When my doctor simplified what I needed to do to this:
NO POTATOS, PASTA, RICE, BREAD or SUGAR.
Exercise everyday to burn at least 500 calories.
That is what started me out with the ability to stick to something. It was so simple and easy to remember. Now I have made my own rules and exercise a BUNCH more. I am a calorie and carb counter now and I eat high protein. I also take a nutritional supplement called Bios Life Slim that I think has helped me.
ive tried atkins, ww and slimfast. they all worked but were not sustainable. now im doing good old calories in vs calories out. eating healthy good food, and doing moderate exercise. i dont want to diet and lose weight for a while then gain it back, i want a proper lifestyle change.
I calorie-count and am doing the Belly Fat Cure (<120 g carbs/day, <15 g sugar/day, >25 g fiber/day). I'm having much more success with this than I ever have in the past. I don't think it's about being on this specific "named" diet but rather finally trying to go a little lower-carb and almost completely cutting out refined carbohydrates.
I've honestly only given this whole weight loss thing one shot. This has been my first and only real try (not counting the several "alright, I'm losing weight starting Monday" and lasting until about 6pm Monday evening). I started out with tracking portions of various food groups via myfoodpyramid.gov. When I plateaued, I went with full on calorie counting. So calorie counting is the only method I've used, really. I haven't watched carb or fat or protein ratios. Looking back, I eat somewhat low fat, but not really intentionally.
Once (before I got serious about it), after stumbling across a raw foodist blog, and I decided I should become a raw foodist. I went to the grocery store and bought $100 worth of fruits and veggies. I shoved them down my throat for two days, got a horrible (and explosive...hehe) tummy ache, went and got the greasiest burger at McDonald's, and all my veggies went bad.
Its true..calories in vs calories out is how you lose weight and each diet plan is still taylored to that, the only thing is ..the difference in what type of calories and how much and when and how much your burning..If you crave sugar and sweets and carbs, then go lower carb..it takes out calories that are in carbs..want low fat? it takes out fat calories out of the diet..high carb diet ..love bread? it limits the protein calories and fat calories and keeps the carb calories higher.. ..
Its just a matter of choosing what works best for you.
If you define what worked as "Long Term Weight Loss" then nothing has worked for me although I have high hopes that this is the one because of the support on 3FC.
If you define worked as "Losing a lot of weight" then a lot of diets have worked for me. They include:
Atkins low carb
1200 cal using diabetic exchanges instead of counting calories
Over Eaters Anonymous - 34 years ago they had a diet plan, no refined carbohydrates.
Fasting. I mean water only not the juice fasts. I did a few 10 day water only fasts and then went whole hog and fasted 40 days consuming absolutly no nutrition at all. I just drank water. (I don't recommend doing a forty day water only fast. I was hospitalized with liver failed and I almost died)
What I am doing now 1500 calories daily of any food that I want along with exercise seems to work best for me. By the way even though I have not excluded any foods what so ever, I find myself eating low fat, a lot of veggies and fruit and limiting my carbs. This was not by design but my tastes seem to have have changed.
Larry,
Please tell me a doctor did not recommend the water fast for 40 days. That is so scary!
As for what I do, I eat a whole food diet, no simple carbs, only complex carbs and I do eat them in moderation. Calorie counting. Just discovered MyPlate and I love it. Right now I'm at 1600-1700 calories per day, about 40%carb 30%protein,30%fat. I eat all the good fats and stay away from butter as much as possible. My husband has high cholesterol and is only 35 so we try to eat anything that helps pull out the cholesterol.
I wouldn't really consider it a diet. New lifestyle. Diets don't work.
Belly Fat Cure!! 120 grams of carbs a day and 15 grams of sugar. Even if I poop out on exercise, which I've admittedly done lately.. ugh, I still don't gain while watching the sugars.
The only thing that works for me is calorie counting. Forget carbs, forget protein, forget no this and no that. I eat everything, eat several times a day and just stay under my calorie limit. That works.
In the end protein and whole grains do keep fuller. As do fiber filled foods. But even if Ihave an all chocolate and coffee day, all that matters to weight loss is the total amount of calories. it's just easier to stick to it if you eat in a certain way, but it doesn't make you lose weight faster.
