Diet Plan(s) - What Works Best?

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dratkison120
dratkison120 Posts: 5 Member
edited July 2017 in Food and Nutrition
What diet plan have you found to work the best for you? I have started and restarted over and over. I know it needs to be a lifestyle change but I just feel like that change has to incorporate the most "normal" foods as possible. Thoughts?
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  • rollerjog
    rollerjog Posts: 154 Member
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    one you can stick with for a while
  • jgnatca
    jgnatca Posts: 14,464 Member
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    Just logging your food can help you modify your food choices. I suggest pre-logging a couple times a week to help you make informed choices.

    Check out these foods:
    - a cup of cooked rice
    - A tablespoon of peanut butter
    - A Carl's Jr. burger; anything on the menu
    - A Boston Pizza salad
    - A single serving of prepared cereal
  • JustRobby1
    JustRobby1 Posts: 674 Member
    edited July 2017
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    I eat "normal" foods for the most part, except for perhaps the fact that some people find it strange that I dip fries in my frosty at Wendy's. The diet that works best for you is the one that can be sustainable, and at least for the time being since you are wanting to cut, incorporates a calorie deficit.

    Options as to how you go about achieving this deficit are about as vast as the stars in the night sky. Step one for you is to first calculate your TDEE or total daily energy expenditure. This is the amount of calories you burn per day even in a coma. I suggest you set your activity level to sedentary to allow for some wiggle room. After you have this figured you can then set a reasonable daily calorie limit for yourself. Don't go too nuts or aggressive with this or else it will become increasingly difficult to stick with. You can cut this later on after you get your feet wet.

    TDEE: http://damnripped.com/tdee-calculator/ (note: be honest on this or you will only be hurting yourself in the long run)

    After you have this framework in place, all you pretty much have to do is eat up to your limit of calories each day and don't exceed it. Provided you do this and do not have some sort of rare genetic disorder, you will lose weight. At first, probably a bunch of weight depending on how much you have to lose. There is no critical need to drastically cut foods you like necessarily, but depending on what it is you may well have to change portion sizes. After awhile (and it won't take long) you will become an expert at being able to maximize the amount of food you can eat while still keeping calories where they need to be. The good part? Companies out there who make food are mindful of people like us, and are becoming increasingly adept at giving us more bang for our calorie buck. Halo Top Ice Cream, for example, has been like a gift from God to many of us, and they are the tip of the iceberg.

    The rest is just a matter of planning and consistency. I plan my meals in advance on some days, on others I just sort of go with the flow. After awhile it just becomes the new normal, and sticking to your "diet" becomes as routine as breathing. The only activity I sometimes engage in which is probably not the healthiest is what I refer to as "banking". I enjoy pigging out on occasion, so to accommodate this I will have days where I skip breakfast entirely and then only have a protein bar for lunch so I can have a ridiculous dinner. My most recent banking episode was last week when I went to my favorite burger joint called Fuddruckers. I had a half pound burger with all the trimmings plus a full basket of wedge fries along with hot jalapeno cheddar to dip then in. It was friggin glorious. Did it suck not eating much for the day leading up to it? Yup, it sure did, but the meal that night was totally worth it to me, and I was still under my calorie goal :)

    Stick around MFP, log everything consistency and honestly, and stay in a calorie deficit and the weight loss will take care of itself.
  • CipherZero
    CipherZero Posts: 1,418 Member
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    My personal preference has been shifting to a higher-protein and fat diet (not Keto) by reducing carbohydrates. Adding a literal can of vegetables to my meat-based lunch has been a godsend to keeping me fuller longer on fewer calories. Your mileage may vary.
  • Tacklewasher
    Tacklewasher Posts: 7,122 Member
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    dratkison120 wrote: »
    What diet plan have you found to work the best for you? I have started and restarted over and over. I know it needs to be a lifestyle change but I just feel like that change has to incorporate the most "normal" foods as possible. Thoughts?

    It doesn't sound to me like you want to go low carb or cut out food groups. I was the same, I just wanted to eat less of what I was eating. Took a lot of trial and error to get to that, but I'm down 100 lbs.

    Give it a week or two before starting your diet. In that time, log what you eat, get a food scale and learn to weigh your food. In other words, get a real good handle on what you are eating now and the calories you are taking in. Then see what is really killing you for calories that you can give up forever, it may be nothing but for me it was pop. See where you can't give up a food, but can move to smaller portions, again for me it was buying individual bags of chips. Then see where you can cut back to hit your calorie goals for losing weight.

    Read the stickes in the getting started forums. They have a lot of good information in them.
  • chelllsea124
    chelllsea124 Posts: 336 Member
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    Counting calories. Simple and efficient.
  • headwind2015
    headwind2015 Posts: 69 Member
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    Pick something that you can sustain indefinitely.

    What has worked for me personally, is learning portion control as opposed to a specific diet. When I started with MFP, I didn’t want to alter my diet, so I continued eating as I always have. When I started 3-years ago, I counted every calorie I was eating. I measured, weighed and logged everything. Overtime, I learned what an appropriately sized portion for me looks like. Over a period of 30 weeks I lost 25 pounds and learned portion control. I still ate out with friends, had the occasional soda or beer (I’m not a big drinker of either), and ate out for weeks at a time while on vacation. I was able to lose weight while eating as I normally do. Albeit, I did eat less.

    Learning portion control with my normal diet has made the transition to maintaining my weight easier. After I was done logging, nothing really changed for me. I got back an extra serving or two to help maintain my weight. I have maintained my weight loss for almost 2.5 years now.

    So my advice is to pick something that is sustainable for you.
  • rungirl1973
    rungirl1973 Posts: 2,559 Member
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    The best diet is the one that you will stick with. What works for me may not work for you at all.
  • Ejcejcejc
    Ejcejcejc Posts: 26 Member
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    For me, Ideal Protein (I wanted the technical support and weekly InBody scan). Three products and the rest "real food" so a nice blend. I didn't not need to do more than walk a few days a week. Ketosis is awesome! I've lost over 150 in a year. Feel confident about phasing off and having changed my lifestyle enough. I also keep learning about health and nutrition from reputable sources.
  • kms234
    kms234 Posts: 132 Member
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    The only thing I've been able to stick with is counting calories. I still eat the foods I did before but just not as much and not as often.

    You need to find what works best for you and that may take you down several different paths before figuring it out. Best of luck!
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
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    No specific diet plan works best.

    What worked for me was looking at how I'd been eating, thinking through the ways in which I was overeating, and figuring out easy ways to cut back that wouldn't involve missing much. Intuitively, that meant cutting out snacking, reducing starchy sides as I mostly eat them because they are there and am happy with small portions, keeping vegetables plentiful (if anything adding more) and including them at all meals and sticking with lean proteins for the most part. I realized I had a habit of overusing added fats, so reduced those, but made sure taste was still there, and avoided mindless eating.

    For nutrition, it makes sense to me to make sure meals are built around protein and vegetables, and I do that, but that's not specifically about weight loss.

    I'm currently experimenting with lower carb, as that's what I seem to find a satisfying way to eat and it fits my personal taste preferences, but I didn't low carb to lose (I've been at maintenance for a while) and it's certainly not necessary.

    For me it was important to eat like I meant to go on, and not to feel like I was eating in a diet-y way. I did focus on cooking from whole foods, nutrition, eating locally and seasonally and stuff like that, but that's because I enjoy those things and was doing them before dieting too. I'd say that if you think there are rules you need to follow to lose (besides eat fewer calories than you burn) or One True Diet, you are looking at the wrong sources (and people who claim those things make me angry, as I think they are usually scam artists).
  • Wynterbourne
    Wynterbourne Posts: 2,200 Member
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    I'm down 130lbs by counting calories.
  • OliveGirl128
    OliveGirl128 Posts: 801 Member
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    I've only lost weight one time (now a few years into maintenance) and I did an IF protocol, which worked well with for me-but it was just a fancy way of reducing calorie intake. Throughout my weight loss phase, and now maintenance, being mindful of how much I'm eating and controlling my calorie intake has been the foundation for my success.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,876 Member
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    dratkison120 wrote: »
    What diet plan have you found to work the best for you? I have started and restarted over and over. I know it needs to be a lifestyle change but I just feel like that change has to incorporate the most "normal" foods as possible. Thoughts?

    All diets and diet plans work on the same premise...calorie deficiency.

    Personally, I just counted calories and over time I tweaked my nutrition...it was an evolutionary process, not an overnight one.

  • jwcsanders
    jwcsanders Posts: 50 Member
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    I combine counting calories and monitoring my carbs. I don't do Keto anymore, but I do watch how many I eat just because I feel like I loose more when my carb count is low. But ultimately weight loss is down to the basic calories in Vs. calories out. If you burn more than you take in you will loose.
  • SiegfriedXXL
    SiegfriedXXL Posts: 219 Member
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    Counting, counting, counting. When I started, I just ate whatever I had already been eating but I counted the calories and made sure they were within my limits. Now I've started experimenting with higher fat/protein for greater satiation, but not matter what, it'll be counted, even the occasional carne asada nacho meal.
  • MsHarryWinston
    MsHarryWinston Posts: 1,027 Member
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    1...2...3... 3 calories, MOAHAHAHA!

    So yeah, calorie counting. No specific diet plan. Just eating fewer calories than I burn, trying to eat nutrient dense foods, and fitting in yummy treats that I enjoy.

    *And high 5 to anyone that got the Count reference. Ahhhhh childhood.

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