in terms of dieting and diets you name it and i have tried it at least once!! Since Jan I have lost about 40 pounds through atkins and ww. My problem is that the moment I dont see results I WANT I give up!! and then I try a different plan so here I am wondering where I should pick myself up at and get back on. Also from my past attempts at just calorie counting that didnt work for me because I ate junk! I believe I do better knowing what I can eat and what to stay away from. Im also an apple shape and sugar is just so addicting for me. Any help would be appreciated

The easiest thing for me to do is just calorie count. It can work fine as long as you make sure you're eating the right kinds of food. That's what I've been doing for the last few months and I've been doing great. I do cycling and I've pretty much changed my number every week and I'm still losing. I eat very little, if any sugar right now, which is a giant step for me and it's paying off. I mostly eat fresh fruits and veggies, very little cheese and dairy, and I get plenty of lean meat and also healthy fats from nuts. I also started watching my carb intake when the weight loss slowed down some and lowering that number has gotten me bigger loses on the scale.

Counting calories and lots of varied exercise. The exercise changes my body faster and more visibly than the calorie counting since I get thinner and more muscular even though the scale barely moves.

From your post, it seems like you just need to tweak a few things. Sometimes, people combine several programs. So, if you know that you eat junk food on calorie counting, why not make a decision to implement a whole food diet AND calorie count. Or, perhaps South Beach and calorie count. Instead of focusing just on weight loss, focus on taking very good care of yourself. If you eat a well balanced nutritious program then you will be less tempted to overindulge on junk. In fact, after a while, if you do have junk, you'll probably feel sick because your body will be so much happier eating health.

You mentioned you have a sugar addiction. This is very common actually. I've read that with an addiction, it's best to cut it from the diet completely. Then, after you've been off it for a month or two, you could gradually add some in slowly and see if you can handle it. Some people can add some back but others just have to stay away forever. Or, you may find that you can have some really good quality chocolate once in a while....or not. Just figure out what hasn't worked in the past.

A lot of times, we blame ourselves when we can't stick to a diet and feel like we've wasted our time. However, if you take the time to step back and really evaluate what happened, you may be able to adjust your plan. In fact, you may have to adjust it from time to time. I know for me, if my weight loss stalls, I also get VERY frustrated. I end up taking a break from weighing daily. Then, I try to cycle my calories, change my workouts, drink more water, eat more fiber, eat more clean and then, after a while, I start feeling like I'm back and losing again. Then, I weigh and am usually pleasantly surprised.

I'd say that most of the time when I've failed, it was because I felt like the loss was too slow or nonexistent but if you think about it, what good does that do? If you know you're doing everything you can, be kind to your body and give yourself a chance to adjust. There are so many cellular/hormonal changes as we lose weight that it really isn't asking too much to give it some time because good things are happening, even if you may not see them.

Believe me, I need to take my own advice. Just hang in there and do what works, even if it slows. Slow and steady wins the race.

First - I thought about all the diets I had been on for 20 years and why they didn't work. I knew I needed a plan I could stick to for the rest of my life. I did a combination of:

1. Eating whole foods and limiting/avoiding processed foods
2. Portion control - measuring, calorie counting
3. Volumetrics - eating large amounts of low calorie foods to stay full

That was in July 2004. I'm still doing it. 75 lbs gone.

You may want to check out the Belly Fat Cure. The program is moderately low carb and low sugar. The amount of food allowed is very good. It is the easiest plan I've ever tried. That being said, for me it is fairly slow, but many people lose weight faster on it than I do. Most of the weight I lost came off through my middle. There are very few things that are totally off plan, mainly aspartame, saccharin, and splenda. Sugar is very limited, but stevia and some of the sugar alcohols are allowed so that there are lots of choices and ways to satisfy a sweet tooth without going off plan.

You also may want to hear Eliana and what she says about this. I hate to speak for her, but her plan went something like this... She made a one year commitment to stay on plan - no matter what. Again, I hate to speak for her, but I believe she says something like her issue was that it was never fast enough for her and it made her stop; well this time she wasn't stopping. She made that one year commitment. And boy oh boy has it paid off for her!

Anyway, my plan is calorie counting. Calorie counting is forced portion control and built in accountability. It is vital, vital, vital. But calorie counting alone would have never, ever, ever done it for me. I need to combine it with ZERO junk, mostly whole foods and very, very voluminous foods.

There's a link in my signature with more details to my plan.

Sounds like sugar is an issue for you. As it was/is for me. Sooo, the only way around it - elimination. Yup. That's what held me back all those years. The sugar. Take a look at this thread, we were discussing it yesterday. You will see some of the most successful losers around here eliminated it with fabulous results. For me, I shed 165 pounds and kept it off for over 3 years. That never, ever, ever would have been possible had I kept sugar (& flour) in my diet. Never. Don't be daunted by it.. Be excited by it. It's got a hold on you and to escape from it is over the top phenomenal.

Check out the thread and the link in my siggy...
http://www.3fatchicks.com/forum/weig...thing-bad.html

I agree with rocking robin. I used to "put aside calories " for me to have a candy bar here and there, because I loooove chocolate. But I found its best I leave it out. Those 200 calories I put aside daily added up to 1400 calories a week. 5600 calories a month. a whole pound and half that could have been going to my weight loss instead of to my mouth. So I just started cutting them out completely. To be honest, after the first week, you don't even realize it.

And in regards to what plan "works" all depends on your body. I'm constantly tweaking as I go. learning what works, and what doesn't work. Just keep at it, even if it gets frustrating. Last week I went from 208 to 212 as of sunday. And i was good all week. For the life of me I couldn't understand wth was going on! But when I weighed in yesterday, there was big whoosh, the pounds had went away. Just don't give up hunny :-)

Yeah, I don't have to be a broken record. You did it for me! Thank you so much!

This is it exactly for me. I definitely always struggled with giving up because I wasn't getting results. At least it sounds like you are switching gears instead.

My diet has evolved. I was a former South Beacher and it worked, but it was too slow for silly me. I learned a lot from that diet about nutrition and started this time around with calorie counting around the principals of South Beach. From there I went the whole foods route. Between that, my commitment and exercise, I have lost nearly 80 pounds. :carrots:

I use SouthBeach as a way of controlling my calories. On most days, I don't count. But, I have a fairly rough idea of how much I'm eating each day. If I start to stall, I count for a few days to see what's up. For me, cutting out sugars and processed ick has made all the difference, it has allowed me to stick to a plan for the first time in a long time. I've found that I am not a portion control person- I can't have one Christmas cookie. Or just a little bit of dessert. Or a single serving of tortilla chips. I can, however, live perfectly happy without them. Living without cravings is one of the best feelings in the world, and when I focus on eating whole, non starchy foods, I am full with way less. Plus, when you eat the 4.5-5 cups of veggies you're supposed to each day, you're just not hungry enough to eat a lot of junk.

Okay. I was afraid to speak for you (besides you do it so much better), took a chance because I really thought it was apropos here and I think it's kinda brilliant.

Calorie Counting and planning, planning, planning, Did I memtion planning ? I plan all my meals ahead of time, usually the night before, this takes me about 5 minutes. I am not so rigid that I can't change it if I want, I just remember to stay within my calorie allottment. Calorie counting is flexible, reliable and best of all FREE !!

I used to write down every little thing that I ate. It was helping me learn serving size but at the same time driving me crazy if I didn't lose a pound. So my boyfriend says to me. Just eat right and cardio cardio cardio. Well I've doing that since 11/1 and I've lost 5lbs in 1 month. When I did the calorie counting and half weights n half cardio (kickboxing) within 9/1-10/31 I only lost 2lbs. But everyone is different, this just happens to work for me. I also belong to Lucille Roberts so I do a different type of class everyday. Changes it up on your muscle groups.

Good Luck

I'm "just" calorie counting but I'm taking care to make the most of those calories with eating a mostly whole-foods diet with tons and tons and tons of fruits and vegetables.

What struck me about your post was this sentence: "My problem is that the moment I dont see results I WANT I give up!!"

What's different for me this time is that I don't measure my results this way. Weight loss doesn't happen moment by moment, day by day, or even week by week. You really have to take a longer view, of a month or two, to determine whether you're seeing results.

And so, to combat the feeling of frustration when the scale doesn't budge for a week or two, my only goal is to stick to my plan, to make the right choice each time a choice is presented to me. That means planning, being consistent, saying no to the treats that drive me off course, making the choices I already know are the right choices to make. If I do that, day in and day out for months, the results flow from it. But the results are not the goal - the behavior is the goal.

Lately I have been taking a lot of inspiration from Robin's and Eliana's posts about consistency, commitment, planning, and setting yourself up for success. Read them and consider transforming your perspective from a results-oriented (lose X pounds by Y date) to a behavior-oriented (create a plan and stick to it) view. I think it will make a huge difference.

Thank you ladies for all your words of wisdom. Im gonna take that idea of staying on plan for a year no matter what because that really is my downfall. How do you ladies weigh? daily or weekly im not sure what would be the best approach for me since that scale has such a strong effect on me