The Woo That You Do (Or Did)
bpetrosky
Posts: 3,911 Member
What bad weight loss plans or advice did you follow before getting onto calorie counting? How did you come to the conclusion they didn't work?
For me:
* Nutrisystem: Under the old shelf-stable plans. Tasted awful, lost a little, but not worth it. Sad cracker pizza.
* South Beach: Worked ok for a few months, but the rules were hard to follow where work had me eating out a lot and/or I couldn't keep the schedule that was recommended. Also pretty expensive for the foods you had to choose.
* 4-hour Body: Just dumb...didn't work
* Various supplements at various times. Never made a difference.
* Weight loss center: Worked great, I did lose and a lot. Also was expensive, and would have been more if I had bought all the bars and supplements and other stuff they peddled. I also realized I was eating extremely low carb and low calorie and that made me feel like crud. I felt much better once I re-upped my carb level.
While I was doing the weight loss center plan I started using MFP and realized I could still make progress while eating more than their mail plan recommended (same time I upped the carbs). After the plan, I didn't need to follow their recommendation anymore but kept with MFP.
For me:
* Nutrisystem: Under the old shelf-stable plans. Tasted awful, lost a little, but not worth it. Sad cracker pizza.
* South Beach: Worked ok for a few months, but the rules were hard to follow where work had me eating out a lot and/or I couldn't keep the schedule that was recommended. Also pretty expensive for the foods you had to choose.
* 4-hour Body: Just dumb...didn't work
* Various supplements at various times. Never made a difference.
* Weight loss center: Worked great, I did lose and a lot. Also was expensive, and would have been more if I had bought all the bars and supplements and other stuff they peddled. I also realized I was eating extremely low carb and low calorie and that made me feel like crud. I felt much better once I re-upped my carb level.
While I was doing the weight loss center plan I started using MFP and realized I could still make progress while eating more than their mail plan recommended (same time I upped the carbs). After the plan, I didn't need to follow their recommendation anymore but kept with MFP.
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Replies
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Slim Fast in college. The shakes were gross and I didn't understand what a healthy dinner looked like. Not sure I ever lost anything and I didn't learn anything, either.
Recently I found my food diary from the attempt before MFP. It's a hand-written notebook. I understood something about calories, but I was logging a lot of 800-900 calorie days, estimating and eyeballing big time, and didn't stick to it long.6 -
In college, the professor wanted us to try a 1 week fast with coffee enemas, almost crashed my car after 2nd day into an overpass. Professors are scary, I'm informing me soon to be college bound kiddo to be very wary.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w58E2S315a4 3 -
I'm on Nutrisystem now and it's working but then, I like the food and the convenience (since I only cook for myself.)
Oh, man, what didn't I try? Keto, Atkins, Paleo and South Beach failed because I became a really nasty person and I suspect the low carb thing isn't good for the human body, anyway. Veganism failed, or maybe I failed veganism, and Dr. Furhman's ETL diet was the grossest thing ever. I was always sneaking treats, then I would feel bad, which would lead to binging, and repeat. I was a lacto-ovo vegetarian for a while and did well on that but then I became a "junk vegetarian" and gained all of the weight back. A registered dietician put me on an ADA (American Diabetic Asociation) diet but my blood sugar never went down and I was hungry all of the time.2 -
Ouch @queenliz99. Glad you didn't have a serious wreck!1
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queenliz99 wrote: »In college, the professor wanted us to try a 1 week fast with coffee enemas, almost crashed my car after 2nd day into an overpass. Professors are scary, I'm informing me soon to be college bound kiddo to be very wary.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w58E2S315a4
Yikes! You gotta watch them profs... They be cray
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I tried Keto/LCHF. I was cranky all the time and also gained weight because as it turns out, I am a human being ENTIRELY capable of eating an entire bag of lil smokies in one sitting.6
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I've tried everything -- most worked short term. I always ended up regaining because I never understood how to really lose weight: calories in / calories out. Once I found MFP, ba-bam! Lost 51-53 lbs. (fluctuations) slowly and sustainably. Maintaining a healthy weight range since February of 2015. I educated myself about BMI, TDEE and how to create a modest deficit by reading the threads here on MFP then researched further to develop the best plan for me.
Short list of diets I sucked at: Atkins, South Beach, Nutri-Systems, Weight Watchers, Jenny Craig.7 -
Phen-Fen 1995 500 calories a day. Cut me some slack - it was for my younger sister's wedding. Luckily I wasn't on it long enough to harm myself.
Medi-fast 2012 - no excuses for that one.3 -
I tried so many ridiculous things before I knew any better that I probably can't name them all.
I didn't understand that weight loss came from a calorie deficit so thought I had to go to extremes just to lose weight. I had no idea that it just came down to calories.
I tried low carb. That was unsustainable and miserable. Lost some water weight and that was it. I didn't know any better and believed all the low carb hype . turns out all I needed was a calorie deficit to lose weight
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Slim Fast, The Special K diet, Cabbage Soup, Green smoothie cleanse, herbal supplements, food combining, Alli.
Weight Watchers and the ADA food exchange plan actually worked for me so I can't say they're woo. I'm here because I'm still not thrilled with WW' s new program
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I don't remember the names of the diets I tried. Most of the time it was silly stuff like cutting out sugar. I had a headache for a week, but I had also given up caffeine at the same time... I didn't think about added sugar versus naturally occurring sugar in fruits and veggies. I once tried a diet that said to eat 30 grams of carbs and 30 grams of protein with each 'meal' five times per day, and then 2 cups of veg. I didn't really know what that meant, so I was eating a slice of bread and a slice of cheese. I was hungry. Seriously misinformed before coming here and learning from so many knowledgeable people. If I could thank them, I would.
ETA: Juicing! And a detox/cleanse! Yup, those both kept my in the bathroom cleansing my kitten which became incredibly raw after a couple days. Dropped weight for sure! Right back on once eating normal foods again. I still like a homemade juice, but prefer a smoothie with protein powder. They are part of my diet, not the whole thing.5 -
Weight Watchers, Super low calorie eating (800 calories or less), LA Weight Loss, Jenny Craig, Atkins, The Zone, Nutrisystem, South Beach and Medifast. Phew! That's a lot. Now I'm just doing CICO. I've lost 31 pounds since November. I have another 15 to go and have recently changed my goal to lose 0.5 a week. I'm learning portion control and I'm not looking for a quick fix. I know this is a lifestyle change. I have days where I slip up, but I don't beat myself up over it. I feel like I'm just in a better place mentally this time.6
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Weight Watchers, Super low calorie eating (800 calories or less), LA Weight Loss, Jenny Craig, Atkins, The Zone, Nutrisystem, South Beach and Medifast. Phew! That's a lot. Now I'm just doing CICO. I've lost 31 pounds since November. I have another 15 to go and have recently changed my goal to lose 0.5 a week. I'm learning portion control and I'm not looking for a quick fix. I know this is a lifestyle change. I have days where I slip up, but I don't beat myself up over it. I feel like I'm just in a better place mentally this time.
It's funny you say you feel you're in a better place mentally. I feel that, too, with calorie counting. The simplest foods are astronomically high in points now on the new WW points system and I feel guilty eating them. Now, I just pre track, weigh/ measure, and eat. No guilt! Weight Watchers did have its place in my life at one point, I just don't think it's a good fit anymore.2 -
I can honestly say that I have never done a diet,took pills, ive done no woo lol. this is the first time I have counted my calories and the first thing I have done to lose weight.I didnt have to work at losing when I was younger,now I do.I knew at a young age that those types of diets werent for me2
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Nice thread!
I lost weight a few times in my 20's by basically starving myself. Not good, and resolved not to do that again.
I was opposed to diet plans, mainly for their commercialism.
However, I put on 30 kg over 15 years, until I happened to learn about MFP from a friend last year.
I've now lost all my excess weight, and am loving being a runner, and am the happiest I've been in my life.4 -
Innocently: Garcinia Cambogia, Shake Weight, some shoes with a weird sole that hurt my feet, and Lean Cuisines
Actually made throw up: Buying sugar free chocolates because they were "healthy" and wouldn't make me gain. I stopped this after eating too much and throwing up in the car. I'm lucky it didn't come out the other way.
Unfortunately, I was able to starve myself for a long time using calorie counting. I had gone from skipping lunch to eating 800 calories a day, with knowing how to accurately log. It was all in a journal I threw out and in an inactive Fatsecret account. My first day or so here is pretty low as well.0 -
Lots of VLCD, I have always went from way over restriction to binging. Never been much for Woo, did fall for the "gluten intolerance" for a while. The one thing I did do that I am lucky didn't kill me was working 12 to 16 hour shifts 6 days a week. I was taking probably 10 or more ephedrine gas station diet pills, and drinking a case of natty light a night. Still not sure how I lived like that for over a year.0
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Thinking running every day meant I could eat whatever I wanted. And I usually did eat around 2,500 calories per day. Not good when you're 5'2"2
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Not so much woo, but when I was younger, I foolishly believed an older coworker who said, "As long as you eat more than 700 calories a day, you'll be fine." Of course, eating that little, I didn't have the energy to exercise or anything, and when I reached my goal weight, I'd also lost a lot of lean mass, and looked like crap. I'm just glad I decided I'd rather weigh more and enjoy life again, rather than continue to eat that way.
Years later, once I learned about TDEE and my real caloric needs, I can maintain easily at 2300, and lose easily (slowly, but easily, which matters more to me for adherence) at 2000.
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I've only lost weight one time, doing alternate day IF, and it worked great for me (just a fancy way of calorie counting). But, back in the day I did go through a phase of experimenting with different woe's because I was trying to find one that led to 'optimal' health, snort. I tried primal/paleo (really got sucked into MDA), vegetarian (gained weight on this one), and then I also did a few months with Dr. F's Eat to Live (which is pretty much vegetarian with extra restrictions). Shockingly, none of these restrictive woes did anything magical for my health or were sustainable past a few months
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