i am trying to get motivated to start eating right and excersizing (harder) so i can slim down. you think that me disliking my body would be enough of a push, but nooo. i have some questions about diets and i hope you can help.

i know that eveyone's body is different and that the 'main key' to getting healthing and fit is to excersize and eat right - but i'm just trying to get some general questions answered.

i had joined a gym and they had a low carb diet plan that i followed. i was extremely successful with that, i lost 20 lbs +, i was down to a great weight for my body type. i found off the wagon and gain every last bit of it back and then some and i've been fighting to get back ever since. that is the only diet that has really been successful for me, but i heard that this is not good for you and when you do get off of it you gain it all back (which was true for me). if i were to eat just a lot of fruits, salads (with good toppings, of course) and veggies - is it possible to be successful? i don't mean to sound stupid, but when i was on the carb diet.. i couldn't have certain fruits b/c they were too high in carbs.. i just don't want to eat wrong.

im sorry this is ending up with me slightly babbling.. i just want to get on track, loose some weight the right way and finally feel good about myself again. can you be successful without watching carbs??

Everyone is different and has to find the woe that is right for them. For me, it is southbeach. I wanted something that I could follow for life, that was not a "fad" loose it fast type of "diet" and would have variety and let me experiment with new recipes and let me adapt my "old recipes". It is working very well for me. Been on it since April and have not felt deprived, nervous etc. My husband who did not need to loose weight also enjoys the foods I cook and has not once complained about what we now eat because it is healthy for him too.

I, like Cat have been doing southbeach and have been very successful with it. I started this journey in May by simply tracking the foods I eat in fitday for a couple of weeks, I then looked at my precentages of what I was eating, and determinded carbs were my weakness. That is when I started southbeach. I am now at my goal and still following the plan. I don't feel deprived at all and feel 100 times better! I think the key is finding a plan you feel you can stay with even after the weight loss, after all this is a lifetime change not just a change to lose the weight. Good luck in your search and if we can be of any help the southbeach group is an amazing group of women! Pop in and check us out!

You might have a look at the Volumetrics books by Barbara Rolls and the Thin for Life books by Ann Fletcher. Also, Small Changes Big Results, by Ellie Krieger. I made up my own diet based on the principles of these books. They all suggest that you eat enough food to be satisfied and that you not eliminate any food forever, so that you don't feel deprived. In order to maintain sucessfully, you have to think of this as a lifestyle change and it just won't work if you feel hungry and deprived all the time.

You can get all these books out of the library, including Southbeach. Do some research and see what might work for you.

Like you and femmecreole said, we are all different. And I agree with pacergal that you have to find something you can live with permanently.

The best diet for you is the one you will follow. I personally count calories, a reliable and flexible way to go, and it doesn't cost me a cent.

I follow low fat because I find its the only one i can follow for life. I tend to steer away from anything that has more than 5% in it, and it works for me! I follow a plan by a british diet guru called Rosemary Conly. But i think its just trial and error you know, try something for a week or two and if it doesnt work try something else until something really clicks for you. As long as its healthy and balanced though, you will find the plan for me. I also like GI diets as it keeps my sugar nice and stable. Good luck!!

To answer your question-yes, you can lose weight without going low carb.

I also wanted to address the title of the thread-searching for the right diet.

That, in a sense, is actually why you failed with the low carb plan. A diet has a beginning and an end...and when you go off the diet, you gain the weight back.

When youhave a weight problem, the key is to make permanent lifestyle changes-because if you continue with what you are doing for life, then the weight will not come back.

Some people do very well on low carb, some do well on a plan that lets you have CERTAIN carbs like South Beach, and yet others do well on plans that let you have all foods-but in smaller portions-such as Weight Watchers and calorie counting. The right diet, honestly, is different for everyone. The right one is one that YOU, as an individual, can make into a lifestyle change.

That is the key.

My advice would be to research different plans, and see what they entail. Figure out what plan that you can stick with for life, so that you can keep the weight off.

(I am a calorie counter and avid exerciser...and it has always worked for me. )