Diet Tips that Never Worked For Me

always weigh your bacon on your bathroom scale

I am laughing out loud reading this. For years I blamed my weight gain on eating late at night due to music work and eating after shows. I have been using MFP for 4 months and logged everything. Surprise! Eating late, early, whatever makes no difference. I lost weight or maintained during show weeks by being careful. Duh!

Myth 2.accordong to MFP, playing violin burns up loads of cals. No it does not!! Wish it did! Happy new year peeps and a huge thanks for all the support on here.

The "don't snack while preparing food" rule. If I'm preparing a healthy lunch or dinner, and I snack on bits of raw veggies, fruit etc, what exactly is the problem? I swear some people act like cutting out the snacking on ingredients is going to magically make me drop 20 kilos a month.

"If you're following the plan we gave you, and gaining instead of losing, you're not following the plan."

I was on some medications with side effects including weight gain and thyroid issues as a kid for bipolar disorder. I tried several times to follow my doctor's plans for me, but they didn't work, so I decided to force myself to accept being fat and stuffed my face with junk, because one of the benefits to being fat is being able to eat as much as you want, right? In high school I weighed in the 350 range.Then one day I got too old for my state's healthcare coverage, went off the pills, and lost a single dress size with no effort. Thanks for not talking to each other, MDs and Psychiatrists!

my childhood doctor who told me to lose weight I'd have to eat a bowl of cereal for breakfast, an apple for lunch, and a salad for dinner. are you freaking kidding meeee? what kind of pediatrician encourages eating disorders? GTFOH!!! :mad:

1. Everything in moderation. It may be ok for some but not for me!! You give something sweet in the AM, I am set up for a day of craving and usually a bad day. I'm better off completely abstaining from sweets, than having a little. I don't have the self control to sample. I had about 8 years of unsuccessful trying to lose weight, until I figured this out!!!

2. Don't weigh every day. For me weighing every day is like tracking my food. Sure there are bad days, sure there are good days, but it keeps me motivated and on track!

3. And the most controversial, Fat is bad for you!!! I say bull****. I increased my fat and I'm finally losing and feel wonderful.

Most diet plans I've found are unnecessary - healthy eating, low carbing, paleo, vegetarianism etc etc. Fair enough if you can't process wheat or don't like eating animals but if you can eat anything, then eat anything. Calories in < calories out is the only thing that I've found matters.

That said, go easy on the salt and sugar. And eat healthily. These things are good for you if not good for your weight!

"Just leave a bite on your plate at every meal."
"This makes me unhappy. I do try to leave the last few bites if I'm truly full, but to deliberately waste that last bite... no."

I don't like that simply because it's wasting food - I'd just cook less.

""Close the kitchen after 6:00 pm (or 8:00 or other set time)."
Also makes me unhappy. I am far more likely to have cravings, eat more than I should, and feel bad about what I eat if I try to impose this on myself. Now I have a meal in my diary called "late snack" and I enjoy it very much and keep in my calorie goal."

I eat late into the night - I just save some calories to eat later; I've found it easy to make sure I don't eat over 1000 calories before dinner.

""It's best to exercise in the morning."
I think that's been debunked and most people advise to exercise whenever you can, but I used to hear it a lot. I forced myself to get up early to exercise for weeks at a time throughout my life but I could never sustain it because waking up early makes me VERY unhappy."

Still not sure about this - I just do it, anyway.

""Reward yourself with your favorite food if you do well for several weeks/meet a goal, etc."
I still eat all my favorite foods that aren't terrible, so I don't feel deprived or focus on FOOD as a reward. Some stuff I've just had to cut out. If I were to reward myself for losing a pound with a trip to Taco Bell or a sugary cake I would backslide so hard I'd have whiplash."

I don't have a problem with this - I'll have a cheat meal once a week with the family.

""Only eat when you're hungry."
This one sounds very logical, but if I wait until I'm very hungry I don't make great choices. Besides, my hunger signals are pretty messed up. I've been watching the calorie count and eating small meals throughout the day to meet my goal; sometimes that means eating when I'm not hungry or before I really feel hungry. It seems to be working."

I'm always hungry. Healthy food just makes me feel empty. So I've got used to eating my calories in a very matter-of-factly manner and getting used to the hungry feeling.



I feel like I'm on a one-man crusade to contradict myself by letting people know it's fine to eat crap to lose weight but really you shouldn't eat crap. :bigsmile:

One of the most important things I remember for myself is this: Do it the way I've been doing it. I'm still adjusting to life with Type 2 Diabetes, so I actually DO have to eat every couple of hours, but it's small amounts, not gigantic portions. I have to make sure my blood sugar level doesn't dip too low into the danger territory.

I've never really followed diet tips because the majority of them DO NOT work for me. Best rule of thumb: If your doctor and/or dietitian is trustworthy, listen to him. Most importantly, listen to your own body. What works for one will more than likely not work for someone else.

Drink more water, it will make you feel full! Or, if you think you're hungry, drink water first because there's a good chance you're actually just thirsty!

Nope... I can totally tell the difference between hunger and thirst. And, my stomach will continue to growl, even full of water.

Exactly. :ohwell:

low carb drove me bananas. if i try it again i will need to have a solid plan and prob. live by myself
(i have 3 kids in grade school)

eat the cake then run on the treadmill

after the cake i'm not motivated, and sit on my *kitten*. which just spials to other bad things.

in the past cal counting hasn't worked for me.
I get so frustrated having a hard time figuring out how many cals are in
the healthy meals I made myself, bu feeling encouraged to eat boxed foods
bc there's an easy cc on the box.

trying to make this round different by using mfp.
very easy to track food on here comparitively.
so hopefully it sticks.

sometimes it does work for me to just focus on counting cal burned
bc then I'm still careful about my portions and choices,
but long term it won't work

still trying to figure out what i'm going to do these special weeks of the month
2-5 days of the month wanting to eat the cabinet doors and i've undone my
progress for the month already. Ah!
bout the only thing that seems to help is eating mountains of
legumes bc they are insanely filling, but lately don't want to ever eat them.