I am 27 years old, and I am sick of this. I cannot wait until New Years I must change my lifestyle now. I am at work right now, so I cannot go on to too many peoples threads. But what is the most effective and best way to lose weight? I want to start tomorrow. I am ready. i am sick of this junk food addiction. I plan to lose 50 lbs by May.

It's a life style change, not a diet.

Be patient, track, journal, whatever.

Weight loss is done in the kitchen, fitness, is done through exercise. 2 different concepts.

Seriously, the best advice I can give you is to be patient, and realize, this is a life style change. There will be bumps in the road, but don't give up!

Embrace the good days, let the bad days go!

I second every thing shcirerf said.

The only thing I'll add is make sure to find something that works for you because it's going to be a life time commitment. And what works for someone else may not work for you.

Low carb is my favorite - it is the most sustainable and natural for me, and I feel the best on it. Less effort to lose and maintain compared to calorie counting or whole foods/unprocessed, alone, was also a nice boost.

I combine that with some intermittent fasting principles, but those are just something helpful for me and totally unnecessary to successful low carbing. No sugar, no starch, whole foods, and awareness of portion sizes has been the way to go, especially the longer I've been weight reduced.

And the ladies above are right on - though I have endocrinology as a main reason I selected my diet, you have to find what *you* can live with. The only successful diet is the one you keep for life

For me, "eat less, move more" works just fine, as long as I'm consistent.

50 pounds by May sounds a little ambitious to me. Experience has taught me that "slow and steady" wins this race. Too much of a calorie deficit leads to an opposing desire to let go and overeat -- or even give up on the whole enterprise.

Perhaps you can lay out a meal plan (3-5 choices for breakfast, lunch and dinner) and rotate between the options. It's logistically easier than counting calories, carbs, points, etc., every meal, and it's mentally easier not to have to think about what you'll be eating all the time.

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Haha, no seriously, there is no best way. You just have to start making better choices, eating less stodgy food, and incorporating more exercise.

Personally I follow the same principles as Arctic Mama, that's sage advice.

And I've learned a few tricks. The most important thing I learned was that the age old advice of eating small frequent meals does not work for me AT ALL. Not because I don't like eating frequently (I do) but it makes me miserably think about food all day long. Instead I take nice long breaks between meals and that keeps my mind focused on other things. Finally!

High protein, low carb, low fat is the most effective way for me. But unless you make changes to habits, it'll all come back after the diet is over. Losing weight is easy. Maintaining it is hard.

Hi,

When I asked my doc the same question, he said"Whatever plan you will do"I thought this was too simplistic and it kinda ticked me off .However, after thinking about it I agree with him.

I gave some thought to what foods I like,do not like and what I can not live without. For example I cannot live without coffee and a sweet before bed. So I worked that into my meal plan .I do control portions of things in the danger zone for me . I am not perfect but I am doing better. I like to think of it as a work in progress.

I hope you can devise the plan specific to you and that you have great success.

Sheridan

For me it has all been about making small changes that incrementally add up into something quite unique, personalized and effective.

I started by eating less.

I progressed by eating healthier.

Then I exercised more.

Then I ate more.

It's mostly about what you put in your mouth and how much.

I now eat a lot but it's all really good for me and I exercise a ton.

I eat a lot of lean protein (oats, fish, eggs) and vegetables. Very little dairy (no cheese, some milk) and few carbs (very little sugar, no bread, no rice, no corn, no hummus - any more sob). I try to keep my saturated fats low and my unsaturated fats high. I also skip dinner.

And I drink a lot of beer. I had to keep one thing I love, else my diet would have been busted after a month.

Low carb, high protein, low fat (Dukan diet).

There is only one way to lose fat. You must ingest fewer calories than you use in a day. Because exercise does not burn many calories you must restrict the number of calories you ingest. How you chose to do this is up to you. There are two main ways to do it. Calorie counting or rules based diet.

Are you the kind of person that is good with your money and can follow a budget no problem? If so than calorie counting might be the easiest way for you. On line programs or apps like "My Fitness Pal" make this easier than ever.

If you don't fit the above description you might do better with a rules based diet like Atkins or Paleo where you don't have to worry about caloires but instead you follow a set of rules which when followed restrict your caloric intake.

Regardless of which way you go, reducing the carb intake is typically the easiest way to restrict calories. Pasta, breads and rice and similar starches do little to satiate.

My first step was motivation. It was the right time for me to commit to lifestyle changes.

Personally low carb was the way to go. I had such high motivation I was able to stop fast food, junk snacks, bread, pasta, and potatoes. I felt odd/bad for a few weeks. But now I am virtually free of hunger.

A calorie is not a calorie to me. Protein and fat carbs leave me full and/or energized. Carb calories made me hungrier, fat, and lethargic. It literally would have been impossible for me to succeed without cutting carbs because if I didn't no matter what my motivation I always would have been hungry. It would have been like an a cocaine junkie going on cocaine daily to quit.

I agree though find what works for you and it is good to have goals but focus on changes not time. Like week 1 say I am not going to fast food. Week 2 I am not having potato chips. And on and on.