How many diets have you been on and what worked best?

pamital

I've been on a few... I think I've done weightwatchers about 10 times! I actually enjoy eating healthily and get right into it. However I usually get bored and impatient!
I've done the cambridge diet. That went very well so I'm not going to knock it but it really is a diet where you MUST go through the plans in stages ie, re-introduce foods in stages. I didn't.
But I did keep it off for a long time but since I went on nightshift 3 years ago, my eating habits got to the shocking stage!

Anyway...back to the healthy eating which I am loving and I'm enjoying making home-cooked meals. I was a ready meal fan but no more! This time, I'm the boss of this and I'm not weighing myself in front of someone and feeling ashamed. I know if I get a zero weight loss 1 week, I won't be embarrassed.

Just wanna see what other people have done and what works for them.

Scoobies87

Slimming world was brilliant for me. I lost 16pounds on it. Then I went to University and put it all back on again..Cant be bothered to stick to red and green days anymore though!

Enigmatica

I lost count years ago but I can say for sure that none worked for more than a few weeks. I finally realized that the whole concept of "diet" just doesn't work for me. For one thing, I've spent my entire adult life in a constant state of the adolescent rebellion I never had, so trying to follow anyone else's set plan of "eat this amount of this food" starts a mental war in my head real quick.

Another thing is that I won't eat stuff I don't like, and I won't eat stuff I consider unhealthy. That killed a lot of diet attempts too.

What finally worked was when I grasped the concept of calories in vs calories out, and set up a way to track it and stay in a sensible deficit. Long before joining MFP I just created an Excel spreadsheet, figured food and exercise calories with the help of a few websites, and dropped from 215 --> 125 lbs in 18 months.

That way I was able to choose foods I liked; I made my own rules so I didn't have the rebellion thing going on, and I found that I actually enjoyed beating "the numbers" day after day.

MFP allows me to do the same thing but with a much pretty, fancier interface

whimsy38

I gave up on "diets". I did ok with WW the first time but not the 2nd. Reading "you on a diet" changed everything. I lost so much I could shop in the "regular" section for the first time in 10 years. It provides principles for eating for life.

vallejos6

When I started my weight loss journey, I started with WW, but it didn't work for me. I think it was just too open ended, and I suspect that if I had started with MFP at that time I wouldn't have been successful either as it would have just left me with too many choices. When I started, I needed more guidance, more structure to help me get a handle on not just HOW MUCH to eat, but also WHAT to eat. I started on the South Beach Diet and it clicked for me. I loved the emphasis on whole foods, tons of veggies, and that it still let me eat food that tasted GREAT. Now, I'm not talking about the branded crap food you see in the super market, I'm talking about the book written by Dr. Agatston. I don't do a super strict SBD now, but I still follow most of the principals pretty closely. But, I think what made it successful for me was that I didn't approach it as a diet, but as a way to teach me how to eat healthy for life. If you are someone who needs the structure of a "diet" I really think it's one of the better ones out there.

~~Veronica