What has been the MOST successful for you?

DulceDollie

When it comes to diet--counting calories, low carb, clean eating, Weight Watchers, paleo? You get the idea. What has worked best for you? Share your story.

cmriverside

Calories.

likitisplit

Eating enough. High intensity cardio.

AddieOverhaul

Moderation and increased activity level.

nvpixie

Always counting calories and eating lots of veggies.

Crochetluvr

Lowering carbs and increasing exercise.

Charweezie

Counting calories! In the first 2 months (started Jan. 2012) I lost 10lbs .. nicely.. 1lb per week.. just like it said.. but i have to admit.. March was slow.... only 1lb lost.. but i can totally see the changes in my body.

ysienkiewicz

Tracking my food (calories in vs calories out.)

greenmonstergirl

Atkins

magpie0

Eating more protein and lifting while losing weight so I minimize muscle loss even with a large deficit.

NYCNika

Moderate calorie deficit and regular running.

neretete

I hve been successful in the past with Weight Watchers. This time around I am using South Beach. It's better for me because your body really doesn't WANT to cheat. You lose most of your cravings. And since I have a bit of a food addiction issue, diets that allow me to eat bad foods make it all too easy to get off track. But whatever you choose, tracking your food is a MUST!

RunForChai

--Good Quality Calories [organic, whole foods, not processed]
--Cut way back on carbs [wheat, corn, potatoes....]
--Lots of healthy protein for breakfast [eggs, lean turkey bacon]
-Frequent high protein, high quality snacks throughout the day
-Recording food daily
--weighing in daily [but not recording the weight changes for a few days until it stabilizes and seems to stick]

Love!

Anthonydaman

Calorie counting, and cutting off my night time snacking

tatd_820

Staying under the calorie goal that MFP set for me and exercise!

ldrosophila

portion control

montana_girl

For me... Weight Watchers. Because the program taught me how to make small changes, eat healthy, but still enjoy the occasional indulgence. And thanks to my awesome WW Leader (been attending her meetings for nearly 9 years now), I stuck with my weight loss journey even though I gained 30 pounds back after losing 80 and was going through a lot of emotional family drama. The meetings were essential for me because of the support of the leader and other members.

So even though I now count calories instead of points, I still follow the program and attend meetings every week. I will probably never go back to counting points (once I got to Lifetime I struggled finding the right balance, calories in/calories out works better for me), but find the meetings informative, motivational, and inspiring.

Sure... WW doesn't work for everyone, but I lost over 100 pounds and kept it off for 3 years. And if going to the meetings helps me stay at goal, then I will continue to go for the rest of my life. :drinker:

krickeyuu

Not making any drastic changes or cutting out any foods, just eating less of what I was already eating. Paying attention to macros: Increasing my protein and fiber made me feel full longer and cutting back on sodium allowed me to get off my HBP meds.

deb3129

Eating all the whole food, plant based stuff that I want and moving more.

highervibes

Paleo/Primal. I'm loving the way I feel eating way more fat than protein and carbs. Cravings are gone, and I'm losing at a rate of about 1 - 1.5lbs/week. For me personally, it's way easier to go without the crappy carbs then to have them "in moderation".

zyxst

A combo of portion control, keeping a food diary, and my Fitbit.

Timshel_

Moderation, moderation, moderation.

I count calories as a general guidlelines and just do things in moderation. I do eat healthier, choosing more often to eat fresh fish, lean chicken, fruits veggies and such over sugary and fatty foods, but I still enjoy those as well. Again, all in moderation.

Adding HIIT and strength training is also key though.

Sarge516

Working out hard & often, and eating clean within my calorie "budget". I don't believe you can truly be successful by diet alone, you must exercise, and to me that means cardio and resistance training (weights etc.).

DopeItUp

Eating at a moderate deficit. Exercising consistently. Drink beer every day. Formula for success.

japanluv21

I do a 17ish hour fast every day for about a month now and i've lost 10 pounds. I've also been eating very low carbs or sometimes none all day, and have excersised only a little ,since i dont have much time

Sarauk2sf

Eating at a moderate deficit. Exercising consistently. Eating ice-cream every day. Formula for success.

Fixed it for you

PikaKnight

Eating at a moderate deficit. Exercising consistently. Drink beer every day. Formula for success.

^This..minus the beer. I do make sure to include the pop tarts, ice cream, pizza and other goodies in moderation though

pastryari

Eating at a moderate deficit. Exercising consistently. Eating ice-cream every day. Formula for success.

Fixed it for you

QFT.

albertabeefy

For me, several factors:

1) A clean, ketogenic diet (I'm diabetic, it's best for me regardless of the fact I used to be 120lbs overweight. I've been ketogenic for about 28 months now and am healthier than ever.)

2) counting calories. (Some think you don't need to watch calories on keto diet - I think that's 'crap', to be polite.) I'm more OCD about calories than most - it works for me.

3) Both HIIT and resistance training, and lots of it. Regardless of whether I'm in a mass-gaining or diet cycle, I workout a minimum of 60 minutes a day (typically 90 minutes during my diet phase) 6 days a week.

4) continuing to enjoy things that make me happy: Full-fat ice cream, sugar-free jello with whipped cream, low-carb cheesecakes, etc. There's no point in denying ourselves.

Yanicka1

Moving more, eating less and having 2 cookies everyday.

sweetbippy

Atkins. Lost 50 lbs. I know some people hate it, but it sure does work.