[Survey] How hard was it to find the right diet for you?
Hello everyone,
Here at UC San Diego we are doing a research project to determine how to get people to identify and implement their ideal diet quicker and more effectively.
Please answer these 5 questions and help us help others in getting into their ideal shape!
Your feedback will help in forming a new program being developed here at UCSD to help make dieting a simpler, easier process.
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Our questions to you are:
How difficult was it to find the right diet for you?
What complaints do you have regarding finding the right diet for you?
What resources did you use to find the right diet?
How satisfied are you with your current diet?
What suggestions do you have for others starting on their weight-loss journey?
----------------------------------------------
Thank you, your feedback will be greatly appreciated!
1. it was never difficult to find the right 'diet', because choosing to live healthy is not a diet, it is a lifestyle change. we all know that to be fit, you have to eat right and exercise. no cabbage soup diet, or no carb diet will fix it permanently. we have to just learn to live healthy and do it in a way that we will keep up with forever
2. i have no complaints about choosing my diet. i am still eating whatever i want, just in moderation, and making myself be more active. the pounds will come off as long as i do this
3. i used my knowledge of my own behavior to pick my lifestyle. i know diets dont work for me, and cutting myself off of sweets always backfires. so eating the same in moderation it is...
4. i am very satisfied, i cheat here and there, but i keep at it, and i wake up every day ready to do great.
5. i am new to weight loss, but i suggest choosing a diet that you will stick with, i think if you have to give up bread, or sweets, or anything you love, you are likely to cheat often. moderation is definitely do-able.
One shortcoming of these questions is that they all assume there is a single right diet for each individual, and/or that a person who loses weight will do all or most of their weight loss on this mythical single right diet. I believe the assumption is so influential that it can actually trigger failure. When a person decides that a diet isn't "right for them" the "traditional" response is to regain most (or more) of the weight back before trying a new diet. I think the dieting "traditions" are more detrimental to success and a larger factor in failure than "finding the right diet." I think the actual diet is the smallest part of the weight loss equation.
That being said:
Quote:
Originally Posted by eryksd
How difficult was it to find the right diet for you?
I'm not sure that I have yet, or ever will find the "right" diet for me. However, I have found that carbohydrate control is a vital element - and this was very difficult for me to "find" because common wisdom and often expert opinions so often condemned these diets, that I never really gave them a significant chance - especially since super-low (Atkins induction low) carb diets are terrible for me - so I judged all low-carb diets by the "poster child" diets. I never considered moderately low-carb until my doctor suggested that I try low-carb but warned me not to go too low. I always judged low-carb diets by my experience with the early stages of the diets (never going on to the only moderately low-carb diets).
Quote:
Originally Posted by eryksd
What complaints do you have regarding finding the right diet for you?
As I said, I'm not sure that I'm on the "right" diet. I've lost 105 lbs on a combination of several diets. The ones that have worked the best have been low to moderately low in carbohydrates. These diets tend to be dismissed by low-carbers and non-low-carbers. Low-carbers say the diets are too high-carb, and higher carb dieters say the diet is too low-carb.
The diets have gained popularity, but they're still not given the same credibility or popularity of more extreme diets.
Also, since I've lost weight on at least six different distinct plans, I would say that my main complaint is that people tend to believe that there is one right diet. Instead, I've made changes to my diet based on my own experiences and experiments.
Quote:
Originally Posted by eryksd
What resources did you use to find the right diet?
About a hundred or more books on low-carb and paleo diets. Books liking grains to autoimmune disease (I have autoimmune disease and I was astonished how many of the autoimmune disease books recommended low-carb or at least, low-grain diets). And of course my personal physician who recommended the low-carb diets for my insulin resistance but warned not to go too low.
Quote:
Originally Posted by eryksd
How satisfied are you with your current diet?
I am always tweaking my diet to address my current needs. So I'm very satisfied that the diet I'm currently following is the best version so far, but I'm always willing to tweak and adjust - so if I'm not satisfied a week from now, I'm willing to change my diet as I need to. I follow an exchange plan (using the standard exchanges created by the American Diabetes Association and the American Dietetics Association). I initially used a low-carb exchange plan I found in the Duke Diet Book and then adapted it based on information I found on a website (frugalabundance.com). I continue to work with different distributions of exchanges, and I try to make most of my food choices paleo-friendly. I think the longer a food type has appeared to be in the human diet, the better. Thus a food that's been in the diet for millions of years is a healthier food, than one that has been in the diet for only 10,000 years, which is healthier than one that has been in the diet for only 25 years.
Quote:
Originally Posted by eryksd
What suggestions do you have for others starting on their weight-loss journey?
Don't worry about finding the right diet. Just start somewhere and learn as you go. Lack of perfection isn't failure, and the diet you start with doesn't have to be the diet you end with. You can use a different "diet" every day if you want to. You can follow no diet at all and only eat what you've always eaten, but less of it (or you may find this doesn't work for you). The only key to success is finding something that works. It doesn't have to work perfectly. It doesn't have to result in rapid wieght loss. You can change it at any time. Until there is a way to find which diets work best for which people (which is probably decades off) the only option is experimenting - being both scientist and lab rat.
Above all, a support system is vital. TOPS (taking off pounds sensibly), Weight Watchers and other weight loss groups that meet weekly are AWESOME. Online groups are excellent too. They have nothing at all to do with "diet" and yet they're more vital to my success than my diet at all. Having a support group, and seeing other people's success (and that I'm not the only one who works hard and yet still only sees slow results).
The only universally true aspect seems to be "don't give up." Everything else is going to have to be custom-fit to your own needs.
1. it was never difficult to find the right 'diet', because choosing to live healthy is not a diet, it is a lifestyle change. we all know that to be fit, you have to eat right and exercise. no cabbage soup diet, or no carb diet will fix it permanently. we have to just learn to live healthy and do it in a way that we will keep up with forever
2. i have no complaints about choosing my diet. i am still eating whatever i want, just in moderation, and making myself be more active. the pounds will come off as long as i do this
3. i used my knowledge of my own behavior to pick my lifestyle. i know diets dont work for me, and cutting myself off of sweets always backfires. so eating the same in moderation it is...
4. i am very satisfied, i cheat here and there, but i keep at it, and i wake up every day ready to do great.
5. i am new to weight loss, but i suggest choosing a diet that you will stick with, i think if you have to give up bread, or sweets, or anything you love, you are likely to cheat often. moderation is definitely do-able.
Thank you for your input Samcakes! I agree with your viewpoint of 'everything in moderation'. In today's society we tend to go towards extremes (low carb, low fat, etc) but health experts have been touting moderation as being key for over a century now. I suppose there is some truth to it.
Quote:
Originally Posted by kaplods
One shortcoming of these questions is that they all assume there is a single right diet for each individual, and/or that a person who loses weight will do all or most of their weight loss on this mythical single right diet. I believe the assumption is so influential that it can actually trigger failure. When a person decides that a diet isn't "right for them" the "traditional" response is to regain most (or more) of the weight back before trying a new diet. I think the dieting "traditions" are more detrimental to success and a larger factor in failure than "finding the right diet." I think the actual diet is the smallest part of the weight loss equation.
Yes, each individual will have a different 'system' or way of eating that works for them. There's no magic bullet for each person, which is what I believe you are trying to get through, but each person can modify certain diets to make them work for him/her. I see what you mean though, it can be a vicious cycle.
Quote:
That being said:
I'm not sure that I have yet, or ever will find the "right" diet for me. However, I have found that carbohydrate control is a vital element - and this was very difficult for me to "find" because common wisdom and often expert opinions so often condemned these diets, that I never really gave them a significant chance - especially since super-low (Atkins induction low) carb diets are terrible for me - so I judged all low-carb diets by the "poster child" diets. I never considered moderately low-carb until my doctor suggested that I try low-carb but warned me not to go too low. I always judged low-carb diets by my experience with the early stages of the diets (never going on to the only moderately low-carb diets).
It is indeed very difficult to find the right mix for each person. In order to succeed, one must put in much time and effort and essentially become the doctor and the patient at the same time. It is the individual who truly knows their body and has an intuition for it which very few a health professional can identify from just a short consultation.
Quote:
As I said, I'm not sure that I'm on the "right" diet. I've lost 105 lbs on a combination of several diets. The ones that have worked the best have been low to moderately low in carbohydrates. These diets tend to be dismissed by low-carbers and non-low-carbers. Low-carbers say the diets are too high-carb, and higher carb dieters say the diet is too low-carb.
The diets have gained popularity, but they're still not given the same credibility or popularity of more extreme diets.
Also, since I've lost weight on at least six different distinct plans, I would say that my main complaint is that people tend to believe that there is one right diet. Instead, I've made changes to my diet based on my own experiences and experiments.
Which diet plans were you on if I may ask? Which ones were most and least effective?
Quote:
About a hundred or more books on low-carb and paleo diets. Books liking grains to autoimmune disease (I have autoimmune disease and I was astonished how many of the autoimmune disease books recommended low-carb or at least, low-grain diets). And of course my personal physician who recommended the low-carb diets for my insulin resistance but warned not to go too low.
I am always tweaking my diet to address my current needs. So I'm very satisfied that the diet I'm currently following is the best version so far, but I'm always willing to tweak and adjust - so if I'm not satisfied a week from now, I'm willing to change my diet as I need to. I follow an exchange plan (using the standard exchanges created by the American Diabetes Association and the American Dietetics Association). I initially used a low-carb exchange plan I found in the Duke Diet Book and then adapted it based on information I found on a website (frugalabundance.com). I continue to work with different distributions of exchanges, and I try to make most of my food choices paleo-friendly. I think the longer a food type has appeared to be in the human diet, the better. Thus a food that's been in the diet for millions of years is a healthier food, than one that has been in the diet for only 10,000 years, which is healthier than one that has been in the diet for only 25 years.
Don't worry about finding the right diet. Just start somewhere and learn as you go. Lack of perfection isn't failure, and the diet you start with doesn't have to be the diet you end with. You can use a different "diet" every day if you want to. You can follow no diet at all and only eat what you've always eaten, but less of it (or you may find this doesn't work for you). The only key to success is finding something that works. It doesn't have to work perfectly. It doesn't have to result in rapid wieght loss. You can change it at any time. Until there is a way to find which diets work best for which people (which is probably decades off) the only option is experimenting - being both scientist and lab rat.
Exactly, I believe small successes (weight loss) over a period of time are much more reinforcing towards long term success than rapid weight loss that is unsustainable.
It is also key as you mentioned to be the scientist and the lab rat in experimenting with the right diet, you are rare in doing so as many people either do not have the ambition and patience to do so- or have no time in our busy society. It is the purpose of our project to provide help in these areas.
Quote:
Above all, a support system is vital. TOPS (taking off pounds sensibly), Weight Watchers and other weight loss groups that meet weekly are AWESOME. Online groups are excellent too. They have nothing at all to do with "diet" and yet they're more vital to my success than my diet at all. Having a support group, and seeing other people's success (and that I'm not the only one who works hard and yet still only sees slow results).
The only universally true aspect seems to be "don't give up." Everything else is going to have to be custom-fit to your own needs.
Thank you Kaplods for your input! It has been very helpful and enlightening to see your viewpoint.
Please keep the responses coming! We will share the project with this forum once it is completed.
It is indeed very difficult to find the right mix for each person.
I'm not sure this is (or has to be) true. In fact, I think believing it can actually make wieght loss more difficult. Firstly, believing the process is difficult, becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy (if what you're doing isn't difficult, you must be doing it wrong) and also believing that there is a "right mix" makes anything that isn't "pefect" seem like it must not be the "right mix."
When it comes to romantic relationships, I don't believe in literal soul mates or perfect diets. I firmly believe there is neither one right person or one right diet for each person. There are hundreds (if not thousands) of potentially successful choices, and an imperfect choice doesn't have to be a "wrong" or unsuccessful one.
You can lose weight and keep it off on many countless different diets or on one. It doesn't mean that any one is or isn't a good mix. I don't think it's the imperfect fit that causes weight loss failure, so much as the expectation for a perfect fit.
To use the relationship parallel, sometimes people expect a perfect match in a partner, and when they discover their mate isn't a perfect match, they give up on the relationship and go looking for a perfect match (that probably doesn't exist).
I think success often comes from making do with less-than perfect.
Quote:
Originally Posted by eryksd
Which diet plans were you on if I may ask? Which ones were most and least effective?
I've been on hundreds of plans during my lifetime, and because I was looking for the diet equivalent of a soulmate, I didn't really learn what worked for me and what didn't until relatively recently (when I learned that I didn't have to find perfection, I just had to tweak and learn indefinitely).
I would say that "intuitive eating" was the least effective for me, because my hunger signals are not reliable. "Straight" calorie counting (on a high-carb woe) was also infective for me, because it left me so insanely hungry that I could never stay on plan for very long.
Atkins and South Beach worked well in the beginning, but I needed a portion control element.
I learned a lot from Volumetrics, The End of Overeating, Good Calories Bad Calories, Refuse to Regain and other low-carb and low-grain books.
Paleo diet books also were quite helpful (Primal Blueprint, Neanderthin, The Paleo Diet...).
Very low-carb diets drastically cut my hunger, but also make me irritable, nauseous, light-headed and faint. Very high-carb diets leave me incredibly hungry to the point that the more I eat, the hungrier I am.
I've taken the best bits from the plans I've tried, and the books I've read, and incorporated them into my current plan, which is to use an 1800 calorie low-carb exchange plan (modeled after the one that can be found on frugalabundance.com) and to use controlled-carb and paleo and volumetric principles in making those choices..... but if I spend my calories/exchanges on foods that are inconsistent with my plan, or if I don't log my food or otherwise deviate from my "plan" I don't let it stress me.
Nothing is "written in stone," and I don't look at off-plan choices or days as failures. I focus on living my life, not so much on "staying on plan" for the sake of doing so.
I think we tend to get caught up in process of dieting, to the point that we make it about rules and not about incorporating healthy behaviors into our lives. When we can't be perfect, we decide that we're going to drop out of the game until we can be perfect.
I think there would be tons more success if we stopped looking for the "right plan" or the "right mix" and just instead focused on moving in the direction we want to go, and would be patient and persistent even if our plan is certainly and obviously not the perfect match.
When it comes to finding Mr. Right, settling for "Mr. Good-enough for the time being," ior "Mr. Rotten, but better than the loser I was dating before," isn't the best strategy. However, when it comes to finding the successful food/exercise plan, "barely better than before" actually is a great strategy - because what works now doesn't have to work well, or work forever. We get to adjust our strategy based on what is working. Change can be made gradually and we don't have to find the "best" strategy, we just have to commit to working towards progress.
I think a lot of time is wasted looking for the perfect or right plan, rather than just getting started somewhere and learning which strategies we find most doable and effective.
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[Survey] How hard was it to find the right diet for you?
