My experience: CICO vs. P90x vs. Whole30 vs. Keto vs. OMAD

Hypsibius
Hypsibius Posts: 207 Member
edited December 20 in Health and Weight Loss
Happy to say I've hit my target weight and I'm doing great! After realizing I was a solid 60-70+ pounds overweight, I tried a lot of different things the last few years to get back on track, with more yoyo-ing than I would like. But I've finally hit a balance the last year.

Here's what I've discovered. For real weight loss, a mixture of low-carb and intermittent fasting is the best long-term solution.

CICO + American Diet: Nobody is denying there is a basic scientific truth to CICO, but humans are not bomb calorimeters. The phrase "IIFYM" is mostly garbage (or was for me) and builds obsession around food/counting and guilt around food. You may lose weight, but if you're like me -- and you're forced into a sedentary lifestyle for months due to injury -- you'll just be hungry and tired all the time if there's too many carbs and processed foods in the diet.

p90x diet: Shed a ton of pounds on this diet and workout program. Couldn't eat enough whole foods to satiate myself. Ate three square meals a day with snacks and still lost weight. This was great for building a lot of foundation muscle, but was largely unsustainable in the long term.

Whole30: An excellent place to start if you're on a SAD/American diet and eating a lot of processed foods and carbohydrates. It'll help you to build a new experience around food and cooking, to always check labels for added sugar, to learn what's in your food. A very good starter diet if you're considering keto.

Mediterranian: A fun/delicious diet... but didn't help me to lose weight. Worked for maintenance and while training for a half-marathon where the added carbs were beneficial.

Keto: It's a magic diet. After trying IIFYM, workout programs, etc. -- after I had a disc injury in my back, it was clear I'd be stuck with limited movement for a few months, keto kept me on track. It's a lot of work, cooking/planning -- but very little tracking (I only counted carbs). The biggest thing on keto? Satiety. On every other diet I've tried I've experienced ravenous hunger.

OMAD/Intermittent fasting: Now that I'm at target weight, I've been doing this with a low-carb paleo diet with some allowances for maintenance. Keeping low carb helps to quell hunger, and intermittent fasting provides a great deal of control and health benefits. I highly recommend this paired with keto!

How has your experience been? Particularly others who are forced sedentary for long stretches?
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Replies

  • PapillonNoire
    PapillonNoire Posts: 76 Member
    I lost 50 lbs by counting calories and making an effort to increase my activity. I've been maintaining for almost 7 years now. At this point I'm able to fairly accurately eyeball what an appropriate portion is, so I no longer log or measure. I weight myself regularly so I can catch a backslide early and adjust.

    I guess I also technically do 16:8 IF. It's just my natural eating pattern and I've been eating that way since before I knew it had a name.

    I personally couldn't stick with a diet that restricted certain foods. I like to fit in a treat just about everyday and I think I'd be crabby if I had to eliminate them. But like everyone is pointing out, to each their own. Their is no universal WOE that's going to work for everyone- we all just have to find what works for us individually.
  • Hypsibius
    Hypsibius Posts: 207 Member
    Thanks for the comments!

    No I should've prefaced better, this is what worked for me. If others can eat whatever they want within restriction and not feel terrible/hungry all the time, more power. When I was eating pastas, breads, cookies -- I consistently overate and/or was starving. I needed something different, and keto worked tremendously well. Overall, I just feel better eating low-carb (even if it's not purely keto).

    I would just highly recommend it to folks here who are having trouble with IIFYM like I was.
  • Hypsibius
    Hypsibius Posts: 207 Member
    Thanks for sharing. I'm an IF practitioner currently on a short-term OMAD assignment and am a firm believer it helps keep unbridled discipline in peak condition which is necessary for success. I have no Keto experience and know myself well enough that I couldn't do it. Anecdotal experiences are great to share with an open-minded audience and I am part of that small audience here. Thanks again and best wishes for your continued success.

    Thanks I appreciate it! You too
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