loosing the hips

For the last two years I have been working full time and going to school full time. My exercise and diet suffered and I developed some sweet secretary hips. The goal this summer is to get back in shape and try to develop better habits. I want to try some of the six golden rules of weight loss.
1- Keep a log of everything you eat. I actually did this a while ago, but I photographed everything. It was a major pain but it worked.
2-Beef up your protein intake. For this one I think I will try buying almonds again. Yahoo also suggests greek yogurt and edamame.
3-Add color to every meal. This is something I definitely need to do. Cooking kind of took a back seat these last couple of years and I want to change that. I think maybe I will see if I can find one of those services that delivers a box of locally grown in season fruits and vegetables each week.
4-Stop grazing. I have never been a huge grazer but I think following the other food guidelines will help me stop any grazing that I might do.
5-Have a meal plan. I have done this with varying degrees of success. Hopefully with a little more time I can do better. I think I like the weekly planning better than monthly though.
6- Take your time. This is the hardest for me, I am a fast eater which means I often end up eating more than I should. I am going to try and implement some of the suggestions like eating at the table and putting food on the plate instead of putting the food on the table family style.

Some of my own additions are to exercise 4-5 times a week and to not only start running again but to add variety to my workouts with exercises that will tone. So this is my game plan. Hopefully I will be able to start implementing this month but the chaos of moving cross country may put the hardcore implementation off for another month.