Has anyone on this board started out using one diet method and switched to something else (i.e., Atkins to Southbeach) and if so, why did you switch, and were you glad that you did???

I switched from calorie counting to Fat Smash. I know it may sound weird, but calorie counting allowed me too much freedom, so I was still eating crap and it wasn't enough to sustain me. I really need to CHANGE my eating habits, and then work on controlling the portions of junk, so that's why I chose Fat Smash. Plus, with calorie counting, I was having a hard time finding the right amount of calories for me. Not that calorie counting isn't a wonderful approach to weight loss, it just isn't for me at this point in time.

How did or are you doing on this diet? I need to change up and agree with the calorie thing... I bet if I did your way it may work for me as well. I just researched the book and think I may get it from the Library tomorrow.

In the 10 years since I started this, 100+ lbs heavier I have literally tried hundreds of things.

There is rarely a magic bullet for even one person. Learn to listen to your body and adapt as your needs change and your determine what suits you best

I actually think the biggest switch I remember finding value in was trying the Shangri La diet. Helped so much with my binges by helping to somehow let me manage hunger some. It wasnt a cure, but it gave me a little breathing room and helped me work it out

WOW~! being on this website I had no idea of even half of the diet plans out there... never heard of Fat Smash, Shangri La... maybe I need to do more research!

I switched to atkins, since I became pre-diabetic and it helps me to control my blood sugars. I have difficulty losing weight with any method, and it comes off very slowly, but at least with my sugars in control my health is not at risk.
But really, the best plan for anyone is one they can stick with. Long term. With a plan for life-long. Do what is right for you.

I'm going to say no, because my goal was always to find a food plan that was permanent and a reflection of how I would be eating long term. I can't tell you how many times I've heard "I gained all back when I started eating normal again" or when "I went back to my old habits". Diets are temporary and many diets don't teach you how to maintain. But that's just my two cents. Any diet will work for you as long as you follow it and stick to it, but it's what you do when the diet is over that really matters.

djmommy-I like fat smash, I am losing on it, and as ncuneo said, I feel like this is something that I can stick with for life, even though it is called a "diet". I haven't been on it real long, so I can't say with 100% certainty that this is the perfect fit for me, but it sounds pretty good. I love that it really makes you see the value of fruits and vegetables as the staple of your diet, and over the weeks before you start the lifetime phase, lets you see (from experience) that you can live without the junk and nutritionally worthless foods. Plus, some other plans would be very hard for me since I am a vegetarian and therefore eat a lot of carbs (though they're good carbs). It never hurts to read the book, you may decide it's not for you, but I feel it's right for me. Don't judge it based on the name though, I almost passed it by when I saw "diet" but I'm glad I gave it a try!

I've lost my weight so far on at least four different "styles" of eating (if you count minor plan tweaking as a seperate "diet" then there've been dozens).

I started just trying to "eat a little less," which worked for a while. Then my doctor recommended low-carb, but warned "not too low" (though when I asked "what's too low?" he admitted he didn't know). So I started with South Beach. I lost for a few weeks and then quit losing (I didn't gain, but I wasn't losing). Turns out that I can overeat "good carbs" just as easily as "bad" ones. So I cut back further on the carbs.

It's been more a gradual tweaking process though than dramatic overhauls with each change. I like exchange plans, so I tend to adapt or "translate" each "diet" into an exchange plan.

After I read the book, Primal Blueprint (and other ancestor diets before it), I really started to think there there's something to the "paleolithic" diet concept, so I've tried to eat more "primal" choices for my exchanges.


Even though I've changed my plan regarding how many of each exchange to eat for the day, and what foods I try to pick for those exchanges, the overall context is still an exchange plan. So you could say I've been on dozens of variations of the same diet, rather than been on dozens of diets.

When I started, I did vow that I wouldn't try anything that I couldn't imagine doing forever, but I also vowed that I would be flexible. If something stopped working, then I'd try something new (rather than either sticking with an ineffective plan, or giving up, which tended to be my "old" choices).

I think "finding something you can live with" is very important, but that doesn't mean that it has to be a plan that never changes. If "a different diet every week" (or day for that matter) is what you need to be successful in the long term, there's nothing wrong with that.

There's a tendency for dieting advice to be extreme (even if it's an opposing reaction to equally extreme advice). "Finding something that you can live with," becomes "find a plan and do not deviate from it, no matter what happens."

Experimenting doesn't derail weight loss nearly as much as giving up does. If changing diets periodically is what you need to do to succeed or to stay motivated, then change as often as you need/want to.

I've tried many. I've never switched mid-diet though.

My current diet has evolved from basic calorie counting. I started out purely counting and eating anything I wanted, including Lean Cuisine and Protein bars. My diet has evolved to be almost exclusively whole foods and I now bulk at processed stuff like the Lean Cuisines and protein bars.

The evolution just sort of happened as my health improved. It didn't evolve to help with weight loss so much as because it just felt like the right thing to do.