what diet plan has worked for you?
Mark_Joseph
Posts: 101 Member
I just want some insight or information about what diet has worked for you? What did you do? How did you it And if you were able to lose weight or gain? In contrast you can also talk about what didn't work for your or provide reasons why "x diet" didn't do so well for you and etc.
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Tracking calories.
Eating an appropriate amount of calories per specific goal.11 -
The only diet that ever worked for me long term, was my diet. I've lost weight as intended, but because any diet that provides a calorie deficit does that, the problem is keeping it off afterwards, I'm surprisingly maintaining my new weight by eating everything I like in moderation.
Following a "healthy" diet of "lean protein lots of greens and plenty of fiber", eventually made me so fed up that I couldn't stop overeating.
That's about it, I think.13 -
I don't follow any diet plan. I eat the foods I like in quantities that fit my calorie and macro goals, focusing primarily on nutrient-dense items but always leaving room for treats. I've found that cutting certain foods out eventually led me to binge on them.9
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IIFYM (If it fits your macros) or Flexible Dieting is working well for me, I eat at a calorie deficit of approximately 500 cals per day, I average it out over the week, I try to aim for 25% Protein/30% Fat/45% Carbs although I often end up with higher fat and lower carbs. I have been at this for around 8 months and have lost around 35lb and significantly improved my fitness. I am aiming to hit my first goal of 70lb loss around January 2018.
Really low carb wouldn't really work for me, I love bread, cereal and potatoes too much
The biggest changes I have made have been meal planning/prepping I don't have millions of tupperware boxes but I do plan out what I am going to eat for the week ahead and batch cook/prep my work lunches and a couple of dinners. This has stopped me from heading out to the local deli for extremely calorific sandwiches & snacks.
On weekends I have naturally ended up doing IF 16:8 because I tend to have brunch rather than seperate breakfast/lunch which gives me a bit more to play with for social engagements - drinking/eating out.
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Eating the correct amount for my height, weight and activity level and ensuring that 75-80% of my intake is from naturally nutritious foods.5
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It greatly varies based on the person as well as their goals. Would you mind telling us a bit about yourself and your goals? Height, Weight, I am assuming you are a male based on your username?, goal weight.
To answer your question though personally I hate the word "diet", when I was starting to lose weight (I lost 80 pounds) I made a lifestyle change meaning a permanent change I can keep up with for the rest of my life. I personally don't do meal replacement shakes (unless it is a shake or the McDonalds drive thru) and keto did not appeal to me because I could not sustain that diet for the rest of my life, I enjoy carbs and believe that they are part of a balanced diet. How I lost the weight is 1) Never deny yourself anything (within moderation). if ice cream is your favorite food and you swear it off that is a sure fire way to end up eating an entire pint of Ben and Jerry's in one sitting. As long as you are within your calories goal let yourself have that serving of ice cream. 2) I upped the veggies in my diet, I try and have half a plate of veggies for lunch and dinner 3) I switched from simple carbs on complex, there are tons of fun ways to make quinoa and lentils! 4) Make sure you are accurately measuring your food and portions not to beat a dead horse but a food scale is your best friend! 5)I try and limit my added sugar. I find I have more energy and lost more belly fat when I limited my added sugar. It involves a lot of label reading but I think it is worth it. I don't bother counting natural sugars.
Keep in mind though, these worked for me, I am sure we are very different people with different goals and it is all about finding what works for you!
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All plans, regardless of their claims, work because of a calorie deficit. You can go with the simple calorie tracking method (what MFP is designed for), or you can opt to go with a designed diet plan to give you a bit more structure.
For me-I did alternate day IF (intermittent fasting) for my weight loss phase and it worked well, even though it's one of the more extreme plans out there. Then, for the transition period between my weight loss phase and maintenance I did 5:2IF, which is a more laid back version of alternate day IF, and now a few years into maintenance I continue to do an IF protocol, 16:8IF, as part of my weight management plan. IF works well with my lifestyle and it helps me with my calorie adherence. I also currently follow the DASH diet protocol, as a guideline for a balanced and healthy eating plan.
I don't have anything to contrast this with, since I've only lost the extra weight one time and I'm now maintaining the loss.1 -
What works for me is staying within calorie goals while eating delicious food that satisfies my hunger. What works for me is avoiding after supper snacking because once I start, I have difficulty stopping. Note, none of these is the "magic diet" you might be hoping to find.
Yes, I eat less bread because it's calorie dense and hard for me to stop eating once I start. And since I'm eating less bread, I'm eating less butter. But these are not "rules" or a "diet" I follow. They are just tactics that are helping me control how many calories I consume.
I've lost just shy of 8 pounds in the last 30 days eating TDEE-500, 21 pounds overall ... so far.4 -
Calorie tracking and eating foods I would normally eat has been the most successful, easiest and sustainable. Increasing activity level gradually. Moderation. Losing weight because I deserve to be healthy and live a full life.
What did not work for me? Ignorance of calorie requirements and the amount I was really taking in/burning, punishing/hating myself for being fat, restrictive fad diets, exercising until I hurt myself.9 -
Just eating a little less and moving a little more worked for me. The only dietary change I made was to increase fiber which helped keep me full longer. I didn't eat a lot of junk while gaining weight though. My diet was already balanced and included plenty of healthy foods. I just at a bit too much of it.6
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I've been following the keto diet. It's interesting for a change to follow macros of carbs/sugars/proteins/fiber as opposed to just what's calorie ridden and sugary. Everyone's body's different of course, but the keto thing seems to work for me the best. Calories play an important role in it too of course but my main focus is the protein and carbs/fiber.
It does me better to cut sugar and such regardless: I stay asleep better throughout the night and wake up easier in the morning.3 -
Love this topic! Thanks for asking. So I've tried: juice cleanses, Weight Watchers, groups at my gym and online, etc. And actually all of them have "worked" until I decided to stop working them.
My current system is to have food targets for 4 meals per day (I.e. XX oz of fruit, XX oz of veggies, XX oz of carbs) and to send my accountability coach my food plan at night for the next day and then to log my food.3 -
5:2 eating pattern helped me stick to a suitable and sensible weekly calorie deficit eating foods I enjoy whilst exercising hard.
In the past trying to stick to an everyday calorie deficit bored and frustrated me. I'm very determined short term but lose patience with feeling restricted all the time so just restricting two days a week suited me well.
In the dim and distance past (before the internet and food labelling...) restrictive diets eating either tiny amounts of food or meal replacements or boring food were just the first yo in yo-yo.2 -
Strictly tracking calories, staying under my calorie goal, and not eating the workout calories back has worked excellent for me for the past month. The weight loss has been so consistent it's surprising!6
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CICO7
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bridgets1978 wrote: »Love this topic! Thanks for asking. So I've tried: juice cleanses, Weight Watchers, groups at my gym and online, etc. And actually all of them have "worked" until I decided to stop working them.
My current system is to have food targets for 4 meals per day (I.e. XX oz of fruit, XX oz of veggies, XX oz of carbs) and to send my accountability coach my food plan at night for the next day and then to log my food.
This is very similar to what I'm doing with the DASH diet-there's different categories, (grains, veg/fruit, fats and oils etc), with recommended amounts and then throughout the day I aim to hit those numbers I love checking off servings as I go through the day (total lists nerd here lol). 0 -
I've gotten the best results from watching my calories/macros because I don't have to avoid any foods.2
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I just counted calories. Along the way I modified my nutrition, but it was just baby steps. I didn't every do some plan or special diet with a name.7
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I am very much a believer in gut flora as helping or hindering weight loss. And the best current evidence suggests fewer processed foods and a very, very high fiber diet. I consume 30 grams of fiber a day.
My breakfast smoothies have 13 grams of fiber. I made a buffalo tempeh salad with ranch dressing for dinner last night. Delicious, satisfying on every level. And 10 grams of fiber.
http://www.newsweek.com/weight-loss-enemy-within-41448310 -
I am very much a believer in gut flora as helping or hindering weight loss. And the best current evidence suggests fewer processed foods and a very, very high fiber diet. I consume 30 grams of fiber a day.
My breakfast smoothies have 13 grams of fiber. I made a buffalo tempeh salad with ranch dressing for dinner last night. Delicious, satisfying on every level. And 10 grams of fiber.
http://www.newsweek.com/weight-loss-enemy-within-414483
30g of fiber really isn't that much? I hit between 40g-50g of fiber a day and it hasn't done anything magical for me....what's a high fiber diet supposed to accomplish?5 -
I have tried 5:2, counting calories, and following a general plan of eating what I want but cutting portions.
In the past, 'cutting back' plus exercise worked well for me, but I couldn't make it work this time. I wish 5:2 would work for me long term, but I found it to be torture and made me obsessive about food which I decided was not a good thing for my mental health. Ditto the counting calories, although I did find it helpful as a 'wake up call' to have a better general idea just how many calories was in stuff I was eating.
This time around I have tried low carb as a way to kick start things, and so far it has worked well (it's only been a week). I don't actually count carbs, I just stay away from processed foods, sugar and grains as much as I can. I have been surprised that sticking to it hasn't been too difficult; in some ways it's easier to just not eat it than try to stick to a small portion and be dying to eat more. Best of luck!7 -
I am very much a believer in gut flora as helping or hindering weight loss. And the best current evidence suggests fewer processed foods and a very, very high fiber diet. I consume 30 grams of fiber a day.
My breakfast smoothies have 13 grams of fiber. I made a buffalo tempeh salad with ranch dressing for dinner last night. Delicious, satisfying on every level. And 10 grams of fiber.
http://www.newsweek.com/weight-loss-enemy-within-414483
I aim for 45g per day. I don't always hit that mark but I'm usually pretty close. I don't count them every day anymore. I consider this a high fiber diet but IDK if I'd say very, very high.0 -
30 grams is a lot when you cap your calories at 1200/day and don't supplement with other fiber sources.
What it accomplishes is shifting gut bacteria from firmicutes to bacteriodetes. Firmicutes are more efficient calorie extractors and thus, inhibit weight loss. This is regardless of CICO. More F and less B, could mean that my body is hit with a full 1500 calories from a bacon cheese burger. Whereas someone with More B and less F could only take a 1200 calorie hit from that same burger.6 -
Mark_Joseph wrote: »I just want some insight or information about what diet has worked for you?
I feel your question is posed incorrectly. Worked for what?
Diet is about what we eat. This is important for our health and moral principles.
How much we eat is about losing weight.
My diet is mostly healthy and includes foods I like.
I eat at a deficit to lose weight.5 -
What works for me is counting calories. I lost ~75 pounds. I eat mostly the same things I ate before. I do try to make an effort to get more protien, but I don't eat anything that I don't like and I don't restrict anything except my portion sizes. I have lost weight before doing low-fat, but it was not sustainable and I gained it all back plus some. And I was sad all the time because I really missed cheese and chocolate. I probably eat some cheese and some chocolate every day. I just keep the portions moderate.4
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What has worked for me:
- An extended period of tracking my calories without judgment or changing anything
- Buying and learning how to use a food scale
- Building a custom spreadsheet to track calories by meal, week, and month
- Weighing myself regularly
- Cutting back on fast food and soda
- Getting religious about packing lunches so I don't buy higher calorie or hard-to-track meals
- Spreading out my daytime eating - not so much multiple meals and snacks as just constant grazing
- Keeping food in the house that I want to eat, so I'm less tempted to go for drive-through or delivery
- My husband getting into cooking several times a week via meal kit delivery subscriptions
- Trying to only eat out twice a week
- Switching from wine to beer and cider (same or more calories but much slower consumption)6 -
No formal diet plan has worked for me because I tend towards obsessive and negative thoughts if I am on a diet.
I eat my regular life food within my allotted calorie budget. I tend to eat mostly nutrient dense food but I allow for some treats occasionally. This makes me happy and works best for me to be closer to my goal of a healthy body than I have ever been before.
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Macro counting and not eating back my workout calories 90% of the time has been the only thing that has worked for me in the long run. The only problem I see having in the future is I hate not knowing how much protein/carbs/fat I'm getting in a day which is why I log. I'm worried if I ever stop logging, that I won't get enough protein/carbs in to keep me going with my progress. That's why I haven't stopped logging except on vacation.
With just plain ol' calorie counting, I wasn't getting all the necessary nutrients as I should have been, and when I lost weight, I lost muscle more than anything.0 -
belly fat is not lost from cutting sugar down or out,its lost in a deficit and comes off where it wants.so if you lost quicker in the stomach area then its due to your genetics.Fitnessgirl0913 wrote: »)I try and limit my added sugar. I find I have more energy and lost more belly fat when I limited my added sugar. It involves a lot of label reading but I think it is worth it. I don't bother counting natural sugars.
Keep in mind though, these worked for me, I am sure we are very different people with different goals and it is all about finding what works for you!
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