A few basics of what I do - nothing fancy, and the pounds are falling away -

-- As christri said, stay away from processed foods. Read the ingredients and if you see the words "partially hydrogenated" or "high fructose corn syrup", put it away. Also the words "enriched wheat flour". You want whole, natural foods, always. Also buy sugar free when you can.

-- Structure your diet to your training. Put really, really simply: carbs are fuel. If you don't need fuel, limit starchy carbs. On long or hard training days, carb up with PB&J (whole wheat bread, natural PB, real fruit J) or pastas and starches like bread. On light or off days, limit your carbs and look for higher protein. If you're an IM athlete, in full blown training you'll be doing a lot more carbs than not, because your body needs a lot more ready fuel.

-- Add color. You should have lots of raw fruits and vegetables.

-- Also repeating christri, eat with purpose - regardless of your weight goals, soda, sugary juice, beer, etc. are empty calories. You won't mentally count them, but they add right up, and they do nothing of value to your body. 300 calories is 300 calories, whether it came from 2 cheeseburgers at McDonald's or 2 Cokes.

-- Speaking of which, avoid fast food like the poison it is.

-- Calorie requirements depend on what your purposes are - if you're trying to lose, maintain, or gain weight. There is no magic pill, and there is no fad or crazy scheme that can defy simple math: Burn more calories than you take in, and you'll lose weight. keep them balanced, and you'll maintain. Surplus calories, and you'll gain. Period.

-- Your really long ride does not give you rights to eat your face off the rest of the day. You'll wonder how you're doing all this exercise and not losing weight! This was my trap last season - easy to justify 5 pieces of pizza after biking 70 miles (but honey, I just burned 2000 calories! I need to fuel up!). Eat something right away to recover, and then eat normally the rest of the day. Unless of course you want to gain weight, then by all means, eat your face off.

-- I can tell you a few of my staple strategies. If I have a long ride or run, say on Sunday, then on Saturday night I'll have some pasta - sensible portions, not like it's the last meal I'll ever see or something. Sunday morning (say I'm riding at noon), I'll have some Kashi cereal or oatmeal, high in healthy carbs. About an hour before I workout, I'll have about 300 calories of 4-1 carbs to protein ratio; a Clif bar and half a PB&J, or a Boost, or some Oatmeal with fruit. Then sip on Gatorade. After my long ride or run, I'll take in an additional 300 or so calories for recovery, again 4-1 carb to protein, usually a shake or another Clif bar. Pasta for dinner again, but with a bit more protein - chicken or something. If the next day, then, is a rest day, I eat a bowl of Kashi for cereal, but this one is a kind lighter in carbs. For lunch I'll have a turkey sandwich, some whole grain crackers, and an apple. For dinner I'll have a veggie wrap, or some grilled chicken and a salad, or something else high in protein, low in carbs. Throughout the day I'm snacking on fruit, jerky, yogurt, whatever, keeping my snacking calories (I'm trying to lose weight) under 100, and under 20g carbs whenever I can.

Those are some really really basic concepts. I've researched this until my face is blue, and only this year have nailed it down. I've lost about 40 pounds in the last 2 years (with another 20 on the way before this fall), and it comes down to sensible eating habits. It's no great mystery. There's no reason you can't do that on any budget. My $.02. Good luck!

thanks for all the great advice!