What didn't work for me:

dropping below 1000 calories then going 500 a day when I hit a plateau

hydroxycut and dexatrim

not eating for a long time and then finally eating

I'm sure there's plenty more, but that's the main ones that I can think of right now, lol.

I've done all kinds of things.

Dexatrim.

Eat a sensible breakfast, lunch, but don't eat after 2pm. You will lose, but be ravenous.

ATkins. I actually like that.

WW. I can make it work, heck I'm a lifetime member.

With age, and it does bite to have to get old to get smart, but with age comes wisdom.

There are lots of programs that will work, if you work them. BUT, there are sacrifices involved.

I've come to realize, that no matter what program I follow, and I'm a WW lover, that in order for me to get where I want to be, the emotional and relationship parts of my life will have to change.

Taking that step, and turning the life I know upside down, is way scary. However, if I don't find the inner strength to do it, the only person I"m really letting down, is myself.

Hi Paradise Falls ! I'm so glad to see that another person went from Medifast meals to the Take Shape for Life diet. I agree with you, the Medifast food is a little hard to live with. I am almost at 2 months and I just can't take it any longer. I too, have seen great results. It is the ONLY diet that has worked for me within the past 10 years. I too, have been living on the same few items, the pretzels, caramel nut bars, and dutch chocolate shakes. I am now out of pretzels and bars now, and this morning actually gagged on a shake. I am at the point where I do NOT look forward to my next meal, even if I'm hungry. I have been reading the Dr Andersen's book, Habits of Health, and it makes so much sense. So tomorrow, that's it.. .I'm headint to the grocery store and stocking up to follow the plan for myself, but using "real" food rather than the pre-packaged medifast meals. I agree, it will be more challenging in a way because I will have to think and plan more. But at this point, I just can not physically stomach any more medifast meals.

My question to you is this. . .when you transitioned to using "real" food did you have any weight "gain" or did you continue to lose weight at the same rate as the medifast meals? I have noticed that the outline in Dr A's book, would be for a 1100-1200 diet. What I have decided to do is not have that second meal at breakfast and just have a 100 calorie fueling break. . .this will bring my calories to 800-1000, very similar to Medifast total. What do you think of this idea? Also, when you transitioned from the medifast pre-package foods to the real food, did you experience any stomach pain? Thanks for your help!

Lisa

Things that did not work for me

-Denial (I'm overweight but healthy. I carry my weight well, etc)
-Not looking at my emotional connection to food
-Having a list of "bad" foods
-slimfast (blech)
-WW (the first time I was able to stay in my points but still ate the crap food like taco bell, French fries, candy etc which was not enough bulk so I was hungry often and triggered to binge also I am sure my blood sugars were pretty high. The second time it worked well and DH and I both lost a good amount of weight then we went on vacation and ate our way to the east coast on unhealthy foods like poutine, cinnamon buns (they had just come out at Tim Hortons), fried fish, etc my new clothes I had to by for the vacation due to the weight loss were already getting tight at the end of the 2 weeks and when we got home we just kept eating)
-Eating really low carb
-Fasting - my body does really well when I started eating breakfast regularly. I think I just eat less throughout the day.
-Not planning out my food
-Not journalling my food
-Not exercising
-Eating crappy fake "diet" food
-Not realizing that I can not "diet" and then go back to my old eating habits
-Getting stuck on how long it will take to lose weight

What is working
-Eating whole healthy foods, lots of veggies, some fruits, healthy fats and complex carbs
-avoiding sugar as much as possible as it really triggers binges
-realizing I can eat any food I want incl sugar but i also have to understand that anything I but into my body will have an effect on my body.
-Watching my son and his healthy relation to food (I have watched my 3 year old put down a piece of chocolate so he could eat some raw cauliflower, refuse to eat McDonalds hamburger because it "doesn't smell like real food mama" and be able to eat a few fries and leave the rest. No food is better then any other food to him)
-Tracking my food and aiming for a caloric goal as well as following the exchanges for a diabetic diet incl
-Realizing that the way I am eating now is the way I will eat for the rest of my life
-Getting moderate exercise daily (still working on this
-Loving myself no matter what size I am (not excepting my fatness but knowing that my fat is also a part of me) also still working on this
-understanding that weight loss and lifestyle change is a process and to have compassion for myself and understanding that even binges and going of plan is teaching me something about myself and my journey

I am really enjoying reading all of these and I identify with a ton of them, ha! Thanks for sharing, everybody!

What didn't work for me;
1.Working out almost everyday, but NOT counting calories.
2.Mega Green Tea pills (made me go #2 alot) didn't lose any weight though.
3.Counting calories and NOT working out.

NOT WORKED:
- Diet pills (any)
- South Beach Diet
- Shakes & bars (Just: no.)
- Weight Watchers
- X-Day Diets

WHAT HAS WORKED/IS WORKING:
- Exercising and significantly reducing calorie consumption
- Energy/vitamin supplements

Atkins

Oxy Elite Pro

TOO EXTREME (I can't restrict everything in my life)

"I'll start tomorrow... so let's have fun today"

Giving up things I truly love. I LOVE chocolate. I sometimes have to add it to my food. I can make room in my calories for it, or realize that having a few pieces in a rare occasion, has to be ok. I can't live if I don't live.

Not getting support. I love this site because it's motivating, and inspiring. That's right, you all inspire me!

Not working out. I need exercise.

No goals

No restrictions

Not keeping tabs on what I eat. I need to write it down or I lose track and go overboard.

I see parts of me in the previous posts. However, most of what I've tried has worked when I followed the guidelines. The restrictive diets don't work well for me since I tend to binge after. I too have tried vegan and raw. I felt better physically but couldn't maintain. Low carb is hard for me to follow as well.

I loved your post butterflymama. I think I needed to read some of the positives about what is working (not that it is not educational to read what is not working for people). It was good for me.

Tonight I have decided Chinese food is not working. And I pretty much never eat it! I am currently reminded of why. It is amazing how one cannot even actually overeat the darn food and still totally bloat up!

Slim Fast, for some reason the shakes gave me a massive headache.

Nutrisystem, too much additional food I needed to add, made me just want to cook my own stuff.

I can not possibly remember everything I've ever tried, as I've been "dieting" my entire life, it seems.

However, that is the problem.
I'm dieting. I'm not changing my lifestyle, or eating healthier, or exercising more.
Sure, I've lost 40 pounds in 4 months before.
However I was walking like 10 miles a day on the treadmill, drinking 10 bottles of water, and eating 500 calories.
I couldn't be happy with my weight loss, because I was so depressed with my "diet".

We set ourselves up to fail when we say we're going to cut something out completely, or we're going to completely change our diet, or jump right into a strenuous exercise routine.
We set ourselves up to fail when we say "I'm going to lose x amount of pounds in x amount of months".
We set ourselves up to fail when we look at someone else's diet, and decide it has to work for us.

We need to always remember a few things:

Don't live to eat, eat to live.
Your body is a temple.
You're your problem, and you're your solution.
We're human.

That last one is key. WE ARE HUMAN. We make mistakes. We can't correct these mistakes by making them again. If you "fall off the wagon", just chalk it up to a lesson learned, and don't do it the next time. Will you make the same mistake again? Probably. Will it ruin everything you've worked so hard to achieve? **** no.
You didn't gain all that weight in a day, and in that same respect, you aren't going to ruin your entire diet in a day either.

I have been on some sort of "diet" for most of my adult life (I am 41) and I'm heavier now than I've ever been. I've done WW many times (had some success but always gained it back), low carb, low fat, prescribed diet pills (did nothing for me), various OTC fat-burning supplements, skipping meals, Alli, Slim-Fast, 3-day-diet, and probably many others that I'm not even thinking of. I have also gone through periods of working out every day at a level that would not be sustainable for me.

I am wise enough to know that the only way to lose weight is to eat right and exercise and burn more calories than I take in, but when it comes to losing weight, I can't seem to lose the "quick fix" mentality. It's like, I know better, but if someone offered me some magic beans and told me they'd help me lose weight, I'd take them!

What doesn't work for me:

Any plan that requires hours of food preparation. If it's not quick I'm sooner or later going to be tired/busy and buy something/anything fast to keep me going. And then I'll do it again. And again.

Any diet that has excluded a food group/type like fat, carbs etc. If I can't order from a menu or visit a friends house and eat then I'm going to break it and feel frustrated with it. If I can't eat something I think I want it more.

Any diet that excludes a food. If I exclude something entirely then I feel deprived and miserable. I will rebel and break the diet for this and also start to crave.

Keeping foods I find it hard to stop eating in the house. Anywhere, any cupboard. One bad night and I'll scoff them all.

Diets with six meals a day. Too much. Just too many things to think about and prepare.

Not planning for some emotional eating/drinking. Eg when I broke up last I gave myself leave for a bar of chocolate a day and buckets of tea. But no more than that. A plan for lapsing is better than an uncontrolled all out lapse. It works for me anyway.

What works for me:

is counting and recording calories, eating only delicious meals, limiting no food, keeping my hard to stop eating foods out of the house and walking and cycling. Oh, and when I lapse going back again of course!

Hi Sandman,
I'm at a plateau too. I'm going to try refeeding/cheat day. I have a post about this on the calorie counter page. The people who responded said this works. Check it out.