I know there are a thousand and one diets out there, everything from WW to SouthBeach to Grapefruit Diet to you-name-it. Personally, I think whatever diet works for you is the way to go, for each individual person.

But what I'm interested to know is how many of us are actually ON a "diet" vs. how many of us are just "eating healthy & exercising daily"? Or simply watching calorie intake? Portion sizes? Just "eating when I'm hungry & stopping when I'm full" ?

I ask because I swear I've been on/off diets since I was a kid. I was able to keep my weight at the "impossible skinny" level when I was a teenager. But since womanhood actually hit, I've been fighting it left & right. Lose it, gain it, lose it, gain it. I have gotten to the point where I no longer care to diet another day in my life. I don't want to give up my favorite foods, and I don't want to eat things that are yucky to me, no matter how good they are for me. During this "journey" I have learned to like foods that I used to not like, & I have given up plenty of foods that I used to love because I simply can no longer stand them (Doritos come to mind! ick! Used to love'm, now I hate'm!)

I decided a while back that I would jumpstart my "diet" with SouthBeach, and I did lose 18 pounds but have been plateaued for about 2 months now. I am no longer doing SouthBeach. I want to just pay attention to what my body is telling me, and eat when I'm hungry & stop before I am stuffed - so that I am pleasantly full. I know I eat very well most of the time, but sometimes I want a vending machine bag of Peanut M&Ms instead of a handful of grapes. Sometimes I want a soda instead of water.

And sometimes I want a HUGE plate of veggies and baked chicken as opposed to cheesy pizza.... and luckily, that's MOST of the time for me.

In other words, I'm tired of all this dieting & I wonder if I no longer let it be the focus of my existence if maybe I'll lose weight by simply just being a human being.

I count calories... but I don't eat 'diet food'.. I eat what I love, and I love yummy food! Counting calories just helps me stay accountable with ingredients and portion size. I don't really say no to anything, I just work around it if I really want something. 'Diets' never worked for me in the past, but this does.

I count calories which is much easier if you eat plain, whole, natural foods. Fat has enormous amounts of calories without any nutrition, so I guess I eat low fat-ish.
One refined carb leads to another and another etc etc etc ... so I guess I kinda low carb-ish.
Eating a little bowl of all bran makes me feel nice and full, so I guess I kinda high fiber too.
The nurse practitioner who did my physical wants me to watch my salt intake, I guess I low salt it too.
Sometimes, I just want what I want ... but I count the calories and take my lumps.
It's been a journey of discovery and I call it .... 'how I eat'.

I count calories and watch my protein & fiber intake. I also exercise almost every day.
For me, I could be eating all the foods I used to eat, but I am much fuller and happier and tend not to overeat if I stick to healthier alternatives or just different choices in general, because those foods are the ones that have the most protein & fiber, have the most bulk for calorie amount (volume I guess), and I am just learning to like them better.

The only organized diet I ever tried was signing up for ediets years ago. They gave me an eating plan, and though I tried to follow it, I just simply didn't eat the foods they told me or I didn't have anything like it in my house and I was much younger (in high school) so I not only had less discipline but I didn't have the opportunity to go grocery shopping and buy those certain foods.
For whatever reason, the idea of restricting foods does not fly with me. Though I restrict myself a bit, I guess, by choosing a healthier choice over what I'd consider junk food, if I REALLY wanted that junk food, I would have a portion controlled amount. If I were on a plan, I am sure that they would tell me to do either exactly what I did, or just not have it no matter what.

I guess it is a game of guess and check... figuring out what works for you and only you!

I wouldn't say I'm on a "diet" but I definitely don't just eat when I'm hungry and stop when I'm full - I don't have much of an "off switch" and can easily eat when I'm not hungry. I do enjoy healthy foods, but I would always want a brownie or a scone or french fries, pizza or nachos. When I "listened" to my body and ate what it wanted - I ended up weighing 200 lbs.

Now, I try to listen to my brain and eat what is good for me. My lifestyle includes a lot of planning, calorie estimating, lunch packing and food journaling. It's not a diet per se, but it is very structured and personalized - to my own triggers/weaknesses.

For me, personally, I don't ever want to drink soda or eat peanut M&Ms again or eat fast food again. These are my personal choices and I don't consider it a diet. I made these choices because these are "trigger" foods for me, I don't want a handful of M&Ms, I want a 1 lb bag, eating 1 M&M (just an example, it is the same for hershey's miniatures or Oreos or thin mint girl scout cookies), I immediately want more and more and more.

I do enjoy grapes (just continuing on the examples above), so I have to make sure I plan for grapes (or raspberries or a nectarine or a mango) and have it on hand!!!

So, I guess I am a restrictor but it works for me. When I don't eat the trigger foods, I don't binge and I don't feel bad about myself. I have fewer cravings. Overall, when I eat healthy, I feel better about me. I went so many years just hating myself that it is a blissful relief not to feel a need to beat myself up all the time. I don't feel restricted, I feel set free. I was a prisoner of my "sugar monster" for so long!!

I posted a lot (and edited like twice!) I hope I didn't come off sounding judgemental or weird, I firmly agree with a previous poster that weight loss/maintenance is very personal and individualized, what works for one person would probably not work for another person.

Right now, I'm on a moderate protein intake diet (balancing the complex carbs with some protein) because I'd like to make that more intuitively routine. I am trying to hit the gym more frequently during the week for the summer bathing suit season (I really don't need a six-pack, but it'd be nice to be really toned). I watch what I eat all the time, so it's one of those "life-choice" things. I guess I'm not really dieing afterall!

Oh I wouldn't call what I'm doing a "diet". I'm definitely in it for the long haul and it's more then a diet to me. It IS a lifestyle.

I don't eat yucky food. I never would have lasted this long if that were the case. I really and truly love, love, love all the foods that I am currently eating. I count calories because I absolutely HAVE TO. I MUST set limits for myself. I suspect that I will being counting these suckers for the remainder of my life. But to me it's worth it. Very much so in fact. It doesn't matter if I get tired of it - I'm still doing it. It's what works for me. The alternative is no longer an option for me. I will not go back to my old life. "Watching" myself and "trying" to eat healthy just didn't work for me. Although I love the healthy stuff, I also love the ummm, not so healthy stuff. I need the accountability of calorie counting, I need to eat healthy foods, not junk, so again, tired of it all or not tired - I'm sticking with it.

Beach Patrol, you bring up a really good question. What does "diet" mean? Does it mean following a program devised by someone else, or a company--like Weight Watchers, South Beach, Atkins, Sugar Busters, Jenny Craig... or does it mean any program that leads to weight loss--self devised or otherwise?

I usually use the term "weight loss program" myself, because the word "diet" has so many negative connotations. One gets images of nothing but egg whites and "rabbit food."

I found by trial and error that I could not just trust myself to make good choices without some guidelines to follow and follow strictly. After all, following my own desires was how I gained weight in the first place. And the second, and... so on.

So, I became a calorie counter. I don't have many "forbidden" foods, but I do have some on my list that I have to avoid just because there is too big a calorie hit and also because they make me want to eat uncontrollably. One of these foods is ice cream. Another is corn chips, especially the cheesy ones. And there are a couple of others. I don't mean that I never eat those while losing weight, but I don't keep them in the house.

(And Beach Patrol, no way would I eat a package of M&Ms from a vending machine while trying to lose weight, no matter how much I might "want" them! The calorie hit is just too big, and there's too much sugar involved. A measly 1/4 cup of peanut M&Ms has 220 cals! That's like, lunch! )

I figure out how many calories I can eat, and how much exercise I need to do, to lose at a certain rate. It doesn't always work out that way, but I keep going in the right direction. I also try to remain aware of balance--get vegetables, fruits. And in the last month I've also paid more attention to the percentages of proteins/fats/carbs I eat. I seem to need more proteins than I was getting.

Am I tired? Yes! Man o man am I tired! I am looking forward to reaching my short-term goal and starting maintenance by the end of this month.

Do I expect that I'll have to watch what I eat and account for it somehow, forever? Yes! I've tried doing it the other way, and if I don't watch, I gain. This is just the laws of physics as they apply to my body.

Fortunately, I now know HOW to eat... so it's no longer quite so difficult.

That said, what works for me or doesn't work for me may not be the same for someone else. It's OK to try different things and see what happens.

Cheers!
Jay

I totally agree! It's so easy to get caught up in all the details of "dieting" that it becomes an obsession. The thought of going on a "diet" makes me want to go bury my face in the nearest quart of ice cream. That being said, there has got to be a way to balance the things your mind wants and the foods your body needs. I guess it's easier to not crave things when your body is getting the nutrition it needs, but sometimes you just want a cookie.

For me, the hard part is stopping after one serving of something unhealthy. I tend to pig out once I've given in to a craving. What's just one more, right? Hehe. I'm trying to take my new healthful approach one day at a time, do what I can when I feel it's doable (adding veggies, drinking water), and know that every step I take towards developing good eating habits is a step towards a healthier me. Some days this works, other days I eat like crap and feel like throwing in the towel. It's all a balancing act, right?

I count calories, but eat whatever I like within the range. And sometimes I go over and it's not a big deal. Yesterday I ate a ton of bad foods because I was bored and because I was eating emotionally, so those are things I'm trying to work, but that's not really a "diet" but it's about as close as I can get to one.

I'm more of a practice moderation kinda girl.

I would love to get away from the meticulous calorie counting and start intuitively eating, but I'm afraid of gaining. Especially when I'm drinking my calories (which is something I'm trying to stop).

Recently I've been giving myself the weekends "off", as far as entering every little thing into fitday and I've been holding steady. So I'm attempting to ease into it, I think, for me, that's the only way I can sustain long-term if I learn the whole "intuitive eating" thing and really learn to listen to my body.

Other than that just learning what my trigger foods are (brownies) and lots and lots of exercising and weight training.

Like everyone else has said it's a highly personal thing, lots of trial and error until you find what works for you.

I count calories , watching carbs and sodium. I refuse to spend another cent for someone to tell me what to eat.

I know that definately this is how I want to eat for the rest of my life, and I try not to look at it as a diet because when I do then I feel too pressured to lose weight consistently, and I'd rather just be happy, healthy, and content than stressed over weight. That being said, I do count calories, and I do make sure that I get some sort of intentional exercise everyday. Whether it's just a walk outside with the dogs, or if I'm weight training. I love how living this way makes me feel, and I'm hoping that as time goes on... I won't need to count calories anymore because I'll just know what's good for me and what's not.

I, too, don't follow a specific diet other than calorie counting. Indirectly I limit my fats & refined carbs, since that gives me less food for the caloric bang. But other than that nothing's really off-limits.

I count calories, which I guess isn't really a formal diet. But I'm pretty restrictive in terms of how many calories I eat and there are a lot of foods that are off limits right now because I can't fit them into my calorie range. I also measure or weigh almost everything I eat; plan out exactly what I will eat, including snacks, every day; and keep a record of it all. Finally, sometimes I will focus on trying to increase certain elements in my diet. Right now I'm trying to increase protein and reduce carbs.

So while I'm not on any specific "diet," I do still spend a lot of time planning what I will eat and keeping track of it all. I expect to continue doing this for the long-term, if not the rest of my life (well, until I'm 80--then all bets are off and I'm eating whatever I want ).

I do not follow a structured diet. I tried Atkin's once...it lasted for 2 weeks. Now I'm taking a different approach. When I first got serious about losing weight (a little over a year ago) I meticulously counted every calorie that went into my mouth. I don't really count calories anymore, at least not like I used to. I keep an estimate in my head throughout the day but I no longer log everything on the computer. I've changed my outlook and philosophy in general. I'm not "going on a diet to lose weight," I am instead "making smart lifestyle choices to be healthy," which, given my current weight, inevitably allows me to lose