Which plan is better for weight-loss and keeping the weight off?

ReCre8tingMe

Help!! 🤔
Which is better for losing weight and keeping the weight off? If you feel there is a better plan that isn't listed, please comment below!

SuzySunshine99

Well, you have to have a calorie deficit to lose weight. How you achieve that is highly personal…you have to find out what works best for you and is sustainable FOR YOU.

So…any of these choices….or maybe none of them.

lgfrie

Calorie Counting

The problem with the poll is that the choices aren't mutually exclusive. You can calorie-count while doing any of the other approaches too. I prefer calorie counting and IF together; but different things work for different people. In the end, if you eat at a calorie deficit you'll lose weight, and if you don't, you won't. But lots of people need a "system" to help them stay engaged with maintaining a calorie deficit and that's where it gets into finding what works.

ReCre8tingMe

I've done exclusively low-fat, not counting calories and it worked. Only, I didn't keep the weight off. So, it can be done without counting calories. But, I'm looking for something that I can change to be lifelong committing without deprivation.

glassyo

ReCre8tingMe wrote: »

I've done exclusively low-fat, not counting calories and it worked. Only, I didn't keep the weight off. So, it can be done without counting calories. But, I'm looking for something that I can change to be lifelong committing without deprivation.

No, not everyone has to count calories but it worked because you ate less than you burned. Your body still counted them. 😁

Seriously, do whatever is sustainable for you. I lost 90 lbs on Weight Watchers practically living off fast food, frozen dinners, and these hostess 100 calorie packs of mini cupcakes. God, I miss those. But I stayed within my points.

Eat what you want, when you want, just not as much as you want. Don't eat foods that'll put you in the hospital. Get your macros in...however you split them up.

Lietchi

ReCre8tingMe wrote: »

I've done exclusively low-fat, not counting calories and it worked. Only, I didn't keep the weight off. So, it can be done without counting calories. But, I'm looking for something that I can change to be lifelong committing without deprivation.

Well, you just gave the key yourself: lifelong without deprivation.
For me, that would immediately exclude low carb, since it would make me miserable. Other people love it because it reduces their hunger. But not many people seem to be able to do it long term.
Choosing how to eat is highly individual, we all like and dislike other things, find different foods satiating,... Experimenting can be really useful to find what works for you.

Personally, I'd stay away from low fat, because fat is important for hormone health etc, and even more so for women. But it depends on how low 'low fat' would be.

I lost 75lbs counting calories and simply making sure I got a healthy minimum of protein and fat per day and eating mostly the foods I like and I'm used to. I just made some food choice swaps and changes in proportions, while staying within my calorie goal. (I already ate quite healthily before, just too much of it).
Now, I'm not sure whether I'll count calories the rest of my life, but it's been nearly three years and it works for me.
I tried losing weight while 'being mindful' of eating less and eating 'more cleanly' and failed, because I had no idea of how many calories I was eating (so not in an actual calorie deficit) and/or I was missing my favorite foods. Calorie counting worked great for me, with zero deprivation, and the future will tell if I need to continue doing it or whether logging for several years has given me better awareness and intuition on how much I should eat.

I also did a very light forum of intermittent fasting for a number of months: I shipped breakfast, because it made it easier to stick to my calorie goal. Nowadays I usually do eat breakfast (to ensure a good protein intake), but I still occasionally slip breakfast when I know I'll have a calorific lunch or dinner later on.

sijomial

The best plan for other people doesn't mean it's the best plan for you.
Even if you pick a plan that has a very high failure rate for the general population would it matter on a personal level if it worked for you?

The two aspects of weight loss and long term healthy weight maintenance also do not have to be the same, I lost weight with an unusual form of IF and calorie counting but do neither to maintain long term.
OTOH many people need the "lifestyle change" of losing weight how they intend to maintain for life.
There are probably more common aspects in successful weight maintenance than dieting - a read through the Maintaining Weight forum would be time well spent.

Have a serious think about your likes/dislikes, strengths/weaknesses and either adopt a plan that suits or make your own. Also learn from past failures, that was one of my key aspects in creating my "project plan" for weight loss.

paperpudding

Calorie Counting

I guess I answered this in terms of which is the better plan for me - and that was calorie counting - since I havent done, nor intend to do, any of the others

as somebody pointed out though there needs to be option to pick more than one - somebody could do low carb IF and calorie counting all at once
or also to pick none of the above

Bottom line - all of these , in terms of weight loss, are methods

whether you do any or none of these methods, weight loss is still eating less than you burn - ie calorie deficit

Whatever method you are using it must be a calorie deficit to work - so IF for example, probably wont work if you only eat in a 4 hour window but you eat 4000 calories per day

snowflake954

Everyone wants the magic bullet--it doesn't exist, as the others are telling you. It's trial and error, experimenting, and knowing yourself. One thing I might suggest for the long term is to build healthy habits. Don't rely on motivation, or strength of will to see you through. Don't deprive yourself. Make exercising a habit and pick something you like to do. Change things if something no longer works for you. Eat foods you enjoy, but learn to moderate. Your body is clicking along counting all those calories, even if you don't. You need to be happy with your choices. Good luck.

sbelletti

The best plan is the one you're willing to stick to and still feel like life is worth living.

Lose_25_In_2022

For me, Weight Watchers worked well over the winter. But come summer, as an athlete, using all my daily points for two bottles of Gatorade running in the Georgia heat didn’t work. And the sugar free stuff tasted gross. If I don’t drink Gatorade, I start to get dizzy and confused. I even add additional salt to it.

So in the summer, I just count calories for the most part. If I drink 280 calories worth of Gatorade on a 10 mile run, I’m still ahead of the game. Those same 280 calories would take all my points on WW even though I still had a 700 calorie deficit from the run and Gatorade.

AnnPT77

It's not perfect, but this is the best run-down I've seen of various diet options (not necessarily just for weight loss, though that's evaluated, too):

https://health.usnews.com/best-diet/best-diets-overall

If you want to know what kinds of tactics worked (in a statistical sense) for others to lose weight and keep it off, there's the National Weight Control Registry:

http://www.nwcr.ws/

For me (now in year 6+ of maintaining a healthy weight, after losing from obese class 1), what worked was a combination of calorie counting, and this approach:

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10636388/free-customized-personal-weight-loss-eating-plan-not-spam-or-mlm/p1

No one approach is "best" for everyone and anyone. I agree with those above: We each need to find the tactics that will work best for us as individuals, and that may not be some trendy named diet thingie.

FWIW, I don't much like the MFP Community poll feature - not very nuanced - so I didn't vote. If you'd asked which worked best for me, I'd have voted for calorie counting, even though that's over-simplified. I'm a nerdy gal, liked the "grown-up science fair" aspect of it, and have no tendencies to become obsessive or compulsive about counting calories.

It doesn't work best for everyone to count calories, even though getting calories eaten below calories spent that creates weight loss for anyone. One needn't necessarily count the calories to do that. I'm old enough to remember when counting calories wasn't practical (before there were apps to automate it) . . . but people were able to lose weight back then anyway.

Retroguy2000

You had IF as a poll option. I was under the impression that IF by itself won't do much for you regarding weight loss, if e.g. you are eating at maintenance cals while doing IF. I thought IF is just one tool in the shed for how to manage your calorie deficit. Is this not the case?

glassyo

Retroguy2000 wrote: »

You had IF as a poll option. I was under the impression that IF by itself won't do much for you regarding weight loss, if e.g. you are eating at maintenance cals while doing IF. I thought IF is just one tool in the shed for how to manage your calorie deficit. Is this not the case?

You thought correctly.

ReCre8tingMe

Retroguy2000 wrote: »

You had IF as a poll option. I was under the impression that IF by itself won't do much for you regarding weight loss, if e.g. you are eating at maintenance cals while doing IF. I thought IF is just one tool in the shed for how to manage your calorie deficit. Is this not the case?

I never thought of it that way. but that makes perfect sense! Thank you.

AnnPT77

Retroguy2000 wrote: »

You had IF as a poll option. I was under the impression that IF by itself won't do much for you regarding weight loss, if e.g. you are eating at maintenance cals while doing IF. I thought IF is just one tool in the shed for how to manage your calorie deficit. Is this not the case?

Strictly speaking, the same could be said of low fat or low carb. I could put any arbitrary low limit on grams of either fats or carbs, and still eat more than maintenance calories.

threewins

If you share food with a family or whoever, I'd suggest not calorie counting. Imagine not only weighing the ingredients, but weighing what proportion you're having. Unless you want to eat separate food. I guess being single has its advantages. I think everybody should try low carb at least once, just to see what it's like. But don't be surprised if you can't get into it. It's not for everyone, or anyone at every point in their life.

AnnPT77

threewins wrote: »

If you share food with a family or whoever, I'd suggest not calorie counting. Imagine not only weighing the ingredients, but weighing what proportion you're having. Unless you want to eat separate food. I guess being single has its advantages. I think everybody should try low carb at least once, just to see what it's like. But don't be surprised if you can't get into it. It's not for everyone, or anyone at every point in their life.

I do that even as a single person, with a dish with leftovers that last for several days. It's no big deal.

Retroguy2000

threewins wrote: »

If you share food with a family or whoever, I'd suggest not calorie counting. Imagine not only weighing the ingredients, but weighing what proportion you're having. Unless you want to eat separate food. I guess being single has its advantages. I think everybody should try low carb at least once, just to see what it's like. But don't be surprised if you can't get into it. It's not for everyone, or anyone at every point in their life.

I can see that's not ideal, but people can still easily do smaller portions, simple substitutions, doing without an extra sauce, that sort of thing. Sure it may still be difficult to to estimate calories and macros some times, but it's still progress.

paperpudding

Calorie Counting

threewins wrote: »

If you share food with a family or whoever, I'd suggest not calorie counting. Imagine not only weighing the ingredients, but weighing what proportion you're having. Unless you want to eat separate food. I guess being single has its advantages. I think everybody should try low carb at least once, just to see what it's like. But don't be surprised if you can't get into it. It's not for everyone, or anyone at every point in their life.

Why? What is the point of trying something just to see what it is like?

If we are happy with how we are eating now and it is nutritiously balanced and we are losing/maintaining weight as desired, why just randomly try something else??

as to your other point, I didnt find calorie counting while sharing food with others hard - weighing the ingredients than weighing my portion is pretty easy using the recipe builder

mybentley7

Portion control. Whether you are counting your calories or not, portion control. For me that means being able to eat even the things I was eating at my heaviest weight. Only learning to eat them in moderation. It's hard. But you are talking about trying to avoid deprivation, and being on something that you can live with for the rest of your life. I think portion control is the best way. That's my penny's worth of opinion, anyway

cwolfman13

Not going to answer the poll...all of these plans work on the same principle which is energy (calorie) restriction and achieving an energy (calorie) deficit which requires your body to kick on the backup generator and burn bodyfat to make up for that deficiency. What is ideal for one isn't necessarily going to be ideal for someone else.

Personally, I just eat a pretty healthy diet on the whole. When I want to cut weight I just cut back on a couple of snacks and/or have smaller portions of certain things.

rosiekin

Like others have said, any plan that works for you long term is the best plan for you, or for an individual.
Over my years of yo-yo dieting, I had tried quite a lot of different ways to lose weight, but never anything too extreme other than when I was in my early 20s (way back in the early 1980s!), when I was on a kind of binge/starve cycle for a couple of years or so.
When I got out of that phase, I mainly stuck to clubs, favouring mainly the Slimming World eating plan, and laterally Weight Watchers points system. I got to goal on both multiple times BUT I never stuck at goal for longer than a month or two.
My last time of 'dieting'/going on a healthy eating plan was at the start of January 2014. I decided this time to go it alone, and count calories & log on MFP. Also I made the decision to abstain from particular foods, as although moderation of these foods had worked for in the past, it was always a juggling act to fit as many as I wanted into my daily plan. Also, it didn't matter how many I ate, I always craved more so it was a constant battle in my brain to moderate how much I ate of certain things, and I found the constant battles quite exhausting. I decided to give abstinance a try, and it worked for me, although I know it wouldn't suit everyone... each to their own!
I am now over 7 stone lighter than I was at the start of 2014. I maintained about a 6 stone weight loss since April 2015 until lockdown, and since March 2020, I have probably dropped about another stone due to increased exercise and not adjusting my calories up enough to make up for my increased activity. I am currently working on the latter.
In maintenance, I am not doing anything different than I did during my weight loss period, other than eating bigger portions, and allowing myself a few more snacks or pizza.
Whatever plan someone choses to go on should be sustainable post reaching goal, and what works for one will definitely not work for another.
Good luck if finding the best plan that will work for you.

ahoy_m8

threewins wrote: »

If you share food with a family or whoever, I'd suggest not calorie counting. Imagine not only weighing the ingredients, but weighing what proportion you're having. Unless you want to eat separate food. I guess being single has its advantages. ...

I do not find this to be a hassle at all. I weigh ingredients as a matter of habit whether I'm cooking for myself or my family of 5. MFP recipe builder makes it super easy, no math, no proportions. Just weigh the finished product and enter that (in g or oz as you prefer) as the number of servings in your recipe. Weigh what you serve yourself and enter that as "number of servings" (vs. g or oz)

A simple example: you bake a loaf of bread that ends up weighing 600g. In the recipe builder, enter the ingredients and number of servings as 600. A couple slices that weigh 39g would then be logged as "39 servings." Same principle when making spaghetti carbonara for 5. It's really just a matter of habit.

As for the best diet, I'd vote for the trial-and-error method for discovering what is more satisfying to you personally within your calorie budget. Or the AnnPT77 "free customized diet."

Chef_Barbell

Calorie Counting

threewins wrote: »

If you share food with a family or whoever, I'd suggest not calorie counting. Imagine not only weighing the ingredients, but weighing what proportion you're having. Unless you want to eat separate food. I guess being single has its advantages. I think everybody should try low carb at least once, just to see what it's like. But don't be surprised if you can't get into it. It's not for everyone, or anyone at every point in their life.

Yeah no. Family of 5 and no problem calorie counting using the recipe builder. And definitely no to low carbs here. :noway:

glassyo

Ahhhhhh, the good ole days when researching diets to follow, getting to Atkins and...well, just getting to the "A" and shuttin' that puppy right down.

zebasschick

IMO no plan is good for long-term weight loss.

learning about nutrition, calorie counting, and how things work best for you is the way to maintain a healthy weight. there's a reason that people who use plans, according to the FDA, almost all gain the weight back - they haven't learned what foods and meals work best for them.

btw, i went from 242 to 171 pounds simply substituting the regular foods i like with light versions i did also do very light walking with that, but cutting full fat ice cream, full fat cheese, full fat yogurt and switching them for low fat versions worked without dieting or changing my eating habits. and there are yummy versions of many light foods, but finding them can take some experimenting.

having said all that, portion control works.

ReCre8tingMe

zebasschick wrote: »

IMO no plan is good for long-term weight loss.

learning about nutrition, calorie counting, and how things work best for you is the way to maintain a healthy weight. there's a reason that people who use plans, according to the FDA, almost all gain the weight back - they haven't learned what foods and meals work best for them.

btw, i went from 242 to 171 pounds simply substituting the regular foods i like with light versions i did also do very light walking with that, but cutting full fat ice cream, full fat cheese, full fat yogurt and switching them for low fat versions worked without dieting or changing my eating habits. and there are yummy versions of many light foods, but finding them can take some experimenting.

having said all that, portion control works.

Thank you, this was very informative! Now, this is something I could do!

kshama2001

Calorie Counting

JaysFan82

Calorie Counting

Calorie counting. I won't do low carb cause I want something that I can do for the rest of my life. I have my onion bun with my turkey burger, I have my English muffin in the morning but I don't go crazy like I used to. Currently down just over 70 pounds and I feel like I've found something I can keep up.

JaysFan82

Calorie Counting

paperpudding wrote: »

threewins wrote: »

If you share food with a family or whoever, I'd suggest not calorie counting. Imagine not only weighing the ingredients, but weighing what proportion you're having. Unless you want to eat separate food. I guess being single has its advantages. I think everybody should try low carb at least once, just to see what it's like. But don't be surprised if you can't get into it. It's not for everyone, or anyone at every point in their life.

Why? What is the point of trying something just to see what it is like?

If we are happy with how we are eating now and it is nutritiously balanced and we are losing/maintaining weight as desired, why just randomly try something else??

as to your other point, I didnt find calorie counting while sharing food with others hard - weighing the ingredients than weighing my portion is pretty easy using the recipe builder

If my gf is cooking supper I make her send me the recipe ahead of time so I can log everything. You're correct. It's not that difficult . I log the vast majority of my food the night before. Just make it a routine.