Which plan is better for weight-loss and keeping the weight off?

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ReCre8tingMe
ReCre8tingMe Posts: 18 Member
edited June 2022 in Health and Weight Loss
Help!! 🤔
Which is better for losing weight and keeping the weight off? If you feel there is a better plan that isn't listed, please comment below!

Which plan is better for weight-loss and keeping the weight off? 65 votes

Low-Carb
6%
TJFLAN28chrissyinbloomCountandsubtractjemadeso 4 votes
Intermittent Fasting
1%
francisolorunfunmi 1 vote
Low-Fat
1%
patriciaall3716 1 vote
Calorie Counting
90%
mallymoo86Athijademandyw30Ang674ninerbuffTiernan1212gorgonakikshama2001avatiachonyxgirl17quiksylver296csplattyjp777paperpuddinggirlwithcurls2DancingMoosiechesaoFitforevermorescarlett_kyirara 59 votes
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Replies

  • ReCre8tingMe
    ReCre8tingMe Posts: 18 Member
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    I've done exclusively low-fat, not counting calories and it worked. Only, I didn't keep the weight off. So, it can be done without counting calories. But, I'm looking for something that I can change to be lifelong committing without deprivation.
  • paperpudding
    paperpudding Posts: 8,986 Member
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    Calorie Counting
    I guess I answered this in terms of which is the better plan for me - and that was calorie counting - since I havent done, nor intend to do, any of the others

    as somebody pointed out though there needs to be option to pick more than one - somebody could do low carb IF and calorie counting all at once
    or also to pick none of the above

    Bottom line - all of these , in terms of weight loss, are methods

    whether you do any or none of these methods, weight loss is still eating less than you burn - ie calorie deficit

    Whatever method you are using it must be a calorie deficit to work - so IF for example, probably wont work if you only eat in a 4 hour window but you eat 4000 calories per day

  • sbelletti
    sbelletti Posts: 213 Member
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    The best plan is the one you're willing to stick to and still feel like life is worth living.
  • Lose_25_In_2022
    Lose_25_In_2022 Posts: 2 Member
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    For me, Weight Watchers worked well over the winter. But come summer, as an athlete, using all my daily points for two bottles of Gatorade running in the Georgia heat didn’t work. And the sugar free stuff tasted gross. If I don’t drink Gatorade, I start to get dizzy and confused. I even add additional salt to it.

    So in the summer, I just count calories for the most part. If I drink 280 calories worth of Gatorade on a 10 mile run, I’m still ahead of the game. Those same 280 calories would take all my points on WW even though I still had a 700 calorie deficit from the run and Gatorade.
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 32,058 Member
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    It's not perfect, but this is the best run-down I've seen of various diet options (not necessarily just for weight loss, though that's evaluated, too):

    https://health.usnews.com/best-diet/best-diets-overall

    If you want to know what kinds of tactics worked (in a statistical sense) for others to lose weight and keep it off, there's the National Weight Control Registry:

    http://www.nwcr.ws/

    For me (now in year 6+ of maintaining a healthy weight, after losing from obese class 1), what worked was a combination of calorie counting, and this approach:

    https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10636388/free-customized-personal-weight-loss-eating-plan-not-spam-or-mlm/p1

    No one approach is "best" for everyone and anyone. I agree with those above: We each need to find the tactics that will work best for us as individuals, and that may not be some trendy named diet thingie.

    FWIW, I don't much like the MFP Community poll feature - not very nuanced - so I didn't vote. If you'd asked which worked best for me, I'd have voted for calorie counting, even though that's over-simplified. I'm a nerdy gal, liked the "grown-up science fair" aspect of it, and have no tendencies to become obsessive or compulsive about counting calories.

    It doesn't work best for everyone to count calories, even though getting calories eaten below calories spent that creates weight loss for anyone. One needn't necessarily count the calories to do that. I'm old enough to remember when counting calories wasn't practical (before there were apps to automate it) . . . but people were able to lose weight back then anyway.
  • glassyo
    glassyo Posts: 7,592 Member
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    Retroguy2000 wrote: »
    You had IF as a poll option. I was under the impression that IF by itself won't do much for you regarding weight loss, if e.g. you are eating at maintenance cals while doing IF. I thought IF is just one tool in the shed for how to manage your calorie deficit. Is this not the case?

    You thought correctly.
  • ReCre8tingMe
    ReCre8tingMe Posts: 18 Member
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    Retroguy2000 wrote: »
    You had IF as a poll option. I was under the impression that IF by itself won't do much for you regarding weight loss, if e.g. you are eating at maintenance cals while doing IF. I thought IF is just one tool in the shed for how to manage your calorie deficit. Is this not the case?

    I never thought of it that way. but that makes perfect sense! Thank you.
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 32,058 Member
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    Retroguy2000 wrote: »
    You had IF as a poll option. I was under the impression that IF by itself won't do much for you regarding weight loss, if e.g. you are eating at maintenance cals while doing IF. I thought IF is just one tool in the shed for how to manage your calorie deficit. Is this not the case?

    Strictly speaking, the same could be said of low fat or low carb. I could put any arbitrary low limit on grams of either fats or carbs, and still eat more than maintenance calories.
  • threewins
    threewins Posts: 1,455 Member
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    If you share food with a family or whoever, I'd suggest not calorie counting. Imagine not only weighing the ingredients, but weighing what proportion you're having. Unless you want to eat separate food. I guess being single has its advantages. I think everybody should try low carb at least once, just to see what it's like. But don't be surprised if you can't get into it. It's not for everyone, or anyone at every point in their life.
  • Retroguy2000
    Retroguy2000 Posts: 1,503 Member
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    threewins wrote: »
    If you share food with a family or whoever, I'd suggest not calorie counting. Imagine not only weighing the ingredients, but weighing what proportion you're having. Unless you want to eat separate food. I guess being single has its advantages. I think everybody should try low carb at least once, just to see what it's like. But don't be surprised if you can't get into it. It's not for everyone, or anyone at every point in their life.
    I can see that's not ideal, but people can still easily do smaller portions, simple substitutions, doing without an extra sauce, that sort of thing. Sure it may still be difficult to to estimate calories and macros some times, but it's still progress.

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