Diet Plan(s) - What Works Best?
dratkison120
Posts: 5 Member
What diet plan have you found to work the best for you? I have started and restarted over and over. I know it needs to be a lifestyle change but I just feel like that change has to incorporate the most "normal" foods as possible. Thoughts?
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Replies
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Counting calories. That way I can eat whatever I want so I know it will be sustainable for life. MFP rocks!
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Every person is different. The National Weight Control Registry has found:
- We have also started to learn about how the weight loss was accomplished: 45% of registry participants lost the weight on their own and the other 55% lost weight with the help of some type of program.
- 98% of Registry participants report that they modified their food intake in some way to lose weight.
- 94% increased their physical activity, with the most frequently reported form of activity being walking.
You need to find out what works for you instead of following a program . . . unless you have found a program that works for you.
For me, I started by eating regular meals of mostly whole foods. After a few weeks, I started counting calories and paying attention to my macros to make sure I got enough protein, fat, and carbs in.
Just remember: you are NOT making a big change in your life, you are making a series of small changes.
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one you can stick with for a while4
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I think you're on the right track.
(Apologies to those who've seen this. I've posted it before.)
I think I finally accepted that I would never be happy 'virtuously' eating carrot sticks when everyone around me was eating cake. Either I'd weaken on the spot, or I'd 'reward' myself for having been 'good' later by going overboard on high-calorie treats later. (I'm rather partial to smearing butter or margarine on a piece of naan, adding garlic powder, and heating it in the oven and doing another 2-3 pieces. Just saying.)
Fitting indulgences into my way of eating was when I started to feel like I could stay on track. A treat is not necessarily a cheat. It's not a staple either, but I make sure that I have room for a few things. A couple of pieces of kugel and a frosted shortbread cookie. I make desserts that come in at under 200 calories per serving (Meringues are around 30 apiece. I found a chocolate truffle recipe where each individual bonbon is around 75-80 calories. One or two of those is very doable.)
There are foods I've chosen not to eat, either because a moderate portion is too small, or because it's just not worth using the calories. But it's not that I can't have them; it's that I choose not to.
As far as I'm concerned, the only foods that 'should' be cut are:- foods that fall under a medical restriction (allergy/intolerance/disease or disorder that requires you to eliminate or reduce certain foods/medication that interacts badly with certain foods, etc.)
- foods that you have a hard time moderating at the moment. And over time, that could change.
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Just logging your food can help you modify your food choices. I suggest pre-logging a couple times a week to help you make informed choices.
Check out these foods:
- a cup of cooked rice
- A tablespoon of peanut butter
- A Carl's Jr. burger; anything on the menu
- A Boston Pizza salad
- A single serving of prepared cereal1 -
I eat "normal" foods for the most part, except for perhaps the fact that some people find it strange that I dip fries in my frosty at Wendy's. The diet that works best for you is the one that can be sustainable, and at least for the time being since you are wanting to cut, incorporates a calorie deficit.
Options as to how you go about achieving this deficit are about as vast as the stars in the night sky. Step one for you is to first calculate your TDEE or total daily energy expenditure. This is the amount of calories you burn per day even in a coma. I suggest you set your activity level to sedentary to allow for some wiggle room. After you have this figured you can then set a reasonable daily calorie limit for yourself. Don't go too nuts or aggressive with this or else it will become increasingly difficult to stick with. You can cut this later on after you get your feet wet.
TDEE: http://damnripped.com/tdee-calculator/ (note: be honest on this or you will only be hurting yourself in the long run)
After you have this framework in place, all you pretty much have to do is eat up to your limit of calories each day and don't exceed it. Provided you do this and do not have some sort of rare genetic disorder, you will lose weight. At first, probably a bunch of weight depending on how much you have to lose. There is no critical need to drastically cut foods you like necessarily, but depending on what it is you may well have to change portion sizes. After awhile (and it won't take long) you will become an expert at being able to maximize the amount of food you can eat while still keeping calories where they need to be. The good part? Companies out there who make food are mindful of people like us, and are becoming increasingly adept at giving us more bang for our calorie buck. Halo Top Ice Cream, for example, has been like a gift from God to many of us, and they are the tip of the iceberg.
The rest is just a matter of planning and consistency. I plan my meals in advance on some days, on others I just sort of go with the flow. After awhile it just becomes the new normal, and sticking to your "diet" becomes as routine as breathing. The only activity I sometimes engage in which is probably not the healthiest is what I refer to as "banking". I enjoy pigging out on occasion, so to accommodate this I will have days where I skip breakfast entirely and then only have a protein bar for lunch so I can have a ridiculous dinner. My most recent banking episode was last week when I went to my favorite burger joint called Fuddruckers. I had a half pound burger with all the trimmings plus a full basket of wedge fries along with hot jalapeno cheddar to dip then in. It was friggin glorious. Did it suck not eating much for the day leading up to it? Yup, it sure did, but the meal that night was totally worth it to me, and I was still under my calorie goal
Stick around MFP, log everything consistency and honestly, and stay in a calorie deficit and the weight loss will take care of itself.2 -
My personal preference has been shifting to a higher-protein and fat diet (not Keto) by reducing carbohydrates. Adding a literal can of vegetables to my meat-based lunch has been a godsend to keeping me fuller longer on fewer calories. Your mileage may vary.2
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dratkison120 wrote: »What diet plan have you found to work the best for you? I have started and restarted over and over. I know it needs to be a lifestyle change but I just feel like that change has to incorporate the most "normal" foods as possible. Thoughts?
It doesn't sound to me like you want to go low carb or cut out food groups. I was the same, I just wanted to eat less of what I was eating. Took a lot of trial and error to get to that, but I'm down 100 lbs.
Give it a week or two before starting your diet. In that time, log what you eat, get a food scale and learn to weigh your food. In other words, get a real good handle on what you are eating now and the calories you are taking in. Then see what is really killing you for calories that you can give up forever, it may be nothing but for me it was pop. See where you can't give up a food, but can move to smaller portions, again for me it was buying individual bags of chips. Then see where you can cut back to hit your calorie goals for losing weight.
Read the stickes in the getting started forums. They have a lot of good information in them.
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Counting calories. Simple and efficient.2
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Pick something that you can sustain indefinitely.
What has worked for me personally, is learning portion control as opposed to a specific diet. When I started with MFP, I didn’t want to alter my diet, so I continued eating as I always have. When I started 3-years ago, I counted every calorie I was eating. I measured, weighed and logged everything. Overtime, I learned what an appropriately sized portion for me looks like. Over a period of 30 weeks I lost 25 pounds and learned portion control. I still ate out with friends, had the occasional soda or beer (I’m not a big drinker of either), and ate out for weeks at a time while on vacation. I was able to lose weight while eating as I normally do. Albeit, I did eat less.
Learning portion control with my normal diet has made the transition to maintaining my weight easier. After I was done logging, nothing really changed for me. I got back an extra serving or two to help maintain my weight. I have maintained my weight loss for almost 2.5 years now.
So my advice is to pick something that is sustainable for you.
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The best diet is the one that you will stick with. What works for me may not work for you at all.3
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For me, Ideal Protein (I wanted the technical support and weekly InBody scan). Three products and the rest "real food" so a nice blend. I didn't not need to do more than walk a few days a week. Ketosis is awesome! I've lost over 150 in a year. Feel confident about phasing off and having changed my lifestyle enough. I also keep learning about health and nutrition from reputable sources.1
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The only thing I've been able to stick with is counting calories. I still eat the foods I did before but just not as much and not as often.
You need to find what works best for you and that may take you down several different paths before figuring it out. Best of luck!3 -
No specific diet plan works best.
What worked for me was looking at how I'd been eating, thinking through the ways in which I was overeating, and figuring out easy ways to cut back that wouldn't involve missing much. Intuitively, that meant cutting out snacking, reducing starchy sides as I mostly eat them because they are there and am happy with small portions, keeping vegetables plentiful (if anything adding more) and including them at all meals and sticking with lean proteins for the most part. I realized I had a habit of overusing added fats, so reduced those, but made sure taste was still there, and avoided mindless eating.
For nutrition, it makes sense to me to make sure meals are built around protein and vegetables, and I do that, but that's not specifically about weight loss.
I'm currently experimenting with lower carb, as that's what I seem to find a satisfying way to eat and it fits my personal taste preferences, but I didn't low carb to lose (I've been at maintenance for a while) and it's certainly not necessary.
For me it was important to eat like I meant to go on, and not to feel like I was eating in a diet-y way. I did focus on cooking from whole foods, nutrition, eating locally and seasonally and stuff like that, but that's because I enjoy those things and was doing them before dieting too. I'd say that if you think there are rules you need to follow to lose (besides eat fewer calories than you burn) or One True Diet, you are looking at the wrong sources (and people who claim those things make me angry, as I think they are usually scam artists).1 -
I'm down 130lbs by counting calories.4
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I've only lost weight one time (now a few years into maintenance) and I did an IF protocol, which worked well with for me-but it was just a fancy way of reducing calorie intake. Throughout my weight loss phase, and now maintenance, being mindful of how much I'm eating and controlling my calorie intake has been the foundation for my success.1
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dratkison120 wrote: »What diet plan have you found to work the best for you? I have started and restarted over and over. I know it needs to be a lifestyle change but I just feel like that change has to incorporate the most "normal" foods as possible. Thoughts?
All diets and diet plans work on the same premise...calorie deficiency.
Personally, I just counted calories and over time I tweaked my nutrition...it was an evolutionary process, not an overnight one.
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I combine counting calories and monitoring my carbs. I don't do Keto anymore, but I do watch how many I eat just because I feel like I loose more when my carb count is low. But ultimately weight loss is down to the basic calories in Vs. calories out. If you burn more than you take in you will loose.
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Counting, counting, counting. When I started, I just ate whatever I had already been eating but I counted the calories and made sure they were within my limits. Now I've started experimenting with higher fat/protein for greater satiation, but not matter what, it'll be counted, even the occasional carne asada nacho meal.0
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1...2...3... 3 calories, MOAHAHAHA!
So yeah, calorie counting. No specific diet plan. Just eating fewer calories than I burn, trying to eat nutrient dense foods, and fitting in yummy treats that I enjoy.
*And high 5 to anyone that got the Count reference. Ahhhhh childhood.1 -
What works for everyone is developing a routine that works for you (this is the hard part) - this will include a long process of identifying behaviors that don't suit your goals and replacing these with habits that support your goals. A key point is learning the difference between true hunger signals and eating out of habit/boredom.
Personally mine was getting back to a routine that prioritizes exercise. All the rest is calorie counting.1 -
I find a high candy diet plus exercise works for me. Basically calorie counting.1
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I think people have been successful based on all sorts of macro breakdowns, so whatever macro ratio religion you believe in which also achieves a caloric deficit is likely to be fine. I tend to be more high carb, though.
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The only plan that works is eating a little less than you require to maintain your current weight. That's literally the only way. If you're an otherwise healthy adult (no diabetes, PCOS etc) no special way of eating is going to get you there any faster.2
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I have been on WW since 2013 and lost -169#. It works for me because it's easy to count the points WWers assigns to food. Basically same as counting calories but with a support system if in person weigh in, meting and online support.
Paying WW Inc a monthly fee just reminds me that I'm paying money so I better follow the program! LoL
You CAN. Eat whatever you want but you have to track the points and practice portion control.0 -
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IIFYM whilst struggling to hit my protein macro almost daily. I suck at protein.0
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Matching calories to outcomes (restriction to cut weight, increase to gain mass) + strength training (regardless of gender) + consistency (form habits)0
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