Diets You've Tried and Your Critiques
breefoshee
Posts: 398 Member
I thought this might be an interesting forum for a Friday-- especially right before New Years. I'm sure many of you, like me, have tried a million different things in hopes of losing weight. Give a QUICK synopsis of what you've tried and what you are doing now. Who knows... it may help someone starting out make an informed decision with many different opinions. Feel free to share your thoughts AND feel free to let people have their own opinions.
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Stuff I tried: IF, South Beach, extreme restriction, Eat to Live, juice "fasting," low fat vegetarian
What worked: Counting calories and consistently hitting my calorie goal. Lost 40+ pounds and have been maintaining since late 2015.21 -
Tried: meal replacement shakes, extreme restriction (VLCD type), some variation of the blood type diet.
Result of the above? Lost my hair, got brittle nails and ultimately got served divorce papers by my gallbladder.
What worked: a reasonable deficit over a prolonged time. Life happened and I regained 10kg of the nearly 40kg I had lost. Going to get back to it starting January.10 -
I've tried: Keto, Weight Watchers, Vegetarian, Whole 30, Calorie counting with no sugar allowed, Extreme calorie restriction, IF...
Ultimately anything where I start off by restricting like crazy ends up in a binge roller coaster for me. The times where I really thrive is when I set realistic calorie goals and allow all foods. I'd rather try to slowly get better overtime than try to jump to someplace I'm just not. -- Down 30lbs, hoping that setting realistic goals will help me in 2019.13 -
Tried: Keto, Paleo, Whole30, Weight Watchers
What is Working: Calorie counting.
I'm not saying it's because of Keto, but after I successfully lost on it for a few months in 2016, I then spent the next almost 2 years binge eating and compulsive overeating, far more than I ever have before. The restrictions were obviously just not for me.
I am someone that has to be able to eat what I want (within reason) but smaller amounts of it, mentally speaking. Makes me less food crazy.
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I did juicing once. How awful.
Buying a food scale changed my life. Also reading the experts and success stories. I’m a big fan of “I’ll eat it if it fits into my calories”.5 -
I've tried pretty much any diet you may have heard of in the last 40 years. My favorite and the one with the longest term success is not allowed to be mentioned on here (VLCD). I think most of the old WW plans work well, but that may be mostly because of the weekly support meetings and I would not at all recommend the current WW plan. Same thing with Jenny Craig...I think it worked great when you had to go to weekly support meetings and nutritional classes, but not so much anymore. Pretty much anything that has flexibility to allow you to eat foods that work with your body chemistry and tastes seems to work well in my opinion. And I'm a big fan of eating fewer processed foods and less sugar, but more fat and protein, but not personally a lover of very low carb diets. I like a leaning toward Weston A. Price Foundation style or Paleo style in general as long as I can eat sufficient carbs, for example. They seem to work best for my body and my mental state. I also think one's reaction to food is an individual thing and the same diet isn't best for all people.3
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whatalazyidiot wrote: »Tried: Keto, Paleo, Whole30, Weight Watchers
What is Working: Calorie counting.
I'm not saying it's because of Keto, but after I successfully lost on it for a few months in 2016, I then spent the next almost 2 years binge eating and compulsive overeating, far more than I ever have before. The restrictions were obviously just not for me.
I am someone that has to be able to eat what I want (within reason) but smaller amounts of it, mentally speaking. Makes me less food crazy.
Same for me with Keto! I've never gained my weight back so quickly. I felt like I wanted to make it a "lifestyle change" and sincerely see nothing wrong with it... it just made me a little crazy when I would get off of it-- the moment I had more than 20 carbs.3 -
Tried: Calorie counting by itself, Weight Watchers, lazy keto, keto and calorie counting
What Worked: keto and calorie counting. Lost all the weight with it.
What I'm doing now: Maintaining for over 2 years now with LC during the week and I-Don't-Care-Bout-Carbs on the weekends and (guess what) calorie counting.
Shocker... 5 -
Tried moderation in all things. Repeatedly. It led to hunger and going off plan within a few weeks. I would lose 5-10lbs and then get hungry and regain my weight. It wasn't sustainable for me at all.
Tried Clean Eating. In hindsight, it was lchf. I lost weight well but then decided to reintroduce baking and noodles and eventually regained my weight.
Tried keto and lost weight well. Tried to raise carbs a bit after a year of maintenance and started regaining, and my improved health issues started returning. If I stay keto, weight management and health us better.
Tried mostly carnivore. It is good for my health and very easy for weight management but the diet is pretty boring- I am not a meat lover.
Ymmv1 -
I did VLCD w/ meal replacements. Ive tried calorie counting. What has worked for me is actually eating more! I learned 2000 calories was way too low for me. Oh and never skip protein.0
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I haven't tried that many. I've been vegetarian for 44 years, thin to obese and back again: It had nothing to do with weight management, ever. I tried just eating less, plus choosing things I thought were less fattening, some years back. That worked for a while, but didn't contribute to effective maintenance, and I gained it back. I haven't done a fad diet, at least not since I was a teenager. I got very active about 15 years ago, even competing as a masters athlete; I got a little smaller and much healthier/stronger, but no lighter.
This is the diet that worked for me, and has helped me maintain a healthy weight for 3 years since:
https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10636388/free-customized-personal-weight-loss-eating-plan-not-spam-or-mlm1 -
Tried: Everything under the sun. The most extreme was a juice fast that lasted 3 days. Most miserable 3 days ever!
What I'm doing now: Keto
I've been doing it for 6 months now and it works for me. I know a lot of people don't do great on restrictive diets like that, but this one is working for me. I'm not super strict about it and am considered "dirty keto", but it is what I'm having success doing. Portion control doesn't work for me b/c I never feel full eating carbs. Never. So I overeat it all b/c I always feel hungry if I'm just eating whatever.
Eating lots of animal fat/meat on keto keeps me full and satisfied.2 -
I have never really tried any diet. I was a chubby kid then an obese teen/adult, and when people talked about different diets it just made me feel vulnerable and purposefully ignore any discussion of it.
In my twenties I had a period of eating mostly omelets and beans and I lost about 40 lb. I couldn't afford all that much food and I liked eating that, so it kind of worked. Then I married my first husband and we ate all of the food (mostly in restaurants) so, yikes...
At 30, I was up to my heaviest & I decided I was going to get serious about losing weight and started eating very very little (cucumbers for lunch with a small portion of hummus) but I would always wind up eating way too much later in the day when I became uncomfortably hungry. I did a lot of exercise along with this, and lost about 40 lb but it took me over 4 years...that was depressing.
I tried eating pescetarian with more fruits & vegetables in my diet. I only lost about 6 lb in a year of that and returned to eating meat along with the increased fruit/veg.
Finally in 2013, I started counting calories and (fairly quickly) lost the 90 more pounds I wanted to lose & have maintained by doing this.
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Good information, I have lost weight in the past simply by calorie counting. Guess that will be my plan! Back on track with weighing and measuring and logging every single bite. Plus doing some exercise to tone up and build some muscles.1
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In the past 30 years I've tried WW, cabbage soup diet, keto, juicing, vlc, Phentermine, and so much more. I lost weight with some, got physically ill with one, and started fainting with another. Oh I've also lost hair from losing too quickly.
Now I just eat my normal foods, sweets in moderation, weigh everything and log. This is much more sustainable for me and I'm happier with this method.2 -
I've tried WW many times. It has worked but stopped going to meetings, and the weight comes back. WW has a great thing going. I think they know you will regain weight and come back. I've done SAD (Standard American Diet), LCHF, Keto, South Beach, Atkins, you name it. I'm still trying to find something that works long term for me. I know everyone is different and I have been struggling for a lifetime.0
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I've only ever gone with eating fewer calories than I burn.
Critique: it makes sense and it works.1 -
Years ago when I was in my 20’s, I tried eating low fat and also cut down my portions. I did lose doing that-about 30 pounds.
Right after that, I had my second child and never really dieted again until I was in my late 40’s or so. I tried low carb and lost a few pounds which I promptly gained back when I couldn’t sustain that way of eating.
Most recently I tried Keto, I kept my carbs under 50 grams a day and again lost a bit which I again regained plus a few pounds. At this point I was just over the line into obese.
This past year I began counting calories, eating whatever I wanted as long as it fit into my calorie goal. I lost 43 pounds and have been maintaining +/- 3 pounds for the past 3 months.4 -
Keto- for short while missed carbs. Not for me.
IF- I like 14:10. Its easier for me and most days stick to eat with ease.
Calories Counting- works best. You just have to plan ahead and be mindful. Also space your meals out.2 -
The ketogenic diet works great for me
It’s more of a lifestyle than a diet realy
Loosing weight is about minimising insulin production. We can’t mobilise fat stores iff we are producing insulin, insulin is a storage hormone ... so we can’t store in fat cells (sugar) and release from fat cells (low insulin state) at the same time.
Sorry iff this is confusing20 -
Low calorie "only eat certain foods" type of diet (think along the lines of apples, lettuce/salad and eggs/plain chicken breast) with 1 day of water fasting a week that one of my friends swore by, around 2008-2009... ended up constantly dizzy, and gained back all the weight after I quit... Looking back, I was probably averaging about 600kcal a day for a month... Lost about 15lbs in a month but f that
Also tried keto at one point but it made me feel so sick I ended up missing uni because I couldn't get out of bed0 -
Tried: Meal replacement shakes, Atkins, Jenny Craig, Nutri-System, low calorie/low fat, Weight Watchers (lifetime member). Nothing stuck.
What worked: Joining MFP, counting calories in/out, portion control. Reading every stickie on MFP to educate myself on nutrition and weight loss. If I didn't understand something, I Googled it or researched until I did. I lost 50 lbs. over a 15 month period and I've been in maintenance for almost 4 years now. I still log every day and weigh and measure everything that goes in my mouth. 5"2.5"/69 years old and still vertical.8 -
Tried: Low calorie foods and portion control, meal replacement shakes, Nutri-System, Deal-A-Meal, Atkins, Paleo, Raw Vegan. Had varying amounts of success and all-around ultimate failure. None of these every got me to a goal weight that I wanted it to, btw.
What worked: As with Trina - joining MFP, counting calories in/out, portion control. Reading all the stickies to educate myself on nutrition and weight loss with the help of Google. I lost 90 pounds over an 18 month period and have maintained that loss for 3 years now. I still log and weigh everything too. I still futz around with vanity weight I'd like to maybe lose, then maybe not.3 -
iandjray2723 wrote: »The ketogenic diet works great for me
It’s more of a lifestyle than a diet realy
Loosing weight is about minimising insulin production. We can’t mobilise fat stores iff we are producing insulin, insulin is a storage hormone ... so we can’t store in fat cells (sugar) and release from fat cells (low insulin state) at the same time.
Sorry iff this is confusing
If we're not producing insulin, we become diabetic. Losing weight is about a calorie deficit. And you don't hold onto fat in a deficit.
https://weightology.net/insulin-an-undeserved-bad-reputation/10 -
It's not just about weight for me. If it were, I'd still be on Adderall, that's the most effective weight loss habit I've ever engaged in.
Diets I've tried are as follows: Keto, vegetarian, cabbage soup diet, calorie counting, IF, and various other meal plans.
For non-drug induced weight loss, it's calorie counting every time. The problem is that I'm not really able to calorie count if my emotional state is out of whack. I lack the energy, motivation, discipline to do it.
For my emotional state, Keto works the best. IF is a close second. I'm clear headed, focused, disciplined, calm, reasonable, stable. It hasn't been studied well so I've no idea what is happening here. It could be that I have allergies/tolerance issues. I could be reaping the neurprotective benefits of Keto that are known about but poorly understood. It also could be something about altering the gut biome. But it happens, it's noticeable, and not just by me.
So, calorie counting with Keto and IF is the best possible way for me. It isn't easy but neither is how I feel/look when I eat a lot of carbs or how terrible I feel on every psychotropic medication I've ever tried. Turning down cupcakes is the hardship I choose out of the many available to me.
I can't really isolate effects of diet, though. Everything is so interdependent. Changing my diet changes so much in my life.7 -
I tried one "diet". One time. In about 2002 I heard Dr. Agatston discussing his new "south beach diet" on a news program. The book wasn't yet out, and I missed the beginning of the discussion, but figured out the basic details. I followed them, and some basic common sense and lost all the weight I needed to lose. It changed how I approached food. I maintained for MANY YEARS. It was easy (until menopause) to keep the weight off eating his "slow carb" way (lean proteins, lots of vegetables, healthy fats, nuts seeds, legumes, some dairy, some whole grains). Now, post menopausal, I'm about to launch back into a "phase one" diet to lose the menopause TEN.
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Low fat/low calorie - ah, the 90s. Haha. Wasn’t really “fat” at the time, just a little bit of chub. It worked, with exercise, but I was hungry all the time and it wasn’t sustainable.
Weight Watchers - been on it too many times to count, with varying degrees of success. Their older programs in the late 90s/early 2000s worked best for me. Was really just a complicated version of what mfp does for us now. Wasn’t that hungry and I liked it. Their new program is NOT for me.
South Beach - I did the first 2 weeks, where its most restrictive, and lost weight, but I didn’t carry on with it after that. I think eliminating whole food groups just isn’t for me.
Slim Fast - disaster. Do not recommend.
Now - when my head is in the game, I do great counting calories with MFP; however, based on the data I’ve been collecting here, Fitbit overestimates the calories I’m burning, so I’m testing out scaling back ever so slightly to see if that helps me.1 -
New to my Fitness Pal App and just reading thru boards, got on here to help track what I’m eating, I’m an Mom of 3 and an Advocare Girl and with that to help with appetite control, energy, and filling the nutritional gaps it gave me energy to start working out for the first time in my life so So I joined Pure Barre and for my bf joined Crossfit (HS/college FB for him-were now 38 yrs old).
We started our health and fitness journey January 2nd 2018 and since then I’m down 14# and 18 inches, he’s down 27# (inches and muscle can’t accurately measure as he’s doing CrossFit-but the pics are so telling!)
We clean eat 80/20, Faithful to Advocare products and love working out now that we found something that fits us!8 -
I've lost weight twice. First time (in 2002), I learned to cook well, started making my own meals regularly, got back into exercise (after blowing everything off for a stressful job), and mostly relied on writing down what I'd been eating, seeing where the extra calories were from and eliminating snacking and mindless eating. I learned a bunch about nutrition during that experience, read a number of books, including Walter Willett's, as well as some anti dieting books like Laura Fraser's Losing It, and a bunch just about food and cooking. Started going to green markets, getting a CSA, so on. Nutrition and exercise became hobbies.
I kept it off for over 5 years, but then had some struggles with depression, started eating more and exercising left and struggling with emotional eating. Gradually regained until January 2014, when I decided enough was enough. Then I used MFP, again focused on eating just regular meals, no snacking, no mindless eating. I already had pretty healthy eating patterns and cooked from whole foods. I did get back into exercising regularly again -- basically biking and running plus some swimming, various race goals.
I've never done a named diet, although I did experiment with paleo for a while when losing this last time (I lost most of my weight just eating based on what I consider a healthy eating pattern but eating all foods). I tried out keto at maintenance for a couple of months, but that was mainly just as another experiment.
My mom had tons of diet books (like the Beverly Hills Diet) when I was growing up and I was fascinated with them but could never actually follow a named diet, I get rebellious and skeptical quite easily (which ended my flirtation with paleo too).6 -
witchaywoman81 wrote: »Low fat/low calorie - ah, the 90s. Haha. Wasn’t really “fat” at the time, just a little bit of chub. It worked, with exercise, but I was hungry all the time and it wasn’t sustainable.
Weight Watchers - been on it too many times to count, with varying degrees of success. Their older programs in the late 90s/early 2000s worked best for me. Was really just a complicated version of what mfp does for us now. Wasn’t that hungry and I liked it. Their new program is NOT for me.
South Beach - I did the first 2 weeks, where its most restrictive, and lost weight, but I didn’t carry on with it after that. I think eliminating whole food groups just isn’t for me.
Slim Fast - disaster. Do not recommend.
Now - when my head is in the game, I do great counting calories with MFP; however, based on the data I’ve been collecting here, Fitbit overestimates the calories I’m burning, so I’m testing out scaling back ever so slightly to see if that helps me.
What food groups? Which diet?0
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