I started the Atkins diet about a year ago and went from 130 to 100 in a little under three months and stayed with the diet and kept it off but as soon as I stopped the diet I quickly gained back all my weight and I wasnt even eating that much. I am currently on the south beach diet but one day off of it and I gain back a pound! Does anyone know of a diet with long term results? Please help I need to loose 24 pounds before my birthday and im not sure what to do.

The good news is that it isn't likely you gained a pound of fat, it's probably all water. You have to consume 3,500 more calories than you burn to gain one pound of fat. So in one day, you would have had to eat at least 5,000 calories to gain a pound of FAT. Water, however, is much easier to gain and you can see a couple of pounds appear magically overnight, lol. If you went off your diet, you probably ate foods that may be higher in sodium than what you were eating on south beach. If you hop back on your diet, you'll probably see the water loss disappear soon with little to no damage done

Also, it's normal for your body weight to fluctuate a couple of pounds anyway , even if you stick to your diet without fail.

Weight loss via low carb diets does come back more quickly than weight loss via low fat diets. South beach isn't really a low carb diet, though, unless you were still in phase 1.

Weight Watchers has the most long term results of any of the popular diet plans. There are no forbidden foods, it's all about portion control. People are more likely to stick with it because they don't feel deprived. According to our diet survey, most people that leave South Beach or Atkins go to Weight Watchers and stay there.

It's also important to note that approx 80% of the people that successfully lose the weight and keep it off long term, didn't follow WW, Atkins, South Beach, or any other specific diet plan. They did their own thing, usually just by practicing portion control and adding exercise. In fact, I'm pretty sure that 95% of the ones that kept it off included regular exercise, so that seems to be the most important key.

It's so easy to think that we need to pick a diet plan, especially since the media is always talking about which diet is hot today. But statistics show that we do better when we find what works for us as individuals.

I think you have to pick something that will work for you always. Instead of putting yourself on a diet, create a plan you can stick to for life. That's the problem with using fad-ish diets.. once you come off them and go back to eating the "old" way, I think many people almost gain more back. I think you have to look at how you eat, why you eat, etc and figure out something that will always work for you.

My "diet" right now is just a "toned down" version of how I plan on eating when I meet my goals. That means I'm eating a few less calories and fat than I would allow myself once I meet my goal. When I get there I will decide how much is appropriate to maintain my weight.

What is working for me right now (and I've lost 30 pounds so far on this) is watching a few "key" nutrients and keeping track of my calories. For example. I try to get close to the daily allowance of fiber and calcium in my diet everyday, try not to pas 2500-3500mg sodium and try to eat 4-6 servings of fruits and vegetables a day. I'm consuming about 1400-1600 calories a day, usually on the low end. I'm drinking at least 64oz of water, sometimes more. I've also changed the WAY I eat. I no longer binge at the end of the day, but spread my eating out throughout the day. I eat breakfast, a morning snack, lunch, snack, dinner, and maybe dessert. Sometimes just a small snack every few hours is enough to keep my body from feeling like im STTTAAAAARVING.. which is key to keeping me not eating too much. I'm really watching my portion control too. I'm just starting on increasing my exercise as well.

It's not enough to deprive yourself of things for a few months and then go back to drinking 20oz sodas with every meal (not saying you do this, just an example) I think you have to examine why/when you eat and what you could improve. Find out what your temptations are and how to combat them. I discovered I dont have to completely be without everything I love. It's just about portions and moderation. I can even have regular sausage lasagna as long as I only eat a portion of it and not half the thing.

Before I did all of this, I wrote down what I ate without restricting myself. Then after a week, I sat down for an hour or two and entered it into one of those nutrition calculators - I used a free one on ediets.com - and I was amazed.. not just at the amount of calories I was consuming, but how so much of it was sincerely lacking the nutrients we need in a day. I started small. I didnt reduce my calories by 1000 immediately. I made one small change and let that become habit, then made another and another.

I hope some of this helps or gives you some ideas.

weight watchers teaches you how to eat for life!

Thanx everyone for your help. I'm way to busy to sit down and figure out a plan that works for me i have high school and college right now. I have read about weight watchers and it sounds really good. Do you know where I can get more information about the weight watchers program?

If you don't have time for yourself, you are not going to be successful at weight loss. You have to figure out what will work for you. You can get info about WW at any meeting. Go to www.weightwatchers.com and you can pull up a list of meetings in your area.

One thing to note...

WW won't help you lose an unhealthy amount of weight. I saw your weight tracker and I'm not sure they would help someone get down to 100lbs. Granted I don't know your height/build.. but that seems pretty small for anyone. I am five foot four and that would be considered "underweight" for me. You would have to be five foot even or less for 100lbs to be considered in an ideal range. And if you were five foot even, 120lbs is medically considered in an ideal range as well.

Just something to think about. Perhaps losing weight isnt as important as toning what you have and building muscle. (remember, muscle weighs more than fat, supermodels that have nice muscle tone weigh more than those who dont)

I have been on my diet for 4 years and let me just say: it works wonders! I am on the ABCDEF diet which means I exclude all of the following:
A-Alcohol
B-Bread
C-Starchy Carbs
D-Dairy
E-extra fat and sugars
F-Fruit

It may be a little extreme for you but it works for me and I never get bored with what I eat because there is SO MUCH veggies and meat in this world!! I just hope your not vegetarian! haha!!

That sounds like a pretty strict diet. I'm glad that it is working for you. However, I know that if I were to try it, the only thing I would lose would be my will to live.

Me, I eat anything. Really. I can pig out at McDonald's if I want and still be on my diet. I just make sure that my overall calories for the day, week, month or even year if need be are less than what I am burning off through living.

In general, though, on a typical day I eat bran cereal, a couple cups of skim milk, a diet tv dinner (not low carb), some sort of lean meat portion, and lots of fruits and veggies.

There are many paths that can lead to the goal of fat loss, we just have to find the way that is best for us.

Just wanted to comment on a few things:

I would also check to be sure that your goal weight of 100 pounds is ideal for your height and frame. For most people, 100 pounds is an unattainable weight. What is more important than a "scale weight" is being "fit". There is a difference between "fit" and "skinny". I would concentrate more on exercise, rather than diet, since your weight is already pretty low. Getting your body firm and tight at a reasonable weight looks much better than being stick thin, but stuff just "hanging" there with no shape.

I also agree that the ABCDEF diet is very extreme...and may be unhealthy over the long term. There are a lot of nutrients being cut out simply by avoiding fruit altogether-cancer fighting properties, antioxidants, vitamins...things that taking a daily multivitamin just don't give you.
I eat very little dairy myself, but I do eat yogurt because of the properties it contains that help the digestive tract. (I have tummy troubles)
I avoid white carbs (sugar and white flour) as much as I can, and choose only whole grain breads, cereals, etc.-but I don't believe in cutting out an entire food type. It just doesn't work for me-could never be a "lifestyle" change for me.

I agree that whatever you do, it has to be a lifestyle change. You can't go back to your former lifestyle once you reach your goal weight, and expect the weight not to come crawling back. You have to keep up the exercise, and pretty much the same eating habits (but maybe just a tad extra food for maintaining your loss) as you did to lose the weight.

As hard as losing weight is, the real challenge is keeping it off.