what plan works for you and why?
 

in terms of dieting and diets you name it and i have tried it at least once!! Since Jan I have lost about 40 pounds through atkins and ww. My problem is that the moment I dont see results I WANT I give up!! and then I try a different plan so here I am wondering where I should pick myself up at and get back on. Also from my past attempts at just calorie counting that didnt work for me because I ate junk! I believe I do better knowing what I can eat and what to stay away from. Im also an apple shape and sugar is just so addicting for me. Any help would be appreciated

The easiest thing for me to do is just calorie count. It can work fine as long as you make sure you're eating the right kinds of food. That's what I've been doing for the last few months and I've been doing great. I do cycling and I've pretty much changed my number every week and I'm still losing. I eat very little, if any sugar right now, which is a giant step for me and it's paying off. I mostly eat fresh fruits and veggies, very little cheese and dairy, and I get plenty of lean meat and also healthy fats from nuts. I also started watching my carb intake when the weight loss slowed down some and lowering that number has gotten me bigger loses on the scale.

Counting calories and lots of varied exercise. The exercise changes my body faster and more visibly than the calorie counting since I get thinner and more muscular even though the scale barely moves.

From your post, it seems like you just need to tweak a few things. Sometimes, people combine several programs. So, if you know that you eat junk food on calorie counting, why not make a decision to implement a whole food diet AND calorie count. Or, perhaps South Beach and calorie count. Instead of focusing just on weight loss, focus on taking very good care of yourself. If you eat a well balanced nutritious program then you will be less tempted to overindulge on junk. In fact, after a while, if you do have junk, you'll probably feel sick because your body will be so much happier eating health. :)

You mentioned you have a sugar addiction. This is very common actually. I've read that with an addiction, it's best to cut it from the diet completely. Then, after you've been off it for a month or two, you could gradually add some in slowly and see if you can handle it. Some people can add some back but others just have to stay away forever. Or, you may find that you can have some really good quality chocolate once in a while....or not. Just figure out what hasn't worked in the past.

A lot of times, we blame ourselves when we can't stick to a diet and feel like we've wasted our time. However, if you take the time to step back and really evaluate what happened, you may be able to adjust your plan. In fact, you may have to adjust it from time to time. I know for me, if my weight loss stalls, I also get VERY frustrated. I end up taking a break from weighing daily. Then, I try to cycle my calories, change my workouts, drink more water, eat more fiber, eat more clean and then, after a while, I start feeling like I'm back and losing again. Then, I weigh and am usually pleasantly surprised.

I'd say that most of the time when I've failed, it was because I felt like the loss was too slow or nonexistent but if you think about it, what good does that do? If you know you're doing everything you can, be kind to your body and give yourself a chance to adjust. There are so many cellular/hormonal changes as we lose weight that it really isn't asking too much to give it some time because good things are happening, even if you may not see them.

Believe me, I need to take my own advice. ;) Just hang in there and do what works, even if it slows. Slow and steady wins the race. :)

First - I thought about all the diets I had been on for 20 years and why they didn't work. I knew I needed a plan I could stick to for the rest of my life. I did a combination of:

1. Eating whole foods and limiting/avoiding processed foods
2. Portion control - measuring, calorie counting
3. Volumetrics - eating large amounts of low calorie foods to stay full

That was in July 2004. I'm still doing it. 75 lbs gone.

You may want to check out the Belly Fat Cure. The program is moderately low carb and low sugar. The amount of food allowed is very good. It is the easiest plan I've ever tried. That being said, for me it is fairly slow, but many people lose weight faster on it than I do. Most of the weight I lost came off through my middle. There are very few things that are totally off plan, mainly aspartame, saccharin, and splenda. Sugar is very limited, but stevia and some of the sugar alcohols are allowed so that there are lots of choices and ways to satisfy a sweet tooth without going off plan.

You also may want to hear Eliana and what she says about this. I hate to speak for her, but her plan went something like this... She made a one year commitment to stay on plan - no matter what. Again, I hate to speak for her, but I believe she says something like her issue was that it was never fast enough for her and it made her stop; well this time she wasn't stopping. She made that one year commitment. And boy oh boy has it paid off for her!

Anyway, my plan is calorie counting. Calorie counting is forced portion control and built in accountability. It is vital, vital, vital. But calorie counting alone would have never, ever, ever done it for me. I need to combine it with ZERO junk, mostly whole foods and very, very voluminous foods.

There's a link in my signature with more details to my plan.

Sounds like sugar is an issue for you. As it was/is for me. Sooo, the only way around it - elimination. Yup. That's what held me back all those years. The sugar. Take a look at this thread, we were discussing it yesterday. You will see some of the most successful losers around here eliminated it with fabulous results. For me, I shed 165 pounds and kept it off for over 3 years. That never, ever, ever would have been possible had I kept sugar (& flour) in my diet. Never. Don't be daunted by it.. Be excited by it. It's got a hold on you and to escape from it is over the top phenomenal.

Check out the thread and the link in my siggy...
http://www.3fatchicks.com/forum/weig...thing-bad.html

I agree with rocking robin. I used to "put aside calories " for me to have a candy bar here and there, because I loooove chocolate. But I found its best I leave it out. Those 200 calories I put aside daily added up to 1400 calories a week. 5600 calories a month. a whole pound and half that could have been going to my weight loss instead of to my mouth. So I just started cutting them out completely. To be honest, after the first week, you don't even realize it.

And in regards to what plan "works" all depends on your body. I'm constantly tweaking as I go. learning what works, and what doesn't work. Just keep at it, even if it gets frustrating. Last week I went from 208 to 212 as of sunday. And i was good all week. For the life of me I couldn't understand wth was going on! But when I weighed in yesterday, there was big whoosh, the pounds had went away. Just don't give up hunny :-)

Originally Posted by rockinrobin:
You also may want to hear Eliana and what she says about this. I hate to speak for her, but her plan went something like this... She made a one year commitment to stay on plan - no matter what. Again, I hate to speak for her, but I believe she says something like her issue was that it was never fast enough for her and it made her stop; well this time she wasn't stopping. She made that one year commitment. And boy oh boy has it paid off for her!

Yeah, I don't have to be a broken record. :D You did it for me! Thank you so much!

This is it exactly for me. I definitely always struggled with giving up because I wasn't getting results. At least it sounds like you are switching gears instead.

My diet has evolved. I was a former South Beacher and it worked, but it was too slow for silly me. I learned a lot from that diet about nutrition and started this time around with calorie counting around the principals of South Beach. From there I went the whole foods route. Between that, my commitment and exercise, I have lost nearly 80 pounds. :carrots:

I use SouthBeach as a way of controlling my calories. On most days, I don't count. But, I have a fairly rough idea of how much I'm eating each day. If I start to stall, I count for a few days to see what's up. For me, cutting out sugars and processed ick has made all the difference, it has allowed me to stick to a plan for the first time in a long time. I've found that I am not a portion control person- I can't have one Christmas cookie. Or just a little bit of dessert. Or a single serving of tortilla chips. I can, however, live perfectly happy without them. Living without cravings is one of the best feelings in the world, and when I focus on eating whole, non starchy foods, I am full with way less. Plus, when you eat the 4.5-5 cups of veggies you're supposed to each day, you're just not hungry enough to eat a lot of junk.

Originally Posted by :
Yeah, I don't have to be a broken record. You did it for me! Thank you so much!

Okay. I was afraid to speak for you (besides you do it so much better), took a chance because I really thought it was apropos here and I think it's kinda brilliant. :)

Calorie Counting and planning, planning, planning, Did I memtion planning ? I plan all my meals ahead of time, usually the night before, this takes me about 5 minutes. I am not so rigid that I can't change it if I want, I just remember to stay within my calorie allottment. Calorie counting is flexible, reliable and best of all FREE !!

I used to write down every little thing that I ate. It was helping me learn serving size but at the same time driving me crazy if I didn't lose a pound. So my boyfriend says to me. Just eat right and cardio cardio cardio. Well I've doing that since 11/1 and I've lost 5lbs in 1 month. When I did the calorie counting and half weights n half cardio (kickboxing) within 9/1-10/31 I only lost 2lbs. But everyone is different, this just happens to work for me. I also belong to Lucille Roberts so I do a different type of class everyday. Changes it up on your muscle groups.

Good Luck :)

Originally Posted by proudmommy09:
in terms of dieting and diets you name it and i have tried it at least once!! Since Jan I have lost about 40 pounds through atkins and ww. My problem is that the moment I dont see results I WANT I give up!! and then I try a different plan so here I am wondering where I should pick myself up at and get back on.

I'm "just" calorie counting but I'm taking care to make the most of those calories with eating a mostly whole-foods diet with tons and tons and tons of fruits and vegetables.

What struck me about your post was this sentence: "My problem is that the moment I dont see results I WANT I give up!!"

What's different for me this time is that I don't measure my results this way. Weight loss doesn't happen moment by moment, day by day, or even week by week. You really have to take a longer view, of a month or two, to determine whether you're seeing results.

And so, to combat the feeling of frustration when the scale doesn't budge for a week or two, my only goal is to stick to my plan, to make the right choice each time a choice is presented to me. That means planning, being consistent, saying no to the treats that drive me off course, making the choices I already know are the right choices to make. If I do that, day in and day out for months, the results flow from it. But the results are not the goal - the behavior is the goal.

Lately I have been taking a lot of inspiration from Robin's and Eliana's posts about consistency, commitment, planning, and setting yourself up for success. Read them and consider transforming your perspective from a results-oriented (lose X pounds by Y date) to a behavior-oriented (create a plan and stick to it) view. I think it will make a huge difference.

Thank you ladies for all your words of wisdom. Im gonna take that idea of staying on plan for a year no matter what because that really is my downfall. How do you ladies weigh? daily or weekly im not sure what would be the best approach for me since that scale has such a strong effect on me

I weigh weekly. For me, the scale is an emotional roller coaster. For different weight loss attempts, I wanted fast fast fast results and I got on the scale many times per day. If the weight was down, I was ecstatic, motivated, committed. When the weight was up, I was demoralized and felt like it wasn’t working. Weighing weekly and recording my weight loss in an Excel spread sheet really let me see my progress over time. The line may have bobbled a bit, but it slowly, steadily moved down. I always weigh on Sundays (pee, strip, weigh). I will confess, if I don’t like the what the scale says on Sunday, I just re-weigh on Monday. Whatever was affecting the scale (salt, whatever) was normally gone. I was determined NOT to let the scale control my happiness!

The year I was losing, I weighed daily. I made certain though that I did everything in my power to get that scale moving down, meaning I stayed strictly on plan; therefore I had nothing to fear.

Weighing daily helped me to stay on plan. I knew I had to face it every morning (no more sticking my head in the sand).

I weigh daily and find that I actually obsess LESS because of it. When I allow myself to weigh whenever I want it ends up being more amusing than anything else. I record my weight daily in the daily weighing thread in the 100 club on this site. I love that thread because it shows a really good example of how everyone's weight fluctuates. It shows fast losers, slow losers, steady losers and those who have plateaued. (Ahem...meaning ME.)

I think weighing daily will be a critical component to maintenance. I can not imagine gaining all that weight again if I am facing the scale every day.

stop obsessing with losing
 

the plan that will work for you is the one you stick to. As long as it includes healthy foods, it may not matter what you do, ww, sb, atkins, calorie counts etc. Unless and until you accept you cannot eat junk, you must make lifetime changes, you will not have the diet success you crave. Yes, you will not be perfect, but the day after, you get back on plan and stick it.
These days, my binges or cheats, are so small, they seldom have an effect on my weight, except to slow my loss perhaps. and the next day, I go back to plan, and stay there for quite a while. After a year of pretty much sticking to plan, I can keep it up. (doing atkins so that my blood sugars stay stable, as I am pre-diabetic) I believe I can keep doing this for life.
I am losing, but VERY slowly. But after a year, I weigh less than last year when I was diagnosed. My sugars are stable. I exercise more. This years goal is to exercise more frequently and be in better shape this time next year, while sticking to plan. The way I eat is sustainable for me, and I can stick to it, but first I had to accept I could not eat the way I use to eat. (the way that made me fat) It was hard to accept, but getting there is half the battle.
good luck in your journey!

Yeah, that was the true lightbulb moment for me, Fatmad.

I was sooo good at dieting. So many times I had dieted and lost weight. Then, I would gain it back. And I would diet and lose weight.

So, in 2004, I sat down with myself and said "self, why are you so good at dieting and so bad at keeping the weight off?" and I realized that when I dieted 2 things always happened:

1. I reached a goal weight and quit dieting and started eating normally
2. I got tired of dieting and quit dieting and started eating normally

I can't believe it took me 20 years to figure out once and for all that how I ate normally made me fat!!! I had to change how I ate normally. No more dieting and stopping, but just changing how I eat forever.

That was the piece of the puzzle that had eluded me. Seems pretty simple now.

Originally Posted by Glory87:
Yeah, that was the true lightbulb moment for me, Fatmad.

I was sooo good at dieting. So many times I had dieted and lost weight. Then, I would gain it back. And I would diet and lose weight.

So, in 2004, I sat down with myself and said "self, why are you so good at dieting and so bad at keeping the weight off?" and I realized that when I dieted 2 things always happened:

1. I reached a goal weight and quit dieting and started eating normally
2. I got tired of dieting and quit dieting and started eating normally

I can't believe it took me 20 years to figure out once and for all that how I ate normally made me fat!!! I had to change how I ate normally. No more dieting and stopping, but just changing how I eat forever.

That was the piece of the puzzle that had eluded me. Seems pretty simple now.

This is true for me as well. I have learned I can NEVER go back to my old way of eating if I want to stay at goal. This was a flash of insight for me .

Originally Posted by 19Deltawifey:
Eliana- I Love reading your post and your 1 year commitment. I'm making a similar one also and that is my goal, I might not lose 80 lbs like you but I will definitely make a pact with myself to stick with a plan and give it all I got for a year. Right now I plan to do WW but like you it might evolve over time into something else but you are such a inspiration and definitely repeat yourself as much as you want:hug:

Awe, I appreciate that. :^: I am just in continual amazement that I didn't figure it out sooner and that it worked so well.

Hang in there, we all know we didn't gain this weight in only a month or two! I'm like you, I had the most success with a combination of Atkins and Weight Watchers at first (30 lbs), but I don't like the fact that in WW you're still allowed to eat junk food, which for me creates cravings for more (just like sugar). So what I'm doing now is what a friend of mine was told by her nutritionist and she has lost 45 lbs so far. Don't eat the white stuff (potatoes, rice, sugar, pasta, white flour). Eat very small portions of lean meat or fish. Increase your portions of veggies (except corn and peas) so that they fill you up. Eat 3 -4 fruit portions per day. Exercise more (my friend just takes 4 long walks per week). It's much easier because you're not counting anything, but you do have to shop for the right foods and plan all your meals ahead, like any other plan. It works! Good luck :)

Well you said calorie counting doesn't work for you...but so far that is what works for me. I guess I would feel more constrained, deprived and then discouraged if I felt like I could only eat xyz, whereas when I know my allotted calories, I eat what I want keeping it on the healthy side and fit a treat in if I so desire. That for me is easy to follow and guilt-free. It also feels sustainable for the long haul and not like some "special diet thing". I feel things like getting meals delivered and diets that say you can only eat this or this are not going to work for the rest of my life. I do not plan for my entire life to be restricted so to me counting calories, is a sensible thing that I can do forever since it boils down to simply being conscious of what you eat and how much.

You also said you quit when you don't see results, I know the feeling :hug::hug: However, what has worked for me is changing my mindset. In the past I would try to go on "lose 20 lbs in 2 weeks" diets and these quick solutions, that ofcourse were not working or were far too constraining then I'd give up after a day or two. This time though, I acknowledge the reality that it is going to take TIME to get to my goals, so one day at a time is all I can do. That takes the pressure off. Also seeing it as a healthy lifestyle change versus "I need a bikini body in 6 weeks" also takes the pressure off. I also realize the scale can be tricky. I do weigh daily, but I understand that sodium and other factors can affect it, so if I see a rise, I don't freak out. I just continue sticking to my calorie allotment and exercise and sure enough it goes back down to the lowest recorded weight.

Slowly but surely with each pound coming off and after each work out I am feeling better and better and feeling small changes in my body. This makes me know it's working and that while I haven't dropped a size yet, that's okay because with everyday I am getting there :carrot: Goodluck!

Right now, I am kind of tailoring my plan on Sparkpeople and it did take some editing. They had me on a pre-diabetes plan and my lifestyle just wasnt working for it, sadly. So!

It goes like this:
1200-1450 calories a day (I rarely go over 1300. 1260 is my average)
80-150 carbs (Try to hover around 110)
39-68 grams of fat. (Always dont get enough)
60-115 grams of protein (Formerly 34-64, then it was 80-180, I chose this median)
and finally 25-35 grams fiber. Which I struggle with.

I try to eat a lot of vegetables in salad form, mixed frozen veggies and I like to try and replace at least one meal a day with a shake if possible. So far it's been working out. I got serious about weight loss back in mid September and I have lost 25-27 pounds so far. Not bad, I hope? My saving graces: Shrimp, shirataki noodles, brown rice/brown rice vermicelli, chicken breasts and frozen fruit bags from Kroger.

Trying to work out 5 days a week. I just need to actually DO IT.

I have a calorie-counting framework (1200-1600 calories/day) within which I limit carbs (no more than 30 grams carb per meal, usually less).

Within that "plan" there is enough flexibility for me to eat just about anything in moderation (including the occasional half-cup of Rice a Roni or mac and cheese when my husband is cooking "from the pantry").

Jumping on and off diets was my problem too. Now, for the last 14 months, i have stayed on one diet and made minor adjustments along the way. I calorie count and watch my carbs.

The trick for me was to not to have any rule except entering every bite I eat into my software program. That's it. I cannot fail a calorie number or a carb number. If I enter the foods, I have accomplished my goals.

It wasn't until I did it this way that I learned the truth of my eating, my choices and what it did to me and to my health. I became Type2 diabetic and had to take my carbs down to prevent taking meds. I watched my blood glucose numbers go down as my carbs went down. Now I know the right range for me. I saw what calorie level helped me lose weight....I let the whole thing become a learning experience instead of just following someone else's plan. It became uniquely my own.

I think it is hard to find out what works and a program may be great for someone else and not so good for another person.
I had my most success on the old WW exchange system and became a lifetime member. Points was OK but not as good for me. So far I really, really like Points plus.

I know that I have to have a combination of things to work:

1. I need a program that encourages me to eat healthy food but doesn't require me to eat food that I hate. WW for me has been the best although I use elements of South Beach.

2. I like to calorie count plus do WW counting. Keeps me honest. But calorie counting for me by itself isnt' enough.

3. I get a lot from going to weekly WW meetings. When I got to goal I went all the time even if out of town where I had to find a meeting. I don't learn much new there any more but it creates an external short term deadline to work to each week. And I like to get the little stars and awards and such. Attending the meetings keeps me focused on weight loss.

4. I do best when I make weight loss a real focus of my life. I just went to the library and checked out a bunch of books of true life weight loss memoirs, fictional memoirs, etc. I don't expect to learn anything but it keeps me intense.

5. Exercise. Exercise makes a huge, huge difference. It is the difference between a slow weight loss for me and a reasonably fast loss.

6. I need to limit restaurant eating. I never ate food that was really high calorie when at home. Some, sure. I almost didn't know that they had frozen meals that weren't low calorie. I didn't eat a lot of candy or cookies or whatever that was high calorie. Where I get in trouble is portion control. At home that was bad enough. A handful of nuts that was more like 3 servings than 1, etc. But, restaurants are the real villain for me. I went to Chili's recently and a meal I might have ordered before was like 24 WW points. And then I would have perhaps shared an appetizer. I would go to a restaurant and eat a normal entree with sides and maybe share an appetizer and it seemed OK. But it was a full day's food and it wasn't my only meal that day. And I ate out several times a week. And it is hard for me to go and limit what I eat. I find it is much better for me to just limit myself to eating out maybe once a week unless it is a place where what I would normally eat falls within my eating plan.

On weighing -- I weigh daily since it drives me crazy not to. Same time every morning wearing my WW weigh in clothes. On the other hand it would probably be better to weigh once a week to avoid being crazed by the day to day fluctuations.

Calorie counting and losing in increments maintaining the lost weight.

I agree with Deetermined2! Belly fat cure is amazing! It is a very reasonable price (about $11 on Amazon) and it has absolutely changed my life. 40 lbs in about 8 months and I will eat this way forever!!

I'm doing belly fat cure. It seems the easiest plan I've ever been on and I am now at a weight I haven't seen for eleven years and then was I assisted with cancer treatment. It's probably fifteen years since I've been at this weight by my own efforts. I really agree with everything luckymommy said. What kept me from keeping weight off in the past after large losses or giving up was often seeing the slow progress. I realize now that this is a WOE that I need to make permanant. I am addicted to sugar-flour-fat combos. I know from long experience that if I eat what I considered to be "normal" I am in a continuous gain cycle.

The only thing that have ever worked for me was calorie counting, being consistent and working out :)

Good luck!