I lost weight because I ate less, tend to constantly be eating at home. I didn't work and with the heat and all the walking, lost weight. Came home spent the winter indoors and put on 40 lbs.

Weight loss is only done by eating less than you need. There are no magic ways. Cutting away rice would most likely do something, provided you don't go crazy on the other foods. Possibly a massage will raise you metabolism slightly, but moving yourself will be more efficient. Eat less calories and move more to burn calories. 

What Scan said above is base of every diet. You must eat less, and several (5) times a day! Whatever you ingest, you must efficiently digest (burn). Skinny person doesn't eat much less than overweight person, but skinny person burns ingested food much more efficiently than overweight person.

Most of the food 'burning' process is inherited, hence some over weights cannot do much to lose kg. 

Limit or skip entirely:

- CH (rice, potato, pasta, breads, sugars and all soft drinks, honey and jams);

- fat (pork/beef meat, milk, cream, egg yolk, all oils).

Recommended:

- all 'green' vegetable, steamed preferably (not seasoned with oils, use lemon and red vine or apple vinegar instead). Vinegars regularly contain white sugar (CH) - read nutrition label;
- fish, lean meat;
- raw fruit.

Drink a lot of water (2 l daily). If you must eat something high in CH, mix it with water. I like yogurt, but Chinese add white sugar to it. I always mix yogurt with water. Always read nutritious label, before you buy or ingest something. Soon, you'll get feeling about calories and nutritions in every meal. 

Now, when you get all your food sorted out, try and 'spend' everything you ingested. Walk daily as often as you can. Taxis are mostly cheats anyway. Burning calories is as important for losing weight as it is being moderate with food intake.

You must be persistent with ingested food and exercises. Losing weight is most likely lifetime commitment.  

Try eating with one chopstick.

Actually, "calories in, calories out" is an unproven hypothesis that has a lot of questionable nature to it. Eat less than what? Exercise more than what? No one can give you a straight answer. That thin people tend to be more active tells us nothing: are they thin because they're active, or active because they're thin? Same thing in reverse for the fat. Is being fat a CAUSE of something, or is it merely another symptom of a metabolic problem? If calories in, calories out were true, people would just keep getting fatter till they exploded. Yet everyone tends to stay in energy balance-they get fat, but they then stay at that weight for long periods of time. How is that possible if all that's necessary is to cut your calories by 20 a day to lose 10 pounds in a year? How is that we're not ALL fat, if all that's necessary to gain weight is about a 20 calorie miscalculation every day for a year? 

A much better hypothesis, with much to recommend it, is the insulin hypothesis. Insulin raising foods (including rice) are what cause most weight issues. Insulin's job is to fix your blood sugar--which is a toxic situation to the human body, and occurs anytime you eat a food that is broken down to glucose by your liver (starches, fruits, sugars, vegetables)--by forcing your body to burn that sugar or store it as fat immediately. Whether your body burns or stores depends on your genes. Those who store tend to have efficient fat cells that respond better to the message of insulin. Those who burn tend to be jumpy and active and always needing a little snack; their muscle cells are more efficient and respond better to the message of insulin. When insulin is in the bloodstream, fat cells are blocked from releasing their fat as fuels for the cells. You can be 300 pounds and be literally starving on the cellular level because all your fat is locked up by insulin.

If you keep your blood sugar chronically raised by eating a diet based on grains, vegetables and fruits, you gradually become more and more resistant to insulin. In the unlucky, this eventually becomes diabetes. But such a situation is not good for anyone, fat or thin. And actual in-clinic research where people's exercise levels and exact input of food is controlled tightly (as opposed to worthless surveys and hypothesis based on associations that are then touted as "science") prove definitively that exercise is useless for losing weight, unless you exercise at extreme amounts while subsequently starving yourself: a situation no one can keep up for long. (AKA every The Biggest Loser regressor). You cannot trick your body into raising your metabolism. It will do so while you exercise, and then lower it again by 5 to 20% below normal for the rest of the day to make up for it. Your body will make sure it stays in energy balance. If you insist on exercising at extreme levels and also denying yourself food, your body will lower your metabolism even further. Keep up this insane behavior and your body will start pumping out depressants to try to force you to sit down. 

Your Chinese friends don't need some fancy nutritionist to tell them how to count calories. They know that starches are fattening. Your grandmother and great-grandmother knew it too. Everyone knew it till the unproven lipid hypothesis was promoted in 1975, on the basis of manipulated data from the 7 countries study, supposedly "proving" that high fat=fat and heart disease while low fat=thin and healthy. Sadly the "7 countries study" guy, Ancel Keys, actually had data from 22 countries, which when taken together were all over the place. Plenty of places where people gorged on fat had no heart disease or obesity, and vice versa. Sadly he chose to ignore any data that didn't support his hypothesis. 

I know what I'm talking about because I've studied the matter in depth. For my whole life I've been a proponent of whole grains, lots of fruits and vegetables and lean meats. I doubled down on it five year ago when my friend was told she had elevated cholesterol. For five years we ate nothing but boneless skinless chicken breasts, no fat in anything, lots of whole grains I made myself, organic vegetables and fruits like we were herbivores. We avoided refined grains and sugars. Yet the result of our five year experiment is that we grew fatter and fatter and fatter, slower and slower, tired all the time, grumpy and then depressed, and had myriad of other small health problems. Then I read Good Calories, Bad Calories by Gary Taubes and the work of Dr. Stephen Phinney and Dr. Voleck (between them more than 50 years personally clinical experience with helping people lose weight). Overnight I changed our diet. For the last 7 months we've eaten a diet of 75% fat, mostly saturated from beef, bacon, butter, coconut oil and some olive oil, 20% protein from beef and bacon preferentially, and about 5% carbohydrate only from leafy greens, peppers, tomato, broccoli and cucumber. Here are the results of our 7 month experiment:

1. I've lost 100 pounds, and my friend 60.

2. Within a week, a mental fog we didn't even realize we were living in lifted. We could concentrate better and think more clearly.

3. We stopped purposefully exercising, yet our stamina has improved and we are much stronger. We have reshaped, not just lost fat. We've built muscle.

4. My blood pressure went from borderline dangerous to better than ideal. And I make sure to get at least 3 grams of salt per day. Carbohydrates are what cause blood pressure issues; not salt. (You might have seen the headline from a day or two ago that the results of major studies show that extreme salt reduction doesn't do anything to improve heart disease or mortality, and in fact too little salt brings a great risk of heart attack and mortality.)

5. My resting heart beat went from 100 to 60 in one month. 

6. Before we lost weight, we were suddenly more active. That happened in less than a week of ditching the plain Cheerios and big salads and eating bacon, eggs and steaks. We didn't become more active because we lost weight: we lost weight because we were healing our chronically high blood sugar and becoming healthy. As our health improved, we became more active naturally. We don't exercise, but we play.

7. All my friend's skin issues and allergies went away.

8. We stopped being depressed for the first time in 5 years, overnight, and that has not come back. We're also less sensitive to Beijing's air pollution.

9. Our hair, nails and teeth are much healthier. 

10. We are no longer hungry. We can go a whole day without food without noticing any lows, and there are no highs after eating. We have steady, constant energy. I even gave up my morning coffee, because I find the jumpy nervous energy of caffeine is not as pleasant when you have steady energy from fat and protein. 

My friend and I are not related in any way by blood. Yet this worked for both of us. It's also working for my brother and his wife, my sister and her husband, my father, and quite a number of our friends--of many different races and ages. All are seeing profound health benefits, better energy and mood and more alertness, even if they were not at all fat. 

Your Chinese friends are right. Ditch the starch, and also the sugar. Avoid starchy vegetables and treat fruit like what it is: candy. Eat it only sparingly as a treat. Eat good, clean meat and plenty of fat (except Frankenfats like corn oil, canola oil, etc. Eat the fat you were made to eat, from animals and naturally fatty things like olives and coconuts). Your body will thank you.

Ruthallen is on the right track, although considering the recommendation for such low carbs, I'm thinking it's a guy. What he's basically talking about is the Paleo diet, which is based off of whole foods. It's also grain free and dairy free (and best if it's soy free, too). What he forgot to mention is that it's the source of the food that's important. Unfortunately, in China, we're totally clueless about where our food comes from, and if it's an animal, what it was fed.

I had the same problem as you in China. I gained weight. So I decided to try cutting out the rice, because normally, that would have helped me lose weight. Nothing happened. Just eating less doesn't help because then you're starving, which is no fun, and may not make much of a difference. While eating rice and noodles often probably added to your insulin resistance, I'd say the oil they use to cook food in China is also highly inflammatory. You see, when I got home, I lost weight without trying, but I still felt off. Then I tried something like a modified Paleo diet, and I lost more weight and gained muscle without even trying. I say modified, because everyone is different, and you should find a diet that works for you. Trust me, just cutting rice isn't enough.

So here are my tips:

1. If you don't already cook for yourself, you need to! It's the only way you can control what goes in your food. Restaurant food will continue to leave you bloated, because of the oils and additives they use.

2. Don't use the regular cooking oils! Vegetable/canola oils are highly processed and unnaturally made, and are inflammatory. If you can, get some coconut oil, butter (I know that's probably not an option), ghee, lard, tallow, or some other kind of animal fat. They are stable at higher temperatures, and don't oxidize easily (aka make trans fats) like veggie/canola oils. Oils that can be used at low temperatures are olive oil, and maybe a little sesame oil.

3. Avoid grains for a while. A little white rice is ok, and after you lose what you want, you can eat some more. Stick to veggies for carbs, like potatoes, sweet potatoes and taro for a while. Avoid wheat! Seriously, this is a great way to lose weight. I know it's really tough to do, even in China, but it makes a huge impact. It's all white flour anyway.

4. Which leads to my last big tip: avoid processed foods. Anything in a box (unless it has minimal ingredients), any kind of product using flour, chemicals, additives, added sugars, etc. It's been proven through studies that any diet that cuts processed foods gets results, regardless of what else the test subjects are eating.

It's the quality that counts. You don't have to cut fat, eat healthy fats (avoid poly unsaturateds aka veggie/canola oils). You don't have to cut carbs, but eat healthy carbs. And as a woman, low carb is ok, but very low carb is bad. Don't listen to people who say carbs are bad. As for that fat blasting massage you mentioned, I think it's possible. Animals (including humans) store toxins in our fat. Massage gets the lymph system moving, helping to remove toxins from the body. Cellulite is also supposedly due to stored toxins, so that may be reduced as well through diet and massage (or rebounding, which is jumping on a trampoline).

If my suggestions sound strict, they're not meant to be followed forever. Change them to fit you. Oh, and a little dark chocolate once in a while doesn't hurt.

Lots of good info above about nutrition, but I think its more effective if coupled with regular exercise.

I gained a lot of weight last year by being lazy. This year I got off my ass and back into a normal routine. I cycle 13km after I wake up to McDonalds. Seems odd, but the morning McMuffin + coffee is cheap and just enough calories to ride back.

After 26km in the morning, I take a shower and go to work. Even though my main focus isnt on the diet side of it, after a good exercise session, my body generally tells me what Im hungry for. I eat just that. Also I incorporate salads so Im getting fresh vegetables that isnt drowning in oil.

In the end, muscles burn fat faster than just skipping meals, and you eat what you need rather than eating too little and over eating later.

It has worked, and I feel better and more energetic for work with the morning routine.

I would suggest finding some exercise you personally enjoy, that way it isnt a chore. I hate the gym, but love being outside, others like the gym... its just finding something that you like to do.

I'm on the herbal tea weight loss program...nah just kidding but there is such a thing as the herbal diet here in China. If you want to shed pounds you should try it!

You should replace:

-simple carbs with complex carbs,

-starchy vegetables with fibrous vegetables,

-saturated fat with unsaturated fat

-food low in protein with food high in protein

How much of each you need to eat depends on your body composition or if you have any disease.

Livestrong.com and About.com have short and very simple articles with lists of food that are high in each of the above categories.

Don't just cherry pick a diet that seems easy, has catchy words, convincing tone, or pleases you. Before you start any type of diet, consult a doctor to make a blood test, so that you know whether it will make things worse and give you diabetes, high cholesterol, thyroid etc...

  Best dieting method i've come across is eating out. Eat for half an hour and shit for a day.

yep i did... had some chinese food for dinner, got a food poisoning and was shi**ing and vom**ting for two days straight. it really helped me to lose weight! thanks china!

Hehe, no really. When we talked with my wife this , she found always some strange ideas of diet on chinese webs. 

Some like eat just 1 apple per day, or only drink milk, and similar. I know, it can help to loose water and fat in within 2 weeks, but after that ? you body lack of everythink and first meal you get, you will eat all include the table and chef. so, all the kg come back. 

 As I said, just eat smaller portions more times per day, more variety of fresh veggies and fruits, include bread and pastas. Your body need it, just also need move more. than you will be healthy and lose some weight in step by step way. drastical diet works , but important is to keep the intake lower also later. 

HOW TO LOOSE WEIGHT:

1) Drink lots of plain water (8 cups per day)

2) eats regulary, avoid dieting. Your body need to eat to loose weight.  I know this sounds contradictory, but it's true.  You need to eat the appropriate types of food such as oatmeal, whole grain based food, fruit and veg.  Your body need fat to burn fat, so eat moderate amount of fat found in peanuts, salmon, eggs etc.  Avoid white bread, white pasta, junk food, fizzy or sugary drinks

3) Active lifestyle; 30 mins walking per day, visit gym 3 times per week (e.g. treadmill 20mins medium speed run and vary the cardio exercises and difficulty)

4) sleep well - you need to rest properly otherwise you will gain weight

5) reduce your stress levels and stay happy!

Remember; to loose weight you will need to burn more calories than you take in.  Typically you need to eat 2000 cal per day, but this varies depending on if you're male/female, muscle density, height and age.  Reduce your regular food portions slightly, if you're already not normally overeating on food and snacks etc.  Keep to around 2000 calories per day.  Do not avoid fat completely and do not go on a sadistic diets - it will not work

Just EATING Chinese food made me go from 74 Kg to 61....

Chinese food is typically less fattening than western foods, which usually consists of white bread, fatty foods such as cheese, butter, and of course junk food pizza, MacDonalds, fish and chips etc.  So if you're jelly belly foreigner, then yes, just changing diet can help loose weight!