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Old 04-11-2011, 04:32 PM   #1  
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Question not sure what weight loss method to use

Hi everyone,

I know that this is ultimately my decision, but I am just thinking aloud here.

I have tried a lot of weight loss methods and am not sure what to try now. I am thinking of going back to Jenny Craig but the expense is really what gets me. Weight Watchers worked for me for awhile but when I tried it recently, it didn't. I am on a budget and I thought that working with my nurse practitioner for nutrition counseling might be a good idea because that is covered by insurance but it feels a bit restrictive. I am supposed to see her next week so maybe I can talk to her about that. I've tried LA Weight Loss, Medifast and diet pills with short lived success.

I'm not sure what to try next. I feel frustrated because I need to get this weight off but I give up easily with any weight loss program.

What has worked for you?
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Old 04-11-2011, 04:41 PM   #2  
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What about WW didn't work for you this time? And what's restrictive about the nutritionist?

I'm currently tracking calories. It's working for me now, and always has for me in the past, as long as I DO it. I'm trying to eat a lot of fruits and veggies, and am mostly steering clear of processed foods.
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Old 04-11-2011, 04:52 PM   #3  
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Thanks for your reply.

I'm not sure exactly what about WW didn't click, I just got frustrated if I went over the points, and constantly having to track them, like I get tired of having to write down what I eat for the nurse practitioner. That's why I thought JC would work because it is written down ahead of time and I can swap a certain entree for another on any given day. It's just that JC is so expensive and I am on a budget. I think also the frustrating thing about what I have set up with the nurse practitioner is she said I can ONLY have protein snacks or a cup of popcorn for snacks, not fruit or carbs or anything and to me that feels restrictive. I like some flexibility in my plans or else I tend to rebel.

Thanks.
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Old 04-11-2011, 05:27 PM   #4  
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So you're saying you want to lose weight permanently, but you don't want to do any work like track your food or count calories or follow a nutritionist's plan? If you find a plan like that, please share it with the rest of us! We'd all love to sign up!


I hate to say it, but there is going to be work involved. The reason those other plans only provided "short lived success" is because they are not long term solutions. Working through a program like WW or your nutritionist is what's going to change your habits and provide a long term solution.

I think you're going to have to be more open-minded and change your mind set so you don't give up so easily. Commit yourself to the work and you will see success.
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Old 04-11-2011, 06:00 PM   #5  
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Originally Posted by LisaP916 View Post
So you're saying you want to lose weight permanently, but you don't want to do any work like track your food or count calories or follow a nutritionist's plan? If you find a plan like that, please share it with the rest of us! We'd all love to sign up!


I hate to say it, but there is going to be work involved. The reason those other plans only provided "short lived success" is because they are not long term solutions. Working through a program like WW or your nutritionist is what's going to change your habits and provide a long term solution.

I think you're going to have to be more open-minded and change your mind set so you don't give up so easily. Commit yourself to the work and you will see success.

Yep to all this.
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Old 04-11-2011, 06:07 PM   #6  
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I did Jenny Craig and had great success that lasted for years. Unfortunately, Jenny's way too costly for my current budget so, like you, I looked for other alternatives.

What has worked for me for months is plain ol' calorie counting. It's only as expensive as I make it. It is the absolute least restrictive possibility out there, as nothing is off-limits as long as your portions are in line. It can even have some variability if you want to do a zig-zag method and vary your daily calories from day to day; plenty of people like that their weekends are more calorific, permitting them to go out to eat and such.

However (and you knew there'd be one )...

You have to be rigorous somewhere. If you aren't rigorous about the types of foods you eat, you have to be rigorous about the amounts you eat. That means weighing and/or measuring your portions and writing down what you eat. I know you mentioned that you find keeping a food journal tedious, and yeah, sometimes it's a little bit of a PITA, but when the alternative is losing track of a sandwich here or a dollop of hummus there and wondering why I can't lose weight...yeah, I'll make the effort. It's ten minutes out of my day to write that stuff down, max.

Doesn't Jenny Craig make you keep a food journal any more? They did when I went. There was the pre-printed menu, but you also had to write stuff down yourself as the printed sheet didn't include all your snacks and such. Then again, that was years ago, so maybe they've dropped that. I'd be surprised if they did, though; research shows that people who write their food down consume 10 to 20% less without even trying to diet simply from being conscious of what they're eating.

As for portion control, if you get a food scale with a tare/zero function, it's a breeze. Turn on scale, set empty bowl on scale, hit "zero," add food to bowl, stop when you hit the appropriate number of ounces or grams, voila! No muss, no fuss, no measuring cups to clean.

I thought a lot of this stuff--the measuring, the writing, the counting--would make me feel uncomfortably obsessed. It doesn't. I feel no more obsessive about food than I feel obsessive about my teeth because I brush them twice a day. I'm not obsessive about my hair because I brush it several times a day, am I? Nope, because those are necessary maintenance tasks. They're what I do to keep myself in order. So is counting calories.

Congratulations on losing nearly fifty pounds so far! What got you this far? That's impressive weight loss, and maybe you can build on your previous success with few changes.
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Old 04-11-2011, 06:17 PM   #7  
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Im super analytical, so I would suggest (as others have indicated too) that you think back about what worked, what didnt work and why.

Use what worked and try to find solutions to what didnt work so that you can customize a plan to your own needs!
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Old 04-11-2011, 06:19 PM   #8  
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Quote:
Originally Posted by LisaP916 View Post

I hate to say it, but there is going to be work involved. The reason those other plans only provided "short lived success" is because they are not long term solutions. Working through a program like WW or your nutritionist is what's going to change your habits and provide a long term solution.
Very true... Just find what works for you and know you are going to have to put forth the effort. Think about what it will be like in the end.
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Old 04-11-2011, 06:29 PM   #9  
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This is how i see it. It's all about calories in vs. calories out. There is no magic diet that can make your body burn more calories than the laws of science allows. So all the different diets are just different ways for people to manage their calories. Some people feel unrestricted on Atkins because they are just naturally not prone to overeating if they don't eat carbs. That doesn't work for me--i STILL overeat if i don't eat carbs. So i choose to count calories. I like sugar. So i work it into my diet.
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Old 04-11-2011, 06:31 PM   #10  
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Is there work involved in this losing weight business? Absolutely!!!

Is it worth it" Again - absolutely!!!

Any healthy plan you pick will involve some work. Pick the one you can work with and get started. You'll be glad you did.

I personally lost my weight using the exchange plan. It worked for me.
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Old 04-11-2011, 06:52 PM   #11  
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Default thanks for all the replies

I'm not saying I want a plan with no work involved, I'm sorry if that was misunderstood.

I know that any plan is going to have work involved, and I am okay with that. I lost almost 50 lbs partially due to an illness, but also doing work on WW, and on Medifast. Not to be defensive but I do know a lot about hard work. "nothing good comes easily!"

I just can't seem to stick to a plan for a long time, don't know why I give up on it so easily. It's not that I don't want to do the work, it's just that I get frustrated and bored. I kinda feel at wit's end now that I feel that Overeaters anonymous is not working for me, I found that it was not the plan for me either and I don't know how to choose the right plan. It seems like I have tried so many plans that I have had not that much success on and I don't know why. I'm just not sure which weight loss road to choose and I know I am the one who can ultimately make that decision so I guess I am just looking for support and what methods have worked for others. What is the exchange plan?
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Old 04-11-2011, 07:02 PM   #12  
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I just can't seem to stick to a plan for a long time, don't know why I give up on it so easily. It's not that I don't want to do the work, it's just that I get frustrated and bored. I kinda feel at wit's end now that I feel that Overeaters anonymous is not working for me, I found that it was not the plan for me either and I don't know how to choose the right plan. It seems like I have tried so many plans that I have had not that much success on and I don't know why. I'm just not sure which weight loss road to choose and I know I am the one who can ultimately make that decision so I guess I am just looking for support and what methods have worked for others. What is the exchange plan?
I'm getting really mixed messages from your posts so I think you need to sort out your own feelings about your journey and past to decide for yourself what's best for you in the future.

I first get the impression that you get frustrated when you eat too much or aren't perfectly on plan. Then you talk about being bored and frustrated not seeing much success on the plan. I get the frustrated part.. it's just the "bored" word and not seeing much success that's throwing me off.

How long are you giving each plan before you decide it's not working? How honest are you with following the plan?

If you are "bored", maybe you aren't motivated to lose the weight in the first place? I guess re-examine why you started off on this journey. How did you feel at your highest weight compared to your current weight? I don't think I've every thought my journey was exciting because of calorie counting. I thought it was exciting because I was becoming a better and happier version of myself.

I treated this journey as a lifestyle change and not a temporary fix. I have bad days and I have good days but I never give up. I know I'll get there, I just don't have a REAL deadline since it's forever.

Best of luck to you!
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Old 04-11-2011, 07:06 PM   #13  
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You don't need to wait until you find the perfect plan. You can start eating healthier NOW. Start by cutting back a little bit on your portions and eating more veggies. I think that generic advice can help almost ANYONE looking to lose weight. Figure out what foods trigger you to overeat. Cut those out. Figure it out as you go. Don't wait for the perfect plan to hit you. It's something you need to figure out.
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Old 04-11-2011, 07:37 PM   #14  
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Sorry for any confusion!

I do get frustrated if I can't follow a plan to the letter and then I want to throw my hands up and give up! I am somewhat of a perfectionist. I do get bored easily with structure too so after awhile of doing the same thing I get tired of repetition which is why I think I don't have long term success.

I've given plans months of time to decide if it is working. Often times it has worked, just hard to keep going.

I have some motivation to lose weight, well at least I don't want to be at the current weight that I am now so that is the motivation that I have.

You both gave me some great tips.

Thanks.
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Old 04-11-2011, 07:37 PM   #15  
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You don't need to wait until you find the perfect plan. You can start eating healthier NOW. Start by cutting back a little bit on your portions and eating more veggies. I think that generic advice can help almost ANYONE looking to lose weight. Figure out what foods trigger you to overeat. Cut those out. Figure it out as you go. Don't wait for the perfect plan to hit you. It's something you need to figure out.
I think this is really good advice... if I understood your op correctly, it seems like maybe you are tired of "plans" in general? I know for myself, restrictive diets and counting-type diets do not work. I don't like anything to be off limits and I don't want to count or track calories for the rest of my life, so its pointless for me to lose weight that way.

I wasn't successful until I started following the "HappilyMe" plan of simply eating healthier foods (veggies, fruits, whole grains etc) using recipes from healthy cookbooks like Cooking Light or TBL (low-cal, low-fat and healthy meals that are easy and quick) and exercising 45-60 min 5-6 days a week. No counting, tracking, or eating off acceptable food lists and I still eat foods I love, either in moderation or by creating a healthier version.

Sometimes the best plan is the one you create for yourself.
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