What's the best diet plan for weight loss

latriceturner

I am 5"3 and 182lbs and I have struggled for years with my weight I need all the help and motivation to get to my 150lb goal please help

Heather4448

Eat less than you burn.
That's it.
Enter your stats into MFP, set a reasonable rate of loss, and eat that much.

bluets2011

CICO+ a way of eating that feels natural to you, personally. Something you can see yourself doing for life, not something that feels like a diet, a chore or that you are depriving yourself.

wizzybeth

Reducing your calorie intake.
That's what all weight loss boils down to. Some plans like to fancy it up and make it way way WAY more complicated than it needs to be but ultimately it is about reducing your calories.

malibu927

The one that keeps you in a calorie deficit and you will stick to consistently

estherdragonbat

Agreed. I'm also 5'3" started at 254. As of today, I've dropped 63.6 lbs (Got another 60.4 to goal) eating more mindfully and making room for some treats along the way.

I'd say that I eat mainly healthy, but if you check my diary, you'll see a couple of hundred calories going on desserts here, other calorie-dense foods there. It keeps me sane.

A few things that have helped keep me on track:

• Mentally preparing for food situations (holiday dinners, parties restaurants), planning and, as much as possible, pre-logging before I get there. Can't really do that for dinner at a friend's, but restaurants have online menus. I've got a pretty good idea what will be at the synagogue buffet after services, etc. I find that pre-logging give me permission to have a treat. For me, having a cookie doesn't really derail me. It's the unhealthy guilt about 'daring' to have that cookie that has me picturing undoing all my progress, blowing the day, feeling guilty, grabbing more food to numb the guilt, etc etc. When I pre-log, I get perspective. It becomes 'One cookie. 160 calories. I have room for that. I can have it if I want it. And I do want it.' I log it and, suddenly, when I take that cookie, that's all I get. I can pass up the side orders of guilt and out-of-control anxiety.
• A treat is not necessarily a cheat...
• ...But it's not a staple either. Check out enough of the threads on these boards and you'll start to notice that for every person who says 'You can eat what you want within your daily totals,' there will be someone saying 'I'm don't think we should be telling people it's okay to eat nothing but doughnuts and chocolate bars all day.' Hint: it isn't and we're not. Nutrition is important for health, energy, mood, satiety, and probably other good things I'm leaving out. For losing weight, a calorie deficit is all you need. Google 'Twinkie diet' for kicks. Not recommending you copy it, but it does show that even if you're eating a lot of high-calorie, nutrient-poor food, you will lose weight and your health markers (BP etc) will improve. You'll probably feel a lot worse in the process, though.
• Exercise is for health and fitness. You can lose weight without it. BUT when you exercise, you get more calories to play with, which gives you more room for food. Which is good, because when you're burning more calories/fuel, you need to fill up faster. MFP is known for miscalculating exercise burns, though, so try eating back 50-75% of those calories. Cardio is important for burning fat. Strength training helps you retain/build muscle. (It's harder to build muscle in a deficit, but you can still strengthen your existing muscle and reduce the amount of muscle lost during weight-loss.) I do both. In addition to helping with the weight-loss, it helps my moods, which means less overall anxiety, which puts me in a better place with food.

My diary is open if you'd like to friend me.

Debmal77

malibu927 wrote: »

The one that keeps you in a calorie deficit and you will stick to consistently

Pretty much this.

jgnatca

Do you have a food scale? Try logging everything you eat for a week without changing anything.

Did you learn anything about your eating habits that you didn't know before?

jennybearlv

Calorie counting, and lots of chocolate, but that may just be my diet plan.

pamfgil

You'll need to figure out what works for you. If you start with logging everything, being as accurate as you can, plus keep notes, how hungry you get mood and energy and activity levels etc you can use that information to make tweaks and over time you will arrive at your personal best eating plan.

DresdenSinn

It varies with the individual, you'll just have try several to find what works for you. Personally, when I cut in the Spring/Summer, I have the most success with Intermittent Fasting in conjunction with Keto but they are not for those lacking in willpower.

firef1y72

OK so I'm 5'2" started at 289.5lb but was at 184lb at beginning of the year and am now 162lb and heading towards 150lb.

The very first thing I did was log everything I ate for a week. I wasn't trying to reduce what I ate at this point, it was more a case of finding out where I was starting from. Turns out just the action of logging made me more conscious of what went in my mouth and I lost 4lb that first week without trying.

Next thing I did was set myself some goals, with so much to lose I needed small goals to keep myself motivated (I still have small goals now). So I set myself some short, mid and long term goals, then I plugged my details in to MFP with a 1lb/week loss goal and tried to eat as close as I could to the number it spat out at me. Along the way I learnt which foods were worth the Calories (peanut butter magnum) and which weren't (kfc snack box), but I didn't restrict any food.

I then bought a Fitbit, linked it to my account and worked on getting more active. You don't have to exercise to lose weight but not only does it help make you fitter and healthier but it also gives you more Calories to eat. To start with I could only manage 3000 steps a day (I could barely walk), but by gradually increasing steps by a mere 100 a day I got myself up to 20000+ steps. I also started going to the gym, lifting heavy weights, running and going to high intensity classes and PT sessions.