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I think the secret is to find what works for you and for your body. Every single one of us is different and i believe we all have a way that's perfect for us. I've tried most diets over my life and the one that is making a big difference for me is LCHF. Low Carb High Fat. It is certainly a change in perspective! And it works!!! It's like magic. I've lost 14lbs since the 5th of January plus I've got loads of energy and I feel great.
You can read about how it works here:
https://www.reddit.com/r/keto/
and here is my favourite: www.dietdoctor.com
When you shift your body into fat-burning mode it all seems SO much easier
(I agree with lemonychild - exercise is not the primary factor, though I have added in an extra walk most days, pilates twice a week and a 7 minutes HIIT exercise set most mornings)
I've done lchf, for me it was unsustainable as a lifestyle (no diets here). Lots of factors involved with me being able to stick to it. Much research on my part went into it. But if it works for u that's fantastic! Well done.
I'm trying just to monitor my calorie intake for now and not be hungry, because I'm a pig lol
This^
I tried LCHF too.....miserable failure (for me). No diets here either. All things in moderation.3 -
What worked for me (and my sister) was easing into a calorie deficit. So not going from eating 2500 calories a day to trying to eat 1200. We tracked our food for a week with out making any changes (a sobering process), then picked one or two changes to make (like cut soda and use cooking spray). Once you get used to that, change a couple more things. If you spread these changes out over a few weeks you will learn where your sweet spot is for losing while still feeling satisfied and give your body time to adjust. It's the same process as going into maintenance, just reversed.
I also had to fiddle some with when I ate, the order I was eating things, and with macros. I eat six times a day (it's hard to feel deprived when you eat every 2-3 hours) but I have to front load my calories because I'm hungrier in the mornings. I feel better when I have my protein shake at 6:30am and my oatmeal at 9:30am, if I reverse them I'm starving all morning. For snacks need to couple a fat with my fruit/veggie or my blood sugar spikes and then crashes leaving me hungrier than before my snack. At 1250-1350 calories 80-90 grams of protein is good for me, more 90 grams and my weight loss stalls (low carb diets have never worked for me). I measure everything but I'm not neurotic about it because it's not a sustainable habit for me in the long run. I use containers, measuring cups, and packaging label info most of the time keeping in mind that there is a margin of error with these methods, and I use my scale when those don't work or seem off. Is it perfect? No, but neither is life and it works for me and I can live with it long term so I'm good living with less than perfect.2 -
Love reading these comments thanks everyone. Inspiring me to keep on goal. I've got a fair bit of weight to lose. Since starting 14 days ago I'm 1.7 kilos down and it's a lose and that's all that matters. This week as u said @KT6377 I'll make another small change. Last week it was learning to love coffee without sugar. Haven't heard about banking calories @leanjogreen18 but it's something I'll look into because weekends wen I have a few drinks I'm sure it'll get rough.
Bacon over pineapple any day
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Buffets...... urgh lol My nonnas weekly dinner is my kryptonite. Italian grandmothers get so sad if u say no more lol
You'll get the look. Best bet is to grab a small plate and have a small portion (used to do about half a serving spoon) of everything lol. She'll never believe you already ate or aren't that hungry. Italian grandmother's think everyone's starving all the time. Miss mine
My Nonna kinda goes from sad to angry if I don't eat more lol wrath of grandmothers....1 -
Biggest thing for me was learning I didn't have to eat a bunch of rabbit food. Understanding the calories and that I could eat like I want to within the calorie goal helped me immensely. Yes, it does mean I've cut some things out (pop being #1 that I've cut out) as I decided I'd rather have the calories for other things, while at the same time eating less of my treats, like a 30g bag of chips instead of half a family sized bag.
As you go along, you will pick up things that work for you. There is no real one size fits all, despite what you may read here and elsewhere.2 -
Tacklewasher wrote: »Biggest thing for me was learning I didn't have to eat a bunch of rabbit food. Understanding the calories and that I could eat like I want to within the calorie goal helped me immensely. Yes, it does mean I've cut some things out (pop being #1 that I've cut out) as I decided I'd rather have the calories for other things, while at the same time eating less of my treats, like a 30g bag of chips instead of half a family sized bag.
As you go along, you will pick up things that work for you. There is no real one size fits all, despite what you may read here and elsewhere.
That's why I have failed miserably to lose weight. Diets advocating Rabbit food being the go to for weight lose. Unsustainable in the long term.
I'm not dieting anymore, I'm changing my eating behaviour and learning what's right for me. Thank u:-)2 -
Tacklewasher wrote: »Biggest thing for me was learning I didn't have to eat a bunch of rabbit food. Understanding the calories and that I could eat like I want to within the calorie goal helped me immensely. Yes, it does mean I've cut some things out (pop being #1 that I've cut out) as I decided I'd rather have the calories for other things, while at the same time eating less of my treats, like a 30g bag of chips instead of half a family sized bag.
As you go along, you will pick up things that work for you. There is no real one size fits all, despite what you may read here and elsewhere.
That's why I have failed miserably to lose weight. Diets advocating Rabbit food being the go to for weight lose. Unsustainable in the long term.
I'm not dieting anymore, I'm changing my eating behaviour and learning what's right for me. Thank u:-)
Long term. Hell, I can't go a week on rabbit food. I hate most veggies. Those I like I will eat a couple portions of daily (baby carrots and snap peas), but beyond that and I'm reaching for a Teen Burger. 0 -
Tacklewasher wrote: »Tacklewasher wrote: »Biggest thing for me was learning I didn't have to eat a bunch of rabbit food. Understanding the calories and that I could eat like I want to within the calorie goal helped me immensely. Yes, it does mean I've cut some things out (pop being #1 that I've cut out) as I decided I'd rather have the calories for other things, while at the same time eating less of my treats, like a 30g bag of chips instead of half a family sized bag.
As you go along, you will pick up things that work for you. There is no real one size fits all, despite what you may read here and elsewhere.
That's why I have failed miserably to lose weight. Diets advocating Rabbit food being the go to for weight lose. Unsustainable in the long term.
I'm not dieting anymore, I'm changing my eating behaviour and learning what's right for me. Thank u:-)
Long term. Hell, I can't go a week on rabbit food. I hate most veggies. Those I like I will eat a couple portions of daily (baby carrots and snap peas), but beyond that and I'm reaching for a Teen Burger.
Teen burger...... drools0 -
I will eat aaaallllll the veggies y'all don't want, because veggies make me very, very happy.
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Set a reasonable calorie goal like 1 lb a week unless you are 50+ lbs overweight. Do not start at the minimum recommended 1200 calories if you do not have to.
Eat some of your exercise calories. A lot of people eat half to account for overestimated burns.
Eat what you like and log as accurately as you can. You do not need to completely overhaul your diet and your family's diet to lose weight.
Your family, friends, coworkers will eat different than you. It is not sabotage. They are different people with different calorie needs and goals. You do you.
Reduce portion sizes of higher calorie foods. Fill your day with more lower calorie foods like vegetables.
Plan meals. Look at labels. Look up nutritional info for restaurants. Get a food scale.
People find protein, fats and fiber help them to be more satisfied. If you are having cravings even though you have eaten enough calories look to these things and change up the food you eat.
It does not matter what time of day you eat or how many meals you eat. Get your calories in a way that suit your lifestyle.
I eat the same foods I always did just in appropriate portion sizes for my goal. I prelog my food for the whole day every morning. I look at calories first and then protein. I drink mostly water or unsweetened tea as drinking my calories is not satisfying for me.
This is how I typically eat:
Breakfast- Greek yogurt, granola bars, cereal with milk, sandwich, dinner leftovers, fruit, cottage cheese (about 200-300 calories)
Lunch- sandwich, salad, or dinner leftovers (about 300-500 calories)
Dinner- something different every night of the month. (about 500-600 calories) I have soup once a week usually.
Snacks- things like fruit, chips, popcorn, pretzels, chocolate, cookies, granola bar, carrots, celery, broccoli, trail mix, deviled eggs, pickles, cottage cheese (about 100-300 calories)1 -
amusedmonkey wrote: »What works for me is to not overcomplicate things.
Weight loss, in itself, is a matter of calories. Anything else you have read is just opinions about what different things work for different people to optimize their calorie intake and health. If clean eating makes dieting easier for you, eat clean. If eating cake within calories is easier, eat cake. If eating 15 meals a day makes dieting easier for you, eat 15 meals a day. If eating 1 meal a day is what fits your preference better, do that. Physical activity is great for physical and mental health, it also gives you extra calories to make dieting easier. If you don't want to do it (or can't), don't do it. Nutrient rich foods support your health, but if you have a couple of days here and there where your diet is not nutrient rich, you're not gonna die.
Cut through the noise and experiment to find out what works for you and makes dieting less stressful and more sustainable.
Edit: what works for me, personally, is more low intensity cardio on most days (GASP!) and moderate intensity 2-3 times a week because high intensity cardio makes me much hungrier. Meal-wise I'm not very consistent. I sometimes have 3 square meals, other times I have 2, and others I just graze all day. Depends on my mood or circumstances (I often skip meals if I know I will be having something heavier later in the day). I also have times where I do intermittent fasting alternating low calorie days with maintenance, and times where I bank my calories in advance for several days for some special event. However I do it, I often look at my calories as a multi-day budget, not a single day budget. Food-wise, I eat things I like within calories (including cake and chips sometimes), but most of the things I like are nutrient rich anyway so no problems there.
I try to count my calories.0 -
Yea I've never weighed my meals. Definitely something I'll look into because I know my eyes are much bigger than my stomache:-/
This was my biggest problem! A lot of people will say that weighing things is obsessive, but I learned SO much about portion size from weighing. In fact, it's the only thing that allows me to stay in maintenance while eyeballing, because I did it so much that it got easier. I was SO wrong before that. It was worth the $20 scale and year or so that I weighed things. When I find myself eating too high from time to time I pull it out and use it religiously for a while until I'm back on track.4 -
kk_inprogress wrote: »Yea I've never weighed my meals. Definitely something I'll look into because I know my eyes are much bigger than my stomache:-/
This was my biggest problem! A lot of people will say that weighing things is obsessive, but I learned SO much about portion size from weighing. In fact, it's the only thing that allows me to stay in maintenance while eyeballing, because I did it so much that it got easier. I was SO wrong before that. It was worth the $20 scale and year or so that I weighed things. When I find myself eating too high from time to time I pull it out and use it religiously for a while until I'm back on track.
I've heard a lot of people weighing. I really think I'll buy a set of scales. Not just for me but my teenage daughters. I'm Italian so I over feed lol but really I no we eat way to big portions.1 -
My diary is open - feel free to take a peek.
For me, I try to eat my three meals a day, plus 1-2 snacks. I've cut back on the number of snacks, just to keep my calories under control. If I want to eat anything that isn't pretty plain and healthy, I need to exercise to have the calories to spend. In the summer, I bike commute, but for now, I'm doing weights at home (YouTube is amazing and free!) and walking on my lunch break.
I'm nearly down 10 lb since the new year, and I'm very happy. Just do something and you'll be better off than before. Personally, exercise is important for mental health as well as weight loss (oh, and fitness/physical health). I could lose weight just eating less, but some moving helps it all a lot.1 -
Oh, and find the weekly net calories (on the app, go to "nutrition" and then "calories" and then "net"). The number you're under for the week is in theory what you can go over at your Nonna's and not derail your plan. 0
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Tacklewasher wrote: »Long term. Hell, I can't go a week on rabbit food. I hate most veggies. Those I like I will eat a couple portions of daily (baby carrots and snap peas), but beyond that and I'm reaching for a Teen Burger.
Silly @Tacklewasher , eat your "bunnies", and a large Wendy's chilli is a better deal than a teen burger <ducks back into cover>1 -
annacole94 wrote: »Oh, and find the weekly net calories (on the app, go to "nutrition" and then "calories" and then "net"). The number you're under for the week is in theory what you can go over at your Nonna's and not derail your plan.
Thank u:-)0 -
OP the advice so far is excellent, so not much to add1
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Tacklewasher wrote: »Long term. Hell, I can't go a week on rabbit food. I hate most veggies. Those I like I will eat a couple portions of daily (baby carrots and snap peas), but beyond that and I'm reaching for a Teen Burger.
Silly @Tacklewasher , eat your "bunnies", and a large Wendy's chilli is a better deal than a teen burger <ducks back into cover>
Well, as far as eating my bunnies, as I always say to my vegetarian friends, my food *kitten* on your food.
And I don't like beans in my chili. So Bleh.2
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