You are all better than me, I don't even have a plan yet, except to start one. Which one I have no idea. My dh thinks I am crazy because I lost 30 pounds on WW last year, have since gained it all back, and he says I should go back to what works. My question is, am I not going back because I don't want to or because he says I should, hmmmm??? LOL. Atkins does not work for me and slim fast only works the first week and I don't know anything about SB - any suggestions?

I am just trying to eat healthy and with the right portion size and to excersies as much as my children will allow me to.

I have tried WW in the past and I think it's a great program, but just not for me. I just don't have the time to write down every single little thing, especially trying to calculate points for things like meatloaf where you have to figure out every ingredient. But I think it's a great program for teaching portion size and lifestyle changes.

Currently I am trying Eating for Life by Bill Phillips. I love his philosophy and think that it's very reasonable and fits into my lifestyle very well. Basically, it's 6 small meals per day, a carb and protein at each meal, with 2 veggies added per day. It's designed to keep your metabolism up and your hunger under control. There's even a built-in "cheat" day!

Rowdieb, don't feel bad - you're not the only one without a plan. I mean - I have a "plan" (lose weight now!), but don't have a plaaaannnnn. These are the only two things that worked for me:

1) Weight Watchers. It helped me lose 70 lbs and it wasn't that hard. I was in the right frame of mind. But it made me tired. Tired of thinking about next meal, counting, journalling, etc. Sadly, if I don't let it consume me - I fall off the wagon. I'm an all or nothing type...

2) Exercise. I used to run - far and frequent enough that the food issue became negliable. But a worn out body forced me to cut back, and eventually I quit. Pretty sad when you could run a half marathon without blinking and now you can't run a block. Blah!

So - I'm aiming for a mix of the two. Sensible eating (which WW is...) and exercise. I'm toying with the idea of Atkins or SB, but am chicken. I don't know much about either, except the basic concept of no carbs/low GI foods. Am leary because a friend of mine did Atkins with great success, but gained back every pound (and more) the minute she started eating carbs. What's the scoop - are carbs out of the question forever? Is gaining weight back a common occurance with this program (I mean.. moreso than any other program?).

Intuitive eating and portion control is what works best for me. I also work out at the gym 4 times a week and do 1 cardio tape at home and i also walk. This is what works best for me. I tried the low carb thing and i just couldn't stick to it and i also tried counting calories and i didn't stick to that either. The key is to eat less and move!! :)

Hi everyone!
I am starting over again today! I tried SB last summer, lost 15 lbs in 3 weeks, then fell off the wagon. Most of that weight was from water retention I'm sure. I love fruit & carbs so I guess that's why that plan didn't work for me. The whole idea is eat pretty much as much as you want off of food list and you'll loose. Problem with that is when I fell off the wagon, I kept eating as much as I wanted of anything!!! Consequence, I weigh 7 more pounds today then when I started SB last summer! ARGH!
This may sound odd but I was watching a worlds strong man competition the other night, and a guy on there inspired me. He said you don't need fad diets to loose weight and feel great! No low carb, low fat, low this low that......just eat healthy foods, monitor calories consumed and calories burned! For me, the only time I lost weight and kept it off was watching calories and getting in a 30 minute workout 3-4 days a week.
So I am going to do combination WW & calorie counting with workout 3-4 days a week. Determined to do it this time!

Right now I'm so far gone that I NEED someone I have to be accountable to. I joined Metabolic Research Center because they guaranteed me that I would lose 50 pounds in 17 weeks. I stay on the program because it is hideously expensive! I'm a slow loser (on the scale) but after 2 weeks I had lost 10.5 pounds in fat and gained 7 pounds in muscle (according to this cool scale that magically differentiates fat, muscle, and water). So we don't see everything that happens when we diet, and I need someone to point out the obvious - TOM, muscle gain, don't eat cheese, etc.

When I finish this 17 weeks I may go to South Beach. I tried Body for Life, but my cheat days turned into cheat weekends, cheat weeks... I did Atkins years ago and lost a ton of weight. The problem is I stayed on induction, so when I ate "normally," my body said "Woooo hooooooo!!!! I'm gonna hold on to every carb I can!!!" On Atkins, I could eat as much as I wanted of yummy greasy things. So then when I ate "normally," I continued eating lots of yummy greasy things AND ice cream, etc. Atkins is awesome if you can do it forever. I couldn't.

Hello everyone

I am new this is my first post, I am currently at 167. I gained 10lbs over the winter, I would really like to be at 140.

I don't follow a plan but I am using fitday to count calories and I walk at least 4-5 times a week 2.6 miles. I have never been able to stick to any other excerise but walking. I try to eat as much veg/fruits as I can and drink plenty of water, I am not sure what else to do, I seem to be high in fats and carbs and low on the protein, I should increase my protein?

Any advice would be appreciated!
Glad to be here!

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I too do a combo. I use what I learned at WW with portion control and I'm keeping track of calories. I've found that no matter what I HAVE to write it down. That always makes me think twice before eating anything!

Hello I am new.
I had great success between my second and third child on WW (I lost 50 lbs). So I cannot blame child # 3 since she is 3 1/2 years old, but I am currenly doing LAWL because I can bring my children with me to weigh in and for "counseling".

I previously did the Diet Center (early '90's) and lost 30lbs there-- Does anyone remember that diet? or at least the first few days of it I remember losing a lot of weight in those first few days, I wish I could remember it for days after days like today (I ate way too much!)

My DH and I tried everything, but when we came across Abs Diet in Men's Health, we stopped. It's basically eating Healthy (in regard to portion size and actual food intake)- whole grains, clean protein, NO REFINED ANYTHING, lots of fruits and veggies and for women PLENTY of calcium (it really will make you lose, ladies). I start every day with my coffee cup full of FF milk. I leave just enough for my coffee in the bottom. I then eat 5-6 times a day, small meals. Fats are low and healthy and protein is key. They have GREAT recipes too.

hello everyone, i am following SFL . simply for life . it is fairly new . only been around for 6years . i started 6yrs ago when the owner started in his basement did really well . lost 52lbs in about 9months but then got pregnant and just let myself go. i decided that i would finish having my family and then return to start over again. i am glad i have returned . i started up again 25january 2007 and have lost 40lbs as of yesterday . i do not think they have any in the USA yet but they have 44 franchises accross Canada and i just love it . They ask you what you like to eat and then give you a meal plan which is awesome . there are recipes that they give also . for me it is better than Weight Watchers because i do not have to count my points . and yes i have done weight watchers before a few times actually and can never seem to stick with the counting. i also eat 5 to 6 times a day which is good because i always feel full ; and drink 2 to 3 litres of water a day . and try to excercise 3 to 4 times weekly

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Hi everyone!
Thanks for all the replies. It is really interesting to see what everyone does to help in the battle of the bulge. I am still counting calories (so far lost 8 pounds!) Partly using Slimfast bars and shakes but not going over 2000 cals a day. Even at 2000 cals I can lose weight. I did a basal metabolism calculator and it said if I weighed 200 pounds it would take 2000 calories to maintain that weight. Since I weigh way more than that, I decided to start there than to alter my calories too low and put my body in shock!! LOL
have a good weekend!!
Laura:)

Superfoods, trying to eat healthier whole foods. Exercising and walking when I can. I just got out of the hospital (miscarriage and hemorrhage/transfusion
:( ) and it will be awhile to get back to normal but believe it or not I can't wait to go out and walk again. I was actually starting to enjoy it! Yeah!
Amy B.
280/265

Originally Posted by allebu:
Currently I am trying Eating for Life by Bill Phillips. I love his philosophy and think that it's very reasonable and fits into my lifestyle very well. Basically, it's 6 small meals per day, a carb and protein at each meal, with 2 veggies added per day. It's designed to keep your metabolism up and your hunger under control. There's even a built-in "cheat" day!

I was doing Eating for Life last year and it seemed to be working. But I had a huge setback with a miscarriage (ruptured ectopic) last April and ever since I really resisted anything. I told myself that timing-wise, maybe I was only losing weight due to being pregnant and not knowing it.

I tried South Beach 3 times and couldn't make it beyond 5 days of Phase 1. I tried You: On a Diet and lasted about 3 days on that. I'm thinking that a calorie-counting/portion size plan like EFL is what's going to do it for me in the end. I loved that free day. I knew I could do it knowing that each week I had that free day. Last year I started the eating healthier/light exercise thing at 202 lbs and in about 5 weeks I had lost 10 lbs. It's modest, but it was a loss.

It took a little over a year for me to have the mental motivation to start something again, but I've been silly, trying these other things because of promises of loss of belly fat and kind of fast weight loss. I started at about 209 this time, and I'm probably down to about 207 right now, just trying not to overdo it on anything.

Some of the recipes in the South Beach cookbook are fabulous, though, and can easily be incorporated with an Eating for Life or calorie counting thing.

So, I believe that's what I'm going back to...EFL/calories. It's so easy to remember the guidelines. I never felt hungry on EFL. I never felt tired of the food choices or overwhelmed with food preparation and cleanup. And I had that free day each week! I was wondering, though, do you use the Myoplex shakes, and how do you like them? They're kind of pricey, so I haven't tried them but opt for similar-nutrition pre mixed drinks from the store.