakfast: two or three slices of toast with peanut butter/jam/cream cheese
Lunch: two rounds cheese sandwiches with crisps and a cake
Dinner: lots of pasta or rice with veg sauce
and whatever took my fancy in between...
to
Breakfast: nothing or plain full fat yoghurt with handful of nuts and seeds (fasting periods e.g. dinner till lunchtime next day are good for controlling appetite and blood sugar)
Lunch: Huge salad made from what's in the fridge e.g. leaves, celery, tomatoes, radishes, cucumbers, beetroot, asparagus with a protein like boiled eggs, cottage cheese, crumbled feta or tuna. Or omelette made with lots of frozen chopped veg (easy with small children hanging off your leg). Or soup and a couple of oatcakes or slice of wholemeal bread.
Dinner: Vegetable based stew or spicy or roasted veg with piece of fish, or pulses in the veg dish, or a big veg omelette with cheese on top if not had at lunch.
Really it's a low carb Mediterranean diet heavy in vegetables (esp green leafy ones), lentils and pulses, olives, fish, olive oil. Mostly just avoiding processed carbs like bread and pasta, and white rice and potatoes, and processed foods/ready meals. I didn't eat meat other than fish anyway.
And I've been having pizza once a week. Quite a lot of wine. And chocolate, scones etc but not every single day. (quite a few days though).
If I eat too much one day I hold back more the next to make up for it, because I can't be totally restrained all the time, I will never be that sort of person unfortunately! And I weigh myself most days so I can keep it under control and there are no nasty shocks.
Seriously, if I can do it, anyone can. I still want to binge on peanut M&Ms and will always have to make myself say no, it doesn't come naturally. But once you make the change in diet and see the results starting to show it's easier to do. I can now make the connection between what I eat and the effects it has.