I am a firm believer that diets or being "on something" as you put it just lead to eventual weight gain. Excessive caloric restriction and eating diet "frankenfood" just start a molecular domino effect that slows the metabolism, consumes muscle mass and holds onto fat reserves. When the plan stops, the weight comes back - but NOT THE MUSCLE. All the weight comes back as fat, since fat is metabolically inactive, basic metabolism is slowed and it takes fewer calories to sustain the body.
What worked for me:
* Greatly reducing processed foods (and fast food and sugary soda, foods with little to no nutritional value) - avoiding high fructose corn syup and trans fat (hydrogenated vegetable oils found in most packaged baked goods, cookies, crackers, etc)
* Making it a goal to eat 5+ servings of vegetables every day, fruit, whole grains, lean protein, low fat dairy and healthy fat
* Eating enough calories a day - making sure I was below maintenance level for my height/weight/age/gender/activity level but only SLIGHTLY below maintenance
* Exercise
* Committing to a lifetime of healthy eating, not a plan or diet I would start and then one day stop.
* Making my goal long term health - weight loss was a happy byproduct of eating foods to be healthy
All my life, I thought if I could cut some calories to lose weight, I could cut MORE calories and lose MORE weight. I was sucked into the "eat less, move more" mantra, except I took "eat less" to excessives. Could I lose weight - yeah, I have lost a lot of weight over the years. Did it matter? NO because I could never KEEP the weight off. I always gained back all the weight AND MORE.
I changed the "mantra" to - eat less unhealthy food, eat MORE healthy food, move more. It has made all the difference - 70 lbs lost, nearly 19 months of maintenance.
Good luck!
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