What diet method are you using and Is it working for you?

Fairlieboy

5:2. Never dieted but soon to be 60 & 6 stubborn kg over my desired weight even though i go to the gym & eat food, not food products. Grandson asked me why i had a fat tummy! Knowing that 2 years after dieting people are heavier than before. :-( Saw the BBC doco, read the book & decided to try it for my high insulin & cholesterol. Weight loss is a side effect! It's only 2 days a week checking calories so socializing is easy on those other days.

yum2leal

count calories I observe 1,200 then low carb and low sugar. Tried a lot of things before, from going to expensive gyms with trainor, cohen diet, etc but this is the only thing that workd for me. :drinker:

Very hard on the low sugar though. I crave for chocolate but I was able to kick off a lot of things because of that including my ice cream and cake addiction.

Cockney365

I joined MFP maybe two years ago, worked well, then gave up, did WW, gave up. Been back on here since Jan 1st 2013 and lost 17lbs by eating around 1200 calories a day, netball (basketball for girls, for those who don't know) and cardio at the gym 3/4 times a a week. However, I don't seem to have lost any inches and crucially, probably not any body fat. Been researching for a while and it seems that I should focus on losing body fat, rather than just weight. There is a whole article on here somewhere but as of today I have changed my goals in the hope of lowering body fat.

So rather than eat 1200 calories a day (bear in mind the minimum I need to 'stay alive' (BMR) is around 1500-1600 per day), I have upped mine to 1700 per day, as I exercise 3-4 times per week. This represents a 20% reduction of my TDEE, which is 2210, so more than the absolute minimum and less than the maximum. With this I am also going to do kettlebells/FitnessBlender workouts at home and weights at the gym whilst maintaining the cardio (there's an argument about doing less cardio but I do half marathons etc so want to improve my fitness, rather than just lose weight). Set my targets to 45:30:25 carbs:protein:fat and try and make sensible choices. I also try and make sure that the 'net' calorie figure is around 1200 per day. I can't remember why but I know when I initially read a post about it, it made a lot of sense. Maybe it should now be 1700? (If anyone can help me out with this, do let me know!)

My overall aims are to lose not just weight but lower my body fat percentage, fit into the 'normal' BMI range (I know, I know, BMI is not accurate etc), be healthier and look better. I accept this isn't going to be easy and that my weight will fluctuate from time to time but that's life! I'm never going to look like a supermodel BUT I will look and feel better about myself by putting in the effort, allowing room for error, not living and dying by the scales and being realistic. Hope that helps and I hope it works!

Vailara

Diet? Huh? Diets fail sorry.


I prefer to eat properly FULL time rather than for a short time & then gain it all back. I've NEVER been on a diet in my life...not once. I changed my eating habits Feb 2012 & never looked back.

^^^ I suppose it's different for everybody, I think I HAVE to diet to lose weight and keep it off. I've tried just exercising in the past (I gained weight!). I ate reasonably healthily before I started dieting and didn't lose weight (I gained!). Dieting seems to work for me for weight loss (I haven't reached maintenance yet).

I would love to be like you and not to have to diet, and in fact I was like that for many years before I gained the weight and I think it's a healthy way to be if it works. I would love to think that I could stop dieting when I reach goal, but I don't think that's going to be the case. I think some of us will have to be on a diet for the forseeable future.

I know that dieting does often fail, but there doesn't seem to be a better solution!

This time last year I was fat, 14 months ago I was eating junk all day every day & not working out. I never dieted because I didnt see the need to. Once I started eating better & exercising I started losing weight...no diet. Lifestyle change. Diet is short term, I'm in it for life..... so yeah for the rest of my life this is the way I'll be eating. & working out. I didn't get here by thinking short term. As long as I keep eating great & exercising I'll be good. But no way am I classing this as a diet. Nor should anyone else.

Nobody HAS to diet, it's all about making sure you are within a calorie goal & sticking to it for life.

Maybe we're not disagreeing apart from what we call what we're doing? You see dieting as a short term thing, whereas for me, I felt it was something I had to commit to long-term. I was planning and worrying about maintenance before I even started the diet! If I just tried to "eat better" it wouldn't work for me. I have to consciously eat less. I know that isn't the case for everyone. But if you're making sure you are within a calorie goal, then usually you ARE dieting. I can see how calling it a lifestyle change might work psychologically if you think you could only "diet" for a short time. For me, it works the other way round! I feel that I need to keep the food aspect in focus if I'm going to lose weight and keep it off. If I stopped dieting and told myself that I had a healthier lifestyle (I do), I would put weight back on, I'm sure of it. No, I don't HAVE to diet, but it's a choice between that and being fat, and I feel it's healthier for me to be lighter. I know dieting (calorie counting or whatever) does work for some people and I'm hoping it will work for me.

Well done on getting much fitter and healthier as well as losing the weight .

majope

I count calories, maintain a small deficit, eat back my exercise calories, run ~25 miles a week, and take Pilates classes for overall strength. I try not to deprive myself of anything I like, just eat less of it, but aim to meet my nutritional needs before hitting the treats.

domdoan

count calories. dont believe in the low carb diet hype. count your calories and subtract a couple hundred after you figure out your basic metabolic rate. eat more, walk intensely more.

ehdub

i make healthier choices. watch my portions but ultimately dont deprive myself. im willing to trade chips for snap peas but theres no way im giving up the cream in my coffee. and if i HAVE to have something, i get moving to try and burn it off.

_Fatty2Fitty_

I eat 100 calories below my BMR for 6 days a week (So i eat 1500 cals) and then one day a week I eat 3000 cals (spike day)

On the days i eat 1500cals, I also ensure to include some treat that I like, like a chocolate bar or biscuit, because If not I woud give into my cravings! Also it is low-ish carbs these days too, I have 113g carbs and then high carbs on the 3000calorie day!

Seems to be working, I dont have a weighing scales here but I have lost 2in off my waist, an inch from my bust and an inch from my hips!! Success!!

balancedbrunette

Some really good posts on here ...i've learned so much since I joined this site, i used to see diet as something i had to go because i noticed myself getting heavier and thought i'll diet and get back to normal, now i've learned it really is a lifestyle change and i couldn't go back to how i ate before having learned about what my eating habits were doing.

Feel much healthier and happier for it now, thats not to say i won't treat myself cause i do but i've actually learned moderation.

As of now eating between bmr and tdee -15% cut most days as i dont have much to loose now its really just about toning up, making smarter food choices where possible, if i have treats one day i can easily get back on track etc and also changing up my exercise routine every so often..right now i'm doing the 30 day shred as well as kickboxing classes and all seems to be working well. I'm so grateful to this site for what i've learned joining here last year was one of my best decisions. Best of luck with your weight loss.

scookiemonster

I am taking a somewhat more relaxed approach this time around. In the past, I have been a little more intense and obsessive, and while I lose weight in the moment, I gain it back (with interest) in the long term.

This time around, I'm focusing on just logging my foods, keeping it within a reasonable range of my calorie goals, not freaking out if I go over a teeny bit, eating what looks/sounds good to me, but focusing on trying to eat as many fresh, whole foods as possible. I try to get in a few workouts a week, which gets easier as the weather starts to warm up and I want to be outside (the winter is always the hardest for me, because I hate the cold and there are so many less hours of sunlight). I spend a little time each weekend flipping through my collection of recipe books and planning a menu for the week. I'm trying to cut down my eating out to just once or twice a week and cook more of my own food (cheaper, and I have more control that way).

It's mostly about a focus on doing things that feel healthy. The restricting and obsessing isn't maintainable for me, so I'm trying to find something that is.

iecreamheadaches

I'm currently just trying to change my eating habits into healthier habits and exercise. Its slow going, but its going. Slow progress is better than no progress, amirite?

ThinUpGirl

It's the "PLAN, EAT, LOG" diet combined with "MOVE YOUR *kitten*" exercise.


All day errday !

Youwillbeseeinglessofme

I do my best to count calories, make healthy food choices, exercise regularly, get plenty of rest, and try not to freak out when i stumble along way.

i agree with above
I'm eating what I want within reason but within my daily calorie limit

Wetcoaster

In the end weight loss is calories in vs calories out, and obviously macro's play a part. You have to remember...weight loss is a multi BILLION dollar industry. It is all about marketing and getting someone to buy a product that they do not need. How it works; make the task seem impossible, then show someone how easy it is IF they buy your product.

There's no miracle to losing weight, it's all about calorie deficit, and you will wanna manage your macro's to maintain muscle mass while you lose the weight, because you won't gain any muscle, you have to have calorie surplus to gain muscle, but if you get enough food in you and do resistance training, you will minimize muscle mass loss.

I have lost 95 pounds over the last 13 months by reducing calories and weight training/cardio. I eat whatever I want and only weigh myself 1 time a week.

If you want to lose weight, eat less...... fad diets......shakes and miracle home exercise equipment are for the lazy. And believe it or not, from a pure fat loss perspective, the content of your diet is largely irrelevant. if you want to eat only McDonald's go for it...... be warned though, your 500 calorie cheeseburger will not go nearly as far as my 500 calorie meal of 2 huge grilled chicken breasts with a pile of vegetables.

A note about fat. fat doesn't make you fat. calories make you fat. there are 9 calories per gram of fat. there are 4 calories per gram of carbs/protein. don't be afraid of fat. it is just more calorically dense. in fact, you NEED fat to maintain sanity and hormone regulation.

squiggyflop

Well, I try to eat 6 small mini meals a day, but with my new job, its a little hard to do so I settle for three 400 cal meals and some snacks. Really I eat what I want as long as its under 400 calories. There are a lot of frozen dinners in there too, mainly because I cannot cook at work.

BigBrunette

I'm eating whatever I want but staying within my calorie limit. As I'm counting calories, I'm starting to make healthier food choices and drink more water. Baby steps.

0OneTwo3

using "If it fits your macros". works extremely well.

basillowe66

I think if you think of it as a diet, it is only going to last for a relatively short while. i prefer to think of it as a life changing way of eating. If you want to lose weight and that is why we are all here, but some people want to lose a lot of weight and others mybe 10 or 2o lbs or so.
I think you have to eliminate the bad things like sygary desserts, white bread , fast foods etc. My plan is to do it for several weeks and then maybe for 1 day eat one or two things that you cut out. Then go back to counting calories, even on your "cheat" day you have to count calories, you just are going to go over what you usually eat, but you want to know by how much.
The only way you can lose weight, is to eat less than you have in the past and increase you activities.

Basil

MrsSassyPants

TDEE - 20% works perfect. I've lost a bunch of weight and I eat a lot.

This. Works great. or you can go with 15% deficit.

SlimSumday

Counting calories, eating right, working out and walking as much as I can.