[kay200]

Hi all, I am really motivated to get healthier but I don't know how to get started. I am looking for a diet plan that tells you what to eat but you make the food yourself. I can't afford a plan like nutrisystems and I feel too overwhelmed making all my own choices.

Any recommendations?

Thanks a million!

[flower123]

Hi Kay. I don't have any suggestions. But if you do not get any, please post this question on one of the threads that are busy. Because those are the threads where there is a lot of activity by a lot of people. BTW, what about weight watchers? Are they specific enough? Glad you are posting

[Rana]

Paleo or Primal is a diet that you make the food yourself (recommended, actually) and you don't have to pay for a plan -- recipes and how to eat primal or paleo (the difference is in whether you want dairy or not) is freely available on the internet.

[Treasa]

Hello Kay! Would you mind sharing a few details of your situation? For instance, if you have a lot of weight to lose, then I'd suggest just changing one unhealthy habit at a time. I started with about 75 pounds to lose. First I gave up artificial sweeteners and would only drink plain tea, milk, and water. I didn't lose any weight from it, but I needed to do it to get my hunger and eating habits under control (I suppose it was blood sugar related, but my levels have always tested normal). About four or five months later, I just gave up overtly sweet things. I didn't give up chips or pretzels or eating between meals at that time. But I lost almost 30 pounds just doing that. And it was easy.

Then, I stopped being so militant and began eating desserts on weekends only and I really focused on exercise and I was still losing about a pound or two a month. And now, I'm in a long slog of trying to get where I'd like my weight to be. It's a lot more difficult. I know HOW to lose weight, i.e. cutting way back on sweets and bread and getting in my 10k steps each day. But progress is slow.

Anyway, you have to find what works for you, but I had a lot of weight to lose and that's what worked for me. Good luck!

[Chunkahlunkah]

Hi Kay, welcome!

It can be hard to make suggestions for another person bc I think weight loss is somewhat persoanlized, in that different people like different foods and feel full from different foods.

I can tell you that what's really effective for me is limiting my carbs. I don't drop low, but I aim to keep it under 100 grams. That's what my body needs. When I get careless about that, my weight goes up (and up!), partly because I have a bigger appetite on a higher carb diet.

So if you went that route, some choices would be eliminated bc you couldn't eat that many grains a day and still be under the target. It's also important to always pair carbs (like, say, an apple) with protein and/or fat (cheese or nuts).

I really can't speak for other people so this may not be as helpful for you, but I know that minimizing my carbs and pairing them with protein and fat has a huge impact on my appetite and makes losing weight and maintaining it much, much easier.

If this is too loose a plan for you right now since it still allows you to choose the particular food items that will fall into the carb, protein, fat role, then you could seek out a diet plan based on similar principles that instructs more rigidly about what to eat. I think South Beach is probably the most similar, but the way I eat when I'm losing is probably more akin to its maintenance phase, with occasional much lower carb days.

Good luck! You can do this!

[shcirerf]

Take a breath.

This is a long haul, lifestyle.

There is no "one" diet fits all. It does not work that way.

Don't look at this as a drudgery or torture, but a challenge to learn!

The first thing you need to learn is about yourself.

Track everything. Food, fitness, sleep, work schedule, family, what ever.

Track/journal the good, the bad and the ugly. Then use the information, that gives you, to figure out how to move forward.

I have been doing the lose/gain thing since I was 15. I am now 56. I did not figure this out until the last 10 years. I even slipped there. The last 5, finally success. Because, I quit looking at it as torture and starvation, and embraced, exploring healthy, tasty food, and fitness thing, I like to do!

[ennay]

Like many of them said, there are a lot of things and finding what works for you is part of the journey. My diet has evolved to be a morphing of SouthBeach/Intermittent Fasting/Calorie Counting.

Tracking is a good place to start - My Fitness Pal is free - they have a premium package, but you can get everything you need from the free version. Then just start making small tweaks. A lot of diet books can be found in the library. You can always try one, see what you think, try another, etc.

[chel325]

I've lost over 100 lbs using no diet plan and eating all the same foods that I have always eaten.

The only thing that matters is eating less fuel than you use in a day. To measure this I use Myfitnesspal for the input and Fitbit for the output. I make sure the output is larger than the input and that's it.

I eat kit kats, oreos, celery, veggie burgers, anything I feel like. Just in moderation.