Diet recommendations???

Try to avoid the high cal junk food. The first line of defense is keeping it out of the house.

Increase your protein and fiber. This will keep you full longer.

Reduce the bready stuff, noodles, cakes, pies, candy, soda.

Eat eggs, beans, meat, vegetables, fruits. Make homemade dishes. Make chilli or soups like split pea. If you eat out, cut down on it.

You'll be able to fit more healthy foods in your day if you cut down on the junk food/processed foods. Try to treat your intake like a budget. Spend wisely.

Replace high cal with lower cal. Drink light beer, replace cow's milk with 30 cal unsweetened almond milk. Watch your portions. Make it a permanent lifestyle change.

When you feel the urge to eat, ask yourself "Am I hungry or am I bored?

View food as nutrition, not a boredom alleviator or friend. It's seriously not your friend if it's making you fat.

Fight back!

There is NOTHING wrong with drinking regular beer or dairy milk.
I don't drink but I've been told that light beer tastes like urine.
And plenty of people have had success drinking craft beer and full fat dairy milk.

You are more likely to succeed if you continue consuming the foods/drinks you enjoy.
Everything in moderation.

Depends upon how many beers you want....or how much milk you drink.

Note I said moderation.
IIFYM.

Well, the OP wrote this and she's asking what has worked for others. I wrote what has worked for me. Also, the older you get, the more strategies you learn to keep the weight off....

Hi Everyone and Happy New Year!

I just joined and desperately want to get on the right track. I have a hefty goal of losing 60 pounds in 6 months. Not going to be pleasant!

The MFP recommends eating 1200 calories a day. My question is what is the best approach to eat those 1200? I'm assuming avoiding junk and processed foods but does anyone know or can recommend an approach to eating these 1200 calories that has worked for you I'd really appreciate it!

pounds lost are pounds lost.

eat clean, count your calories, everything in moderation, and use MFP

Wow that's awesome!

I guess those fad diets are pretty crappy only I found the Weight Watchers plan which does allow for you to eat crappy stuff (cookies, cakes, etc.) just enabled me to still crave those foods. I'd really like to overcome these cravings for crap once and for all because I feel that my hormonal ups and downs throughout the month coincide with craving and eating crap.

What do you guys think about this whole ALKALINE approach to eating?

Don't know anything about the Alkaline approach, but as to eating 'healthier' foods as opposed to 'crap' foods. That depends on the individual. There are many people who can include nothing but fast foods and junk in their diet and lose weight be healthy. They are usually young and very active!
Some people have medical issues, i.e. blood sugar problems, HBP, insulin resistance, autoimmune disorders, hormone imbalances, etc, that find that eating a certain way, or keeping their macros, (protein, fat, carb percentages) in a certain way, or even eliminating certain foods completely, work better for their body.

Very few people have Celiac disease, but many more have a poor reaction to the gluten in wheat. It can cause all kinds of symptoms, and many have found that by eliminating gluten, those symptoms disappear.

Some people are diabetic and must limit their carbs to control their blood sugar. Many more are borderline,or are insulin resistant, and have problems effectively using the sugar in their diets. This can cause weight loss to be slower, as well as other problems. These people need to limit their starchy carb and sugar intake as well.

Some people with autoimmune disorders, or hormone imbalances have found relief by following the Paleo plan, or Atkins plan, which is lower carb, but higher fat. I personally have found that grains and processed sugars cause worsening of inflammation in my body, and cutting back drastically on my starches and sugars makes a huge difference in my pain levels. Less pain means more activity, which means better weight loss results.

And some people have trigger foods. Eating junk carbs make them crave more carbs, which results in going over their calorie limit for the day. Some people can have one donut or one serving of chips, etc, and fit it into their day. Others cannot do that yet, and may never be able to control the portion of certain foods. For those people, certain foods may have to be eliminated completely, at least for awhile.

Try different plans to see what works best for YOU. Something that you can keep with until you reach your goal weight, then transition over to maintenance. You may find something works for a while, then you need to switch to something different.
It often comes down to trial and error.

Losing the weight can be difficult, but keeping it off is the crucial part.

Edit: Post removed

reported

I have been made aware of the rules that I have broken. My apologizes to everyone. I was seriously just trying to give a recommendation.

Thank you.

Losing 10 pounds per month is a pretty lofty goal. Let's do the math...

1 month = (roughly) 4 weeks
10 pounds/4 weeks = 2.5 pounds weight loss per week
1 pound of fat = 3,500 calories.
3,500 x 2.5 pound goal = 8,750 calorie deficit requirement per week
8,750 calorie deficit / 7 days in the week = 1,250 calorie deficit per DAY

Your minimum calorie intake should be no less than 1200 calories to keep your metabolism from shutting down and going into "starvation mode" where it stores fat. Unless your body requires 2,500 calories per day to maintain your current weight, it's going to be damn near impossible to meet a 1250 calorie deficit each day. Good luck doing that for 6 months.

oh it must be the new year..

so lets just get this one out of the way right now..

You will not go into starvation mode consuming 1200 calories a day, or less than that...you would have to eat NOTHING for a prolonged period of AT LEAST 72 hours (probably more than that) to go into true starvation mode...

However, I agree that 60 pounds in six months is a little extreme...I would recommend 1 to 1.5 pound per week loss...

I'm not a newbie, so save me the self-proclaimed expert "advice". Do you really believe that eating less than 1200 calories is healthy? You're preaching for her to buy a book on weight lifting... how will she build muscle mass on less than 1200 calories? Brilliant.

My recommendation:

Lose 1% of your body weight a week.

Eat in moderation ensuring you get in your correct percentages of macro/micro nutrients.

Eat about 20% less calorie than your TDEE.

A.C.E. Certified Personal/Group FitnessTrainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

Thank you for all this great advice! I guess I want to cut out crap (or whatever you want to call it) just because I want my body to be rid of toxins as much as possible so that my next pregnancy and baby can be super healthy. My daughter is almost two and she is super healthy but it's really just lucky because I wasn't as health conscious as I could have been when I was pregnant last. I had horrible morning sickness, gained 75 pounds (30 never came off and I breastfed for 18 months) and was really uncomfortable.

I think because my cravings are largely based around my hormonal cycle (which has calmed down a lot now that I weaned 4 months ago) I want to try and rid my body of those cravings ahead of my next pregnancy when my hormones go wild again.

Just a little story my youngest will be 3 in March so that means I went thru every holiday from Halloween thru New Years and I ate poorly compared to my older daughter and guess what shes just as healthy as her older sister...I understand how you feel and what you want to do but my best advice is to ask a dietician or a nutritionist.... I dont know where you are located but in the US we have whats called WIC. If you can get onto it and theyll give you healthy foods for you and your baby