I'm talk'n "fat free" or "carb-free" or "sugar-free" or "meat-free" or whatever. I know that different diets work differently for different people (I do believe that blood type/body type/ethnic heritage plays a LARGE role in that.)

I have done sugar-free (processed sugars) and altho I didn't lose a lot of weight, I DID FEEL BETTER overall. I tried to go "meat-free"... but I love chicken & fish & burgers... I have done the "fat-free" but found out that I felt really bad with little to no fat in my diet (you need fat for the brain!) ... and "carb-free" or rather "low-carb" worked good for me ... lost 30 pounds doing that a few years ago... until I rediscovered bread & potatoes... and waa-lah!!! I found those 30 pounds I lost plus 10 of their friends!

I'm now in the belief that cutting out any one food or group of foods is not a healthy way to lose weight. (Unless you're diabetic, of course you have to watch that sugar intake.) I am currently upping my intake of fresh veggies and fruits, and therefore, by contrast, eating less of processed sugars & red meat.

I feel better already. But I'm still on a "toe". I hope that within another week or so I'll start seeing some negative movement on the scale.

That's my thought as well. I've done both sugar free and fat free diets in the past. But ya know, the only way I was finally able to lose the most weight and have kept it off for 3 years now? Eating healthy for the most part, eating in moderation, and regular exercise. I haven't felt deprived. Whereas in the past, I always felt deprived and could end up binging on whatever I felt deprived of, the moment I decided to stop dieting.

This time I haven't decided to stop "dieting". Because now I see it as a diet for life, as the way I need to eat NORMALLY. My old "diet" consisted of burgers, fries, pizza, chips. Now, I have those. But not NORMALLY. Normally I have lean meats, fruits, veggies, whole grains. Ocassionally, I have junk.

Moderation doesn't work very well for me. I had to completely cut out fast food, soda and packaged baked goods. If I eat an Oreo (for example), I immediately want another Oreo and another. Something about those foods (and cold cereal out of the box) are very very triggering for me, I just want to keep eating them (it's weird, it's like I want to take an another bite when I'm still chewing, it's very...bingy).

I avoid most sugar, but I still split the occasional dessert in a restaurant or eat a small piece of nice dark chocolate (I don't worry about the sugar in fruit at all - fruit doesn't set off my triggers like muffins, scones, or candy).

I agree completely! Although I've never done a "free" diet, I have done enough diets that restricted certain foods and I always felt deprived. I feel so much better when I eat healthy alternatives. When I started this weight loss regime, I didn't want to diet but I wanted to eat healthier. At first I started eating more how the USDA food pyramid told us to eat (but I've now heard that that is a lot of political bunk). I discovered whole foods and super foods and truthfully, I feel so much better when I eat healthy and the weight loss was a wonderful side effect!

I'm the same way. I eat "normally" though in moderation...like a serving of meat instead of a huge slab. I allow for junk food very ocassionally, knowing that its going to trigger a want of junk that entire day, and sometimes into the next morning, and I can't moderate that type of food when I get those cravings. I have to force myself to eat normally for part of the next day before the cravings leave entirely.

I used to think that I was never satisfied unless I had huge portions of meat with my meal. A yr. and a half of doing Atkins and having all the meat that I wanted cured me of that. Now, I eat a much smaller serving of meat and more fruits , salads and veggies and the occasional rice or potato. I have learned to use Way less butter on my food. I actually prefer the taste now of wheat bread, wheat pasta, wheat pancakes now.

Glory, I'm surprised to see you mention cold cereal. I try to avoid it mostly because I can easily eat 2 bowls of it and feel hungry again 2 hrs. later. I'm definitely better off to just eliminate sweets, as I'm no good with moderation of them.

Some interesting comments!

I would LOVE to do a controlled study regarding people who ate healthy "most of the time" and had junk food in moderation, as opposed to those who feel they must completely cut out their "trigger food." I bet it would be a real eye-opening study!

Beach, think we could get a grant?

You'd probably find that for some people, it is fine to have junk food in moderation, but for others it is not. And then we'd need a follow-up grant...

Jay

in my attempts i havent really cut anything out, i have just tried to limit the amount i eat.

Different things at different times for me. I dont cut ALL junk food out, but yeah, CERTAIN foods are trigger foods for me. So I just try not to keep them in my house.

I've been on a bit of a struggle end so right now I need to be stricter about what I allow in my house because currently it seems almost anything can lead to a binge. (My definitition of a binge is not related to how MUCH is eaten but the DRIVE to eat.) But for about 5 months I was totally fine having chocolate and icecream in my house. Only homemade cookies and whipped cream were off limits. I have ebbs and flows where I can handle more.

I also try to not set my self up for repeated stuff. Like right now I have been seriously jonesing for an ooey gooey pecan roll for weeks. (Did you know those suckers average about 800 calories?) I may allow myself to have one or part of one soon, but I am also trying to be strategic about where. I go out for coffee once a week with my girlfriends at a place that sells almost reasonable sized ones (probably only 600 calories ) but I wont have one there or any of the other pastry they sell there because I am the type of person who will then seriously crave pastry every time I walk into the coffee shop. (and I am NOT a sweets person as a rule) So if I do get the pecan roll it will be sometime when I am somewhere I am not likely to be on a regular basis.

I completely agree, cutting out a whole group of food doesn't work for me. The only "free" diet I ever tried was low-carb and I swear I nearly killed a few people. It made me so moody! That's not to say that some of these diets don't work for others, but not for me! I need to have the ability to splurge on occasion so that I don't feel deprived.

However, out of my own personal concerns/political reasons I've cut out HFCS, trans fats, red meat (except on very special occasions) and artificial sweeteners. It's difficult sometimes (because they are in EVERYTHING), but it's something that I feel I need to do. Besides that I don't have any off limit foods. I eat dark chocolate, I have a small glass of red wine on occasion, and sometimes (VERY rarely) I'll even have a cane sugar sweetened soda.

The interesting thing is that because I'm avoiding these things there are many types of food that no longer apeal to me. The thought of an oreo is just gross to me (weird...)

I am similiar to Glory in that moderation just didn't work for me. I blew up to 287 lbs, so umm, yeah, moderation was NOT one of my strong points. I knew that in order for me to lose all the weight I would have to elminate all pasta, bread, rice and potatoes, cake, cookies and all that stuff. I just had no control with it and was never satisfied with 1/2 cup serving. Funny enough, I used to live on that stuff and now I don't miss it all.

Since I have gained control or as I like to say learned discipline, I can now have an occasional forkful of the above mentioned stuff.

I really believe that in order to be successful at this weightloss stuff, it is very, very important to find and recognize our weaknesses and do our best make a plan in accordance with those weaknesses. We are all unique and this means different things for different people.

Yup, same her. Moderation is a fantastic concept but in truth it doesn't work for everyone. If someone is sensitive to a particular ingredient or type of foods, consuming it in moderation is like giving a recovering alcoholic "just a taste" of wine.

I don't believe in fat free, because far is needed for health - fat-soluble vitamins will have no way to be absorbed and those are some VITAL vitamins: A, D, E, K, you cannot be healthy without.

I do believe in meat-free but not for weight loss; if you are e vegatarian out of conscience or if you have digestive trouble and you avoid certain kinds of meat or are doing a detox and are avoiding meat, that's understandable.

I do believe in sugar-free, because sugar doesn't have an nutritional value and it is in fact harmful to the body. However to me that means excluding processed sugar, not fruit. It may be hard to keep for some, but it's doable and IMO it's one of the best things one can do for himself - and for your children, sinc ADHD is actually connected to sugar consumption among other things.

That said, I think moderation is a good concept to strive for. But I think if we find we need to use stronger measures we should just accept that's what our body needs and do it, and others shoulnd't be too quick to judge us for that and peg our health regimen a fad diet, as it often happens.

You said a mouthful!!!! Mouthful!!! - Bwwahahahahaha! Get it??? Oh lordy I kill me sometimes....

But seriously - being successful is very much an individual thing. And you are absolutely right about finding & recognizing our weaknesses. For only in so doing can we truly exercise our strengths.