General Diet Plans and Questions - Which diet?

Hi there,

I feel really fed up and am about five stone overweight, maybe a bit more. I was just wondering if anybody had any weight loss tips that didn't involve going on a strict diet. I've tried a few diets recently, slimfast (which only lasted a couple of days!) weight watchers, and right now I'm supposed to be doing slimming world. Problem is I find it really hard to stick to a set of rules and although I think slimming world is good because you can eat a lot and I really like to eat lots, I find it a bit bland and boring after a while and usually tend to just splurge on way too many syns by the end of a couple of weeks! I know there's no easy solution, but are there any kind of loose frameworks you know which work? I get so depressed always having to refer to a book whenever I want to eat something. :?: :?:

I have started exercising though. I joined the local gym. I have to admit I gave up actually doing the workout they gave me, because I hated it, I find going on all those machines so boring. But I finally got up the nerve to go swimming so I've been trying to go most days, and its actually something I enjoy so hopefully that'll help a bit :(

The easiest diet - eat less calories than you burn and you'll lose weight. You definitely need to have some sort of structure in what you eat. Once you learn the rules, they become second nature and you don't have to look at the book etc. There really is no easy way to just drop weight and eat what you want when you want it. Self-discipline is the key, no matter what plan you follow. Sounds like you found some exercise you like - keep it up! Start making small changes in the way you eat and you'll lose.

Bottom line, it comes to 'calories in - calories out'. That's simple - perhaps overly simple - but it's still the bottom line.

The important thing is that instead of a diet - which implies a beginning and an end - is that you incorporate lifestyle changes that become a permanent part of your life.

There's a couple of books - old favorites of mine - that come to mind immediately. Neither one are 'diet books' in the traditional sense of the word, but both are enlightening to say the least! First one is Thin for Life by Anne Fletcher - Ms. Fletcher based her book on interviews with what she called 'weight-loss masters' - people who have lost 30 or more pounds and (more importantly!) kept off that weight for 3 years or more. These masters were found through an ongoing study run by the National Weight Control Registry (of which both Meg and I are participants). So far there are well over 3,000 study participants who have 'exploded the myth and shown that successful weight loss is indeed possible'. Their website is at http://www.lifespan.org/services/bmed/wt_loss/nwcr/ if you're interested!

Second book is one I've recommended so often that I probably sound like a broken record - it's The Fat of the Land: The Obesity Epidemic and How Overweight Americans Can Help Themselves by Michael Fumento. A bit outdated (you can skip the chapter "Pill Talk") but still with VERY relevant information and well worth seeking out. I do wish Mr. Fumento would update his book - I think it was published about 5 years too soon to get enough notice - but he has no plans at this time. However he still writes about the topic of the world obesity problem and posts articles at his website www.fumento.com which are worth reading!

Hope this helps a bit! I always feel that educating yourself is the first step to success.

fatanddepressed,

I'm like you in that I can't follow a "list of foods",(ie:diet), if somebody paid me to. I know better than to try it. Maybe what I am doing will work for you.
I log into fitday.com everyday,(it's free), and count my calories and fat grams. I do not deny myself anything, but I do count everything. Except on Saturday's I take a break and eat whatever I want. I try to keep calories at 1500 per day and fat grams below 50. I started out by eating as I normally would and counting calories and fat. I was amazed to find out on the first day that my calories were at 1800, which isn't so bad, but fat grams were 100! I could not believe it. No wonder I could not lose. I started at the beginning of March and have lost 13 lbs so far. I haven't lost that much in years, so it is working for me.

Fitday.com is a great website. Check it out.

Deb