Help! What diet is best??
novachic30
Posts: 5 Member
I'm trying to figure out which diet to follow and which is the healthiest - paleo, vegan, vegetarian, low carb? I hear things from everyone about how their diet is the best, so I'm looking for something that's scientific. Any help is appreciated!!
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Skip all that and just count your calories. Maintain a deficit and it can't fail, because science. Makes it easy17
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Look_Its_Kriss wrote: »best diet is the one you can maintain for the rest of your life.
This^^ Short term diets give short term results. Why not just eat at a reasonable deficit and enjoy life? I've tried restricting foods for weight loss. It didn't work, wasn't sustainable and I did not enjoy my daily life.9 -
I'm partial to the see-food diet myself. As long as you stay near your calorie goal, eat whatever you see that you think looks good.13
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Agreed with the above posters. I've tried several 'fad' diets over the past 10 years from South Beach to some god awful diet called super shred something or other. While South Beach tought me things some things about food, it made me hate a lot of foods. I hated what I was restricted to on every diet I've ever tried, which led to binges and weight gain over time.
Long story short, love what you eat, but do it in moderation by counting your calories.1 -
Look_Its_Kriss wrote: »best diet is the one you can maintain for the rest of your life.
Yep. I don't even bother with a specific "diet". I just eat the foods I enjoy that fit into my goals.3 -
Low carb, paleo, etc...are basically strategies. They work great for some people, but not everyone. I would not be happy or satiated, personally. I eat what I want, enough to maintain a reasonable calorie deficit when I'm in weight loss mode, and get plenty of exercise. I've lost 80 lbs doing exactly this.7
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I lived in vegetarian communities for three years and saw:
- Happy and fit vegetarians
- Happy and fit vegans
- Happy and fit omnivores
I eat the foods I like that fill me up and allow me to stay in a calorie deficit. I've found it behooves me to shoot for slightly higher protein and slightly lower carbs than the MFP default macros: 50% from carbohydrates, 20% from protein and 30% from fat..5 -
Look_Its_Kriss wrote: »best diet is the one you can maintain for the rest of your life.
This^
The best diet addresses YOUR current eating habits. The best diet helps you figure out why you are currently trying to lose weight. The best diet helps you develop strategies for maintenance.2 -
Look_Its_Kriss wrote: »best diet is the one you can maintain for the rest of your life.
Another vote for this. You need to eat less calories then you burn and you need to do it in a way that you can do for the long run.2 -
Look_Its_Kriss wrote: »best diet is the one you can maintain for the rest of your life.
This.
For me that means continuing to eat all the foods I like, just in correct calorie amounts. It's a realistic and sustainable method for me, for the next 45+ years, and I've nailed my weight and health goals by doing it
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Thank you all so much!!! This is what I needed. I think I was feeling like I wasn't doing something right if I wasn't sticking to a specific diet. I have about 80 lbs to lose to get to my goal, but everytime I'd start, I felt like I wasn't going to be successful because I wasn't eating a certain way. Going to start tracking everything I'm MFP and kick it into high gear. I'm trying to get as close to my goal, healthily, by our vacation in August.14
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I eat what I like & 36lbs down so far. I don't even look at the macros, just figure out what works for me by experimenting3
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The one you can stick to4
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novachic30 wrote: »Thank you all so much!!! This is what I needed. I think I was feeling like I wasn't doing something right if I wasn't sticking to a specific diet. I have about 80 lbs to lose to get to my goal, but everytime I'd start, I felt like I wasn't going to be successful because I wasn't eating a certain way. Going to start tracking everything I'm MFP and kick it into high gear. I'm trying to get as close to my goal, healthily, by our vacation in August.
There are a lot of people who make a lot of money selling books, programs, and supplements to folks desperate to lose weight. The one thing they all have in common is that they make it much harder than it has to be. And much more expensive.
My sister-in-law has been repeatedly unsuccessful in keeping weight off. The fact that I've been doing very well merely by cutting calories has made no impression. She feels like she has to go low-carb, or whatever she'll be doing next week. It never lasts, partly because she cuts out so many things she enjoys that she goes a little nuts once she hits a goal weight, and eats it all back very quickly. Much better to just eat what you like, only less of it. That's a habit you're more likely to be able to keep once you establish it.
In fact, once you hit your goal weight and move to maintenance calories, you might suddenly feel like you're eating too much!7 -
my nutritionist told me to eat low carb for my PCOS or i wouldnt lose weight. if i listened id of quit long ago low carb makes me miserable i need carbs. Tons of carbs. ALL THE CARBS. Most of what i eat now is bread/potatoes. And iv lost 80 pounds in 9 months just fine.
weight loss is commiting to your calories. Thats it.13 -
I like mostly clean eating mixed with IIFYM (tracking macros) and counting calories. But I make room for chocolate and some other treats in there too.1
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Just CI<CO.2
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novachic30 wrote: »Thank you all so much!!! This is what I needed. I think I was feeling like I wasn't doing something right if I wasn't sticking to a specific diet. I have about 80 lbs to lose to get to my goal, but everytime I'd start, I felt like I wasn't going to be successful because I wasn't eating a certain way. Going to start tracking everything I'm MFP and kick it into high gear. I'm trying to get as close to my goal, healthily, by our vacation in August.
Awesome, @novachic30 !
I lost 80 lbs in 12 months by eating whatever I most loved within my calorie limit.
If your goal is a mid-low BMI, you might find that 80 lbs by August is too drastic. The last 10-15 lbs should take much longer than the first.
As you progress, you need to alter your weekly weight loss goal. This is the general guide:
If you have 75+ lbs to lose 2 lbs/week is ideal
If you have 40-75 lbs to lose 1.5 lbs/week is ideal
If you have 25-40 lbs to lose 1 lbs/week is ideal
If you have 15 -25 lbs to lose 0.5 to 1.0 lbs/week is ideal
If you have less than 15 lbs to lose 0.5 lbs/week is ideal
Hope this helps. Again, it's really awesome you learned a lot from asking your question. I must thank you for showing me yet again how great this community is. Thanks.8 -
Look_Its_Kriss wrote: »best diet is the one you can maintain for the rest of your life.
Well look, best answer got stolen.
And it's true too. I've dabbled with trying low carb/paleo, and unprocessed diets and I just find for my lazy self they're just not manageable, so I eat what I want and weigh, and log! 3 -
There is no one size fits all. What works for some people might not work for you.1
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courtneyfabulous wrote: »I like mostly clean eating mixed with IIFYM (tracking macros) and counting calories. But I make room for chocolate and some other treats in there too.
+1 This is how I do things as well. Having the ability to have a few treats makes it very easy1 -
The best and most successful diet I've ever been on was the one I created myself by experimenting with different types of food within my calorie range and seeing how they met the mfp nutritional goals and how satisfied I was. No rules. Just right.
Oh wait. That's the Outback Steakhouse slogan. How many calories in a bloomin' onion?6 -
Eating in moderation few times a day and being active is the key. No matter how good the food is, excess is bad. Low carb is ok but you wouldn't want to have low every day especially when you workout. Plus you don't want to tax your body. Avoid having too much fast foods, junk and you would be fine.3
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No food is a bad food, saying to not eat XYZ is unfair to someone who WANTS to eat XYZ, because there's nothing wrong with it. You may choose to eat a certain diet of foods, and that's a personal choice and one someone else may find unsustainable.Eating in moderation few times a day and being active is the key. No matter how good the food is, excess is bad. Low carb is ok but you wouldn't want to have low every day especially when you workout. Plus you don't want to tax your body. Avoid having too much fast foods, junk and you would be fine.
Fast food may net you too many calories if you're not careful, and surely sodium you may not normally intake, but that's offset in a few days. Low carb is fine in a general context, it depends on the workout.
I'll agree with you on moderation though if meaning in the context "don't eat the entire gallon of ice cream, just have a serving that still fits in your calories". I'm not a model of health, but I eat out once and again and have ice cream, cookies, and chips and I still loose weight because I make sure I don't go over calories. There would likely be several dead bodies if I didn't get to fit those foods in (when I want and can).6 -
No food is a bad food, saying to not eat XYZ is unfair to someone who WANTS to eat XYZ, because there's nothing wrong with it. You may choose to eat a certain diet of foods, and that's a personal choice and one someone else may find unsustainable.Eating in moderation few times a day and being active is the key. No matter how good the food is, excess is bad. Low carb is ok but you wouldn't want to have low every day especially when you workout. Plus you don't want to tax your body. Avoid having too much fast foods, junk and you would be fine.
Fast food may net you too many calories if you're not careful, and surely sodium you may not normally intake, but that's offset in a few days. Low carb is fine in a general context, it depends on the workout.
I'll agree with you on moderation though if meaning in the context "don't eat the entire gallon of ice cream, just have a serving that still fits in your calories". I'm not a model of health, but I eat out once and again and have ice cream, cookies, and chips and I still loose weight because I make sure I don't go over calories. There would likely be several dead bodies if I didn't get to fit those foods in (when I want and can).
Eating too much of anything is not good for you. I didn't say not to eat xyz. You have misread.
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Look_Its_Kriss wrote: »best diet is the one you can maintain for the rest of your life.
Your comment is flawed too. That is the best you can offer? You didn't answer the op q. But I couldn't care less since that is your opinion.0 -
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Look_Its_Kriss wrote: »Look_Its_Kriss wrote: »best diet is the one you can maintain for the rest of your life.
Your comment is flawed too. That is the best you can offer? You didn't answer the op q. But I couldn't care less since that is your opinion.
Here is my final reply to this.
Your suggestion that limiting junk food and take out food would make someone "fine" does not make sense.
It makes even less sense when you then say that too much of anything isn't good for you.
Why single out junk and fast food in one post if your apparent general consensus is that all foods need to be eaten in moderation. As i pointed out in my post fast food menus can be easily fit into a calorie goal and junk food is no different either, the OP has her own lifestyle, she may love her sweets, so my advice on "The best diet is the one you can maintain for the rest of your life" isn't flawed because that tells her that her calorie goal is her calorie goal and what she chooses to do with her calories is her choice, if she wants to eat take out and junk food 1,2,3 or 7 days a week that is her call but at least with my advice im not telling her that she needs to avoid too much of one or the other, because i want her to feel like her lifestyle, whatever it may be can work to help her lose weight and reach her goal.
And lastly, My original post debating yours was in no way immature.
To personally attack my looks and my intent shows what absolute lack of character you have.
In the end the only one showing immaturity out of the two of us tonight was you.
Have a nice night.
Your confused.0
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