[garybearsgirl]

But at $2.99 a week, I think I cmoe cheaper to follow the books I bought. Plus i use FitDay to track my calories. Besides they recommended 1200-1300 calories a day for me - yikes! That's not enough. I'm shooting for 1600

[happydaisy]

Hope I'm not stepping on anyones toes here, but I'm not a fan of ediets. I used them in my first attempt at weight loss. I never used the eating plan because I found the food boring and not realistic to be feeding a two year old in addition to myself. I loved the support boards but when I felt they got a little too "gimmicky" I left the site and used that money to join a gym. It was a good choice for me. I recently went back to check it out again because I really feel I need support but tend to clam up in face to face meetings on subjects like weight. It's now 2.99 for the MEAL PLAN ONLY. It's an additional 2.99 for a fitness plan and 1.99 for acess to the support boards. In trying to save for a house, grad school and most importantly Disney World I decided that was a little steep. That's when I found this website! In my opinion th esupport boards here are even better, and this site gives you plenty of info to start your own healthy eating plan. Just my 2 cents!

[happydaisy]

I forgot to add that I agree about the calorie thing. They start you low and if you don't lose a week (at least when I was a member) a message would pop up that would say something like "you didn't lose weight this week, let's lower your calories." It didn't take into account that you may have had a large loss the week before, muscle weight, PMS etc..

[garybearsgirl]

I used E-Diets for about a year and it's a money vacuum. Not to mention that they are the kings of spam!
I bought a book on the Mediterranean Diet that came with menu plans. I chose The Omega Diet by Artemis Simopoulos. She is Greek, so her recipes have a little Greek touch. She gives menues for 1200, 1500 and 2000 calorie levels. After the first week I am down 4 1/2 pounds at 1500, even though I went over a few days. I set my goal at 1600 and track in FitDay. I am always on the lookout for more Mediterranean menu plans. I have BigOven cooking software, so I am working on importing the meals from all I can find (a slow and tedious process, admittedly, if you want BigOven to track colores). But then I can mix and match my own weekly menues and BigOven will generate a shopping list to match. There are other recipe programs that will do the same.
I got my weight training workout for free on the web, www.stumptuous.com has some, so does About.com and other places. Then I just get on the treadmill at home. And I come here for support boards. Who needs E-Diets?
I just thought it was interesting that they suddenly decided to offer the Mediterranean Diet. Is it now becoming fashionable? They don't do anything unless they figure they will make some bucks on it.

[2stubborn2giveup]

Thank you both! You saved me from joining ediets (again). I almost fell for their Mediterranean offer. Ediets didn't work a few years ago, so why should it be different this time? Go figure. I absolutely positively cannot count another calorie, fat gram, point or food group ever again. I'm starting the Mediterranean Diet because I've always loved vegetables, fruits and lean meats - but have been too darn lazy to prepare them properly. I've decided exercise will be the gentle variety - walking instead of driving short distances, etc. I know myself well enough to realize I'll rebel at anything else. 84 pounds to lose. I think I'll walk to the store now and buy some fresh vegetables. Thanks again for saving me $$$ and frustration.

[phantastica]

eDiets has always seemed like a waste of money, when there are so many free resources on the internet already. I like the Mediterranean diet quite a bit ... it seems to be close to what I'd naturally choose to eat, and I believe it's probably the healthiest way to go. What I hate to see, however, is the fact that suddenly what once was a regional food preference is suddenly a "brand" or a "fad".

My favorite Mediterranean diet resource is here: http://www.oldwayspt.org/pyramids/med/p_med.html

I wonder if anyone in the Middle East buys books about going on the American Diet.

[Suzanne 3FC]

I looked over the diet plan in ediets and actually thought it was a good starting point for someone that is interested in the Med diet and doesn't know where to begin. The med diet is more of a way of eating, and not an actual diet plan that is laid out like Weight Watchers or South Beach. You need to be responsible for your own food choices and menus. That is a good thing in the long run, but it can be confusing to someone new to dieting that is also interested in the concept behind the Med diet. We have an ediets account (so we can check out everything) and the menu generator was nice and gave me some ideas for Med menus that I hadn't thought of. I'm not sure it's something most people need long term, unless it happenes to fit their lifestyle better to have it all done for them. But I did think it was a good point to jump off from. I wish we could afford to have something like that programmed for our website. However, maybe sometime we can put together some sample menus and recipes for the Med diet, to help people get started.

[phantastica]

Originally Posted by Suzanne 3FC

I wish we could afford to have something like that programmed for our website. However, maybe sometime we can put together some sample menus and recipes for the Med diet, to help people get started.

Wow!! That would be awesome. It actually sounds kind of like a fun programming project.