Tell me it's possible without any special diet? :(

I'm doing it daily!!! Just follow the guidelines...log your food and exercise!! It will work!!

to chime in with all the others... i don't follow any special diet. i take it day by day. eat what i like and what i want within reason and exercise.

No gimmicks or brand name diets or even brand name exercises here. I eat pasta almost daily. Bread daily. Baked potatoes a couple times a week. Cheese. Sometimes chocolate. Half a pizza once a week or more. Stuff like munchie bar foods every few weeks (SW Eggrolls, boneless buffalo wings, bacon cheeseburgers). Just balancing out what's good for me with what I enjoy. Thankfully, the two often overlap. Chicken and vegetables can be made so many delicious ways. :happy:

Exercise is as basic as it gets... running and lifting weights. No fancy expensive complicated programs and no dvds with celebrities on the cover or corny names.

I am feeling a little discouraged; it seems everywhere there are new and "amazing" diets that help others lose weight so quickly:

- Atkins
- Keto (pretty much the same)
- Paleo (Okay, another similar one)
- South Beach
- Jenny Craig

yada yada....

Please tell me there are people out there who have lost their weigh by just watching their foods, eating a little less, and exercising??! *sigh*

I don't know if I can keep up with technical diet rules.

I lost 19lbs by watching my food and exercising more. It's taken a few months but it's something I plan to continue even when I reach my goal weight.
I don't starve myself - I eat chocolate, cheese, biscuits (not all at the same time) but all IN MODERATION. Those last 2 words are key words in my dictionary.

It is possible

Special diets are no good unless you plan on following them for the rest of your life.

Tracking my food and exercising was the best thing for me. Very eye opening to see how many calories I had been eating, how little protein I was getting, how much sodium, how little water, etc, etc. Knowledge has been on of my best tools throughout this whole process!

Knowing what I am eating calorie-wise, and daily protein/carbs/fat totals.
Knowing how much I am burning through exercise.
Knowing my BMR and TDEE and eating in between those numbers - not too much, but not too little, either. http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/654536-in-place-of-a-road-map-2-0-revised-7-2-12

I eat at home-cooked meals most of the time, and a good variety of fish, poultry and beef, as well as fruits, veggies, grains, etc. I also still drink alcohol, eat pizza, burgers, cake and ice cream, etc - just not every day! :bigsmile:

This is my life, not a temporary diet plan -I love food, celebrations, birthday parties, camp outs, holidays - things come up where foods available, or that I just want to enjoy, don't fit into some "special diet". So I enjoy those treats, work them into my daily calories, exercise regularly with weights/strength training & a bit of cardio, and I'm feeling fit and healthier than I have in years. I've gone from a size 12 to a size 4/6 - body is still changing as fat continues to come off, even though at this point my scale doesn't change much.

I have lost weight with no special diet. I eat what I want as long as it fits in my macros for the day. I did cut out processed foods, white carbs and sugar. But, I feel better without it.

Eat less, move more...that is it.

AGREED!

For me, a diet is something extreme to the "norm" you do to lose weight " I've tried my fair share, however the one and only thing that WORKS (im my humble opinion) is counting calories and exercising. NOW i hear you all shout but thats a DIET!! Kinda, however I have found in order to lose weight you need to change your lifestyle anyway.

"We are what we do... Not what we did. Now if we continue doing what we used to do, we can't be upset that we are still what we were, simply because we're still doing what we did!"

Anyway, I've found to be healthy, you have to BE HEALTHY!!!! Clever huh?!? Seriously though, change your lifestyle, eat more food that is good for you and less crap and exercise. Be strict whilst losing the weight but once it's off, allow yourself the odd drink or meal out with you better half. The key is balance, I've failed before and gained it all back, but now I see food and exercise differently.

I guess it's hard for a lot of people to admit that you do have to change the way you are to be successful at this, but you really do, there is no shortcut, not in my opinion anyway.

In the words of the hodgetwins "this is all just advice, do what the F&*K you wanna do!!" :laugh:

Well if someone wants them to go on a program than let them i mean any program can work as long as you stick to it... But none of those diets that you listed are proved by doctors and they hardley have any nutrition or support behind them/

Low carb diets have tons of nutrition behind them. It's about getting your carbs from veggies and eating meat.

"Diets", per se, don't seem to work for me. I have found that if you eat a really good breakfast with lots of protein, carbs, etc., then I don't snack nearly as much or I don't get hungry as much before lunch. I try to just watch what I eat and not eat too much of it, and if I'm craving something sweet, I eat just a little bit of it. Also, I try to get in my 64oz of water a day. To do my water, I get the different flavored Krystal Light especially the strawberry, orange and banana drink - similar to Krystal Light - only place I can find that is at Wal-Mart though. I've finally lost 6 lbs this past week, and I haven't done that in a while! I had been at a standstill for so long! But try not to do what I did today, I ate a very good breakfast but then didn't take time out to eat lunch so then I get the shakes and could eat anything under the sun but I did good, just eating a really good salad. So just keep in there, and try starting out your day by eating a very good balanced breakfast where you get most of your carbs in first thing in the day. Let me know how it goes!