Do you follow a certain diet or do you just track calories?

I just track calories. I eat what ever I want when ever I want. Check out my Diary if you want. Today was a real bad day though. LMAO.

Since I started my weightloss journey I have followed two different "diets"

1. Low Carb/High Protein
2. Ashy Bines Clean Eating Plan: Basically low carb, no diary, no processed food, no sweetners etc.

BTW, are you going to do low carb/high protein or Ashy Bines plan for the rest of your life? I'd hope not. Just track your calories.

Calories

I just eat real food.

Your idea of a daily plan sounds perfect! Carbs are not bad, but try to have wholegrain as much as possible, brown rice, whole wheat/meal bread etc. But be kind to yourself, oats are great for lowering cholesterol, they are filling etc, a great choice in the morning. You don't have to deprive yourself, I can't stand brown rice, so I eat basmati, it's better than white, and tastes a lot better than brown! I try to have only 1 cup cooked and figure that nobody got obese just from eating white rice!
Check out http://www.thegraciouspantry.com/oatmeal-recipes/ it's clean but nice food ideas with oats.
Your intuition sounds fine to me, so go with that! try to stick to 80% "clean food" and have 20% to enjoy yourself! Exercise, and you'll be laughing all the way to the scales! Good luck!

I do the low carbohydrate thing. (Not no carb, just no grains, lots of veggies, moderate protein, high fat, periodic fruit.) I tried counting calories and eating whatever I wanted as long as I was at a deficit, but my body doesn't respond well to a higher-carbohydrate diet, and it never has.

It's hard to stay on the low-carbohydrate bandwagon if you don't enjoy the food you're eating - if you have a sweet tooth, I just made some killer low-carb ice cream. If you want the recipe, send me a message (I'll forget to check back here).

I think that if counting calories works for you, you should do it. Restricting your intake of anything can be difficult, but unfortunately some people only do well with a low-fat diet and some only do well with a low-carbohydrate diet. Just depends on your body.

Just IMO you are not getting enough healthy fats in your diet, this can and will lead to binge and feeling unsatisfied.

I eat what I want, and work it into my calories.

I just track my calories, but I do try to cook as much food as I can, and not buy 'pre-prepared' food.

I track calories and fiber... check the macros (carbohydrates, protein and fat to make sure I'm not way off), but don't worry about minor deviations. Also tracking exercise. And trying to eat more "whole", organic, fresh foods, staying away from GMO, artificial and extra sweeteners, and some other "healthier" food choices, but not tracking those. For me, oats for breakfast are fine. I would probably combine them with milk, so I'd be getting some protein too. If there's going to be a long time between breakfast and my next meal, I might go for something with more protein like the eggs, but otherwise... either is fine.

Keep in mind that too much of almost anything is not good for you. Good luck finding what works for you!

My friend and I are both " carbaholics", We got the " Type two diabetes weight loss book", FOURTH edition... it's important to have this newest one as they keep making changes according to what they find works with folks who are their patients/ clients. It is low carb, but gives you many choices and variety to choose from for all daily meals, plus two snacks per day, also you get into mild ketoses ( it's all explained in the book) and your cravings pretty much disappear, your are content and not craving all hours of the night and day. my fitnesspal ... which our adult children found on line for us and loaded onto our mobile phones.... is about 50% of the success we're having with our healthy life style program though .... helps keep us aware and on track. One of the things that the book notes, is, that they've found the highest success rates among their patients to be folks who do certain things and one of them is to keep track or a journal and my fitness pal is doing exactly that, right? !
We are exercising too, but are older ladies with arthritis, so we do some cardio... just walking, and light weights, a streching move or two and one or two pilates moves... if we hurt ourselves by going to hard at it, it takes quite a while to heal muscles, tendons and ligaments when you're older lol, then you miss out on all of those weeks of exercise!
We also chew our food completely , putting our fork/ spook down between bites, don't watch TV or read / text/ cell phone game etc. while eating... just savour the flavour. We DO weigh our protein portions and stick to them... it's enough to satisfy we've found, if you're eating your recommended amt. of cooked/ counted veg. and big portion of free veg. salad... mmmm. I don't even use the low low low cal home made salad dressing that they recommend, I don't ike it and that makes me not want to eat my nutritious salad! so I just use less of regular Kraft dressings and steer clear of the creamy ones.
Hope this is of some help, we feel so much better on this program and are both doing great with between 25 and 30 lb. losses each since May first.
Good luck with your feelings of deprivation/ food fixation, if you are addicted to carbs, this should work nicely for you

Also keep in mind that no one food will supply all your nutritional needs. While it's good to have some daily eating plans in mind, I've never heard of anyone who could eat the same thing day after day for the rest of their life. And even if you could, it probably wouldn't be healthy because it would be missing some micro-nutrients.

I remember hearing about a woman who found a daily meal plan that worked for her (in WW with a leader I knew, but it really wouldn't matter which plan). She ate the exact same things every day for an entire year. Lost all the weight she wanted. But at the end of the year, she still had no idea how to eat for the rest of her life to maintain. She gained it all back in less than a year.

Learning which things work for you may require some trial and error, and that means you might have some minor set-backs. However I propose that it's worth that in order to learn what will work for you as part of a long-term lifestyle change.

Good luck!

I track calories. I don't think of it as dieting. Just eating the way I should have my whole life. I have really expanded my cooking skills since starting mfp too. I find healthy alternative and recipes to foods I love. And they usually taste just as good or better

I went through the good food/bad food cycle. I also went through this cycle of "I'm going to diet tomorrow so eat whatever the hell I want... oops! I started the next day bad, so I will eat whatever I want for the day and start tomorrow... oops!"

I have tried a life of substitution and it works for me. Substitute whole wheat bread for white bread. Substitute a spinach salad for french fries. Substitute a fruit juice or water for a soda. Bake my desserts at home and substitute low fat ingredients. Substitute vegetable pasta for enriched pasta. I don't even count my calories. I just exercise every day and substitute (and watch my portions). If I want more to eat, I wait 30 minutes. Usually by then, the second helping has lost its appeal. I'm either full or the food is cold or it doesn't smell as good as when it was cooking, etc.

I don't believe in diet pills or protein bars or anything. I believe that your body has all of the right tools available at your disposal if you give it the right fuel. Good luck!

Calories... with emphasis on ensuring adequate protein.