Rule 1, lay off the carbs. 1 can of Mt Dew has something like 36 grams in it, thats nearly 10% of your daily allowence.
rule 2: Dont eat 3 hours before going to sleep. if you do, you will just put that weight on as fat.
rule 3: exercise. Rule 3 is most important. If you dont burn more energy then you consume you put it on as fat.
rule 4: eat many small meals instead of one big one. If you eat 3 or 4 small meals you will stay fuller during the day, your stomach will shrink making less food fill you up as well. If you eat one big meal, over time you start to over do it and that will make you get fat.
I am not a expert at this but these steps helped me go from 240lbs to 175ish in 3 months. That was in 1995. I am still about 175 to this day. I can eat pretty much anything I want because I got my body into burning tons of energy.
Now if only I could stop masturbation and smoking.