Which Diet?

My personal opinion is that diets are short-term and encourage you to do something that you will eventually have to stop doing, and then you will gain the weight back. Diets are no fun. Diets make me cranky. What worked for me was just cutting my calories down to 1600/1700 a day, exercising some and getting more protein.

You are EXACTLY right that you will experience good results just eating healthily and not eating too much!

The best diet is the one you can do successfully over time. In other words it is a life style not a diet.

I have done a lot of things but over all I have manage to discover what works best for me. That is Intermittent Fasting 16:8, exercise and balancing my macro nutrients .

You need to discover what works for you based on your personality and preferences. It needs to be in a calorie deficit and it need to have balanced nutrition and exercise (if you want to be healthy at the end of the experience and be able to maintain it)

This, exactly!!

I keep telling myself it's a lifestyle change. I'm not dieting, I'm building a healthier lifestyle. I am worth it!!! You are worth it too. I journal journal journal everything I put in my mouth and try to keep that deficit. Some days are a lot better then others, but even after I ate three doughnuts Thursday night, Friday, I ate under my calories, exercised a bit extra and everything has been fine since.

I really think that just calling how you eat, a "diet" undermines efforts to be healthier because of the implication that how you're eating is temporary and for me, I don't want this to be temporary.

...The question I have is, are any of these diets any good? I know they have high success rates but is it possible you can lose weight by just eating healthily and not eating too much? ...

These "diets" may have a high success rate for losing, but most of the time, they have a low success rate for keeping the weight off permanently. That's because oftentimes, they are restrictive and unsustainable.

DO NOT DIET. Make this a lifestyle change. Whatever you do to take the weight off needs to be something you are willing to keep doing for the rest of your life. Otherwise, once you stop the diet, and revert back to your normal habits, the weight comes right back on.

Another key is to let the weight come down slowly, so you can adjust gradually and don't starve yourself and end up bingeing. There should be NO rush. It took years to put this weight on and it may take years to get back down to goal. People get so frustrated when the weight doesn't fly right off instantly.

And if you have bad days and set backs, don't freak out and throw in the towel. That would be a waste of the progress you have made so far. Just pick back up and keep going the next day. Eventually the good habits will stick and it's the major trends over time that count, not the bad days here and there.. Take your time, enjoy the journey, and as long as the overall trend shows it's moving in the right direction, it's still an on-going success story.

Instead of dieting, why not try the MFP method? It amazes me how many people come to MFP and then don't even use the system. It worked perfectly for me, slowly, but surely. And I've been maintaining at goal for over 2 years now...Good luck! :drinker:

For me calorie counting is the only way I can lose weight. Start by checking the labels of everything you eat, work out how many calories you eat on an average day and then make a plan to reduce it every day. It's recommended that women eat 1800 - 2000 calories a day to maintain a healthy weight so aim for that. The trick is to reduce your weekly calories by 3500 to lose 1 lb, that's 500 calories a day, ideally through lowering calorie intake and exercise.

If you need to be made accountable for your weight loss then weight watchers are great, but it doesn't work for everyone. I would say, learn how many calories each food contains and make healthier choices. Like other have said its a lifestyle change not a diet, make sure you include some of your favourite foods so you're less likely to cheat.

Good luck, it's a hard journey but the results will be worth it.

All you need to lose weight:


A food scale so you can weigh everything before you eat it.

Measuring cups and spoons so you can measure out everything before you eat it.

The willingness to log all those things you weighed, measured, and ate in your food diary.

To use your food diary to meet your calorie goal every day.


And if you are feeling extra hungry you can "burn to earn" more calories. Go for a walk, burn some calories, log it in your exercise diary, eat them back.

You will be very surprised by how easy it is once you start doing it!

I agree with most people here diets don't work. You have to change your eating habits. I was on WW and it worked but like everything else you have to stick with it.

I did come across a "diet" that does work. It's not really a diet it's more of a lifestyle change but you are built up to it. If interested in the name just send me a note as I don't want it to appear that I am advertising. The basic concept is this.

for 17 days you eat chicken, turkey, fish as much as you want (no shellfish or large fish like shark) lots of veggies (not squash or potatoes etc just low carb veggies), green tea, lots of water, probotic yogurt, and 2 servings of fruit before 2pm (no fruit juice, no melons low sugar fruit) with 20mins of exercise a day. (I lost 17lbs)

Next 17 days you do the above every other day, then on off days you can have lean beef or pork, shellfish and complex carbs before 2pm like oatmeal, whole grains but no breads(I call them fat days/skinny days) with 20mins of exercise (lost 5lbs)

3rd set of 17 days you can eat other complex carbs like whole grain breads, squash etc with basically what you want to eat from above. Staying with carbs before 2 and lean cuts of meat the difference now is portion control of the meats and carb...and 40mins of exercise a day (but by this time (lost 2 lbs)

4th set of 17 days you eat good healthy choice Monday to Friday keeping carbs before 2, drink green tea etc. 40mins of exercise a day but on the weekends you can eat 4 of your favorite meals...pizza, french toast, bacon, whatever you choose but only 4 meals and continue with exercise.

The 4th set is a maintance time if you have reached your goal...if not you can go to the first set of 17 days and repeat until you hae reached your goal. I will be frank tho...the 2nd set is hard right off....I faltered big time. So what I did this time after starting all over after a bit of a break was this I did the complete cycle but now that summer is here I eat meat (lots of it) lots of fresh fruit and veggies, hardly any other carbs but fruit and the occasional piece of whole grain bread. But I have totally cut out refined sugar, flour etc. I was surprised as how good I felt on this eating plan. Energy galore, sleep better and I don't crave carbs hardly at all.

I now replace my breakfast with a smoothie (lots of complex carbs like flax seeds etc fruit veggies green tea) a protein heavy lunch and supper with fresh veggies and maybe a bbq'd potatoe etc.

Eat a healthy and well balanced diet and learn the art of moderation.

I agree with everyone else: diets are short term, but changing your lifestyle will benefit you for the long term.

I know it's not much, but I've lost 22 pounds by changing little things here and there. I eat a cookie almost every single day, and if not a cookie, I have a chocolate bar. You can still eat delicious things as long as they fit into your daily allotted calories (or your macros, if you're tracking that as well). Hell, last weekend I had pizza and ice cream and candy and still lost weight because I fit those things into my calories. I don't even exercise that much... I started doing Couch to 5K but besides that, no gym. Don't discourage yourself with all the things you THINK you're supposed to do. Focus on doing things you ENJOY and will make you happy. What is life if you can't eat donuts or cookies? Maybe not eat a dozen donuts, but maybe 3 per week can suffice. Good luck and I hope things work out for you!

Fill out your MFP profile with the appropriate weekly weight loss goal for the amount you need to lose. Start tracking now. Weigh and measure your food. Eat the things you like, just not all at once. You can make just about anything fit into your calorie goals.