Your advice is definitely sdolid but it's SCARY because what you've described deprives you of ever eating any sort of comfort food again. I eat a lot of soups with broth, though I like your idea. The only thing Ilike about the broth is that it really helps fill you up. However, if you're drinking a ton of water (which is essential), that doesn't really matter. An 8 ounce glass of water or unsweetened decf tea before diner and one during do the same thing without the sal and fat.
One thing that's really helping me (I'm about 35 pounds down from where I was at my heaviest in October or so) is that I give myself "diet holidays." If there's a function I have to go to or a "date night" with the old man, I'll eat what I want. Doing this once or twice a month or so doesn't kill the dieting, and I've found that I simply can't eat as much as I used to be able to anyway.
Something else I do is that if I really want something-- like French Toast the other night-- I will "save up" calories during the day and make a reasonable portion so that I stay within my allotted caloric intake for the day.
At the end of the day, it's always calories in vs. calories expended. I've tried a lot of diets that say you don't have to control what you eat or count calories, but I've gotten the best results from counting calories. Atkins and South Beach and all the diets that claim to have the secret of making you burn more calories and being able to eat more food, but really the best thing to do that with is exercise. When you're eating low calorie, you tend to have to eat low-fat because you starve if you don't. Food that is low in calories and filling is key to losing weight. High fiber foods, veggies, fruit, lean meat, soups all help you feel full without having tons of calories.
Also, no one has mentioned this yet, stop drinking soda, alcohol, and other sweet drinks. Drink water and a lot of it. If you're not peeing like a pregnant woman, you're not drinking enough water. If you don't like water because it's bland, try some flavored seltzer water or unsweetened decaf or herbal tea.
Good for you Onslow, 140 pounds is really daunting. I'm impressed. It makes me feel a lot better about my goal which is still a bit away.
To the OP, repeating what Jeff Black said, 130 and 5'7" is very thin. It's at the very lowest BMI that is still considered healthy. I'd say aim for a something a little more realistic, and realize this is a long-term goal. 160 is at the upper end of the healthy range for BMI, and if you happen to have a large frame or are muscular, you could be healthy at a heavier weight. Talking to your doctor may help you determine a healthy weight goal.
Also, set interim goals for yourself. For me, my first was being ale to fit into my jeans that I wore before I got pregnant. Now it's a pair of jeans that I bought that I really like in a size or two smaller than what I fit into now. Meeting the interim goals have really helped keep me going.
Some level of exercise, cut fats from your eating, learn to love carrots and celery and soup. Get the bland soups cooking without any flavor and after the cooking dispose of the broth--it's extra calories with salt in it and often times fats from whatever was cooked if you used beef or chicken. Never eat chicken skins. Learn to love plain yogurt. Learn to take a packet of Equal and savor the taste--chew the paper wrapper for extra flavor thrills. On a good day you can eat 4 of those suckers. Saddesrt day of my life was when liquid cyclamates were taken off the market. A non-sugar sweetner it was alleged to cause cancer if 80 gallons a day were fed to a lab-rat, naturally the government took it off the markets. Eat an apple, eat plain oatmeal with non sugar sweetner (Equal or Sweet and low). Each body is different so find out what causes youy to keep weight on. Some people have problems with carbohydrates so they need to avoid that. Main things though seem to be sugars and fats--so cut them out. No more pork rinds, no more visits to the Japanese place for the tempura--not even the vegetable one since its all deep fried.
If you get a desire for food, do something else--make a phone call, go on the interenet, vaccuum the carpet, dust a table or rearrange your spice rack. Not only wiil you forget the food you get rid of some weight abd calories while doing somehting else.
DOn't laugh--I lost 140+ so far with this method, similar to you, I'm not particularlyt tall so the weight is a hinderance. Main thing--stay positive that it will happen and don't lose focus of your goal to be good to yourself.