What diet worked for you?

[MrSquished]

Need to lose about 10lbs. Girlfriend also needs to lose like 15lbs. She is dead set on the keto diet. I'm not sold. I figured on just cutting out the junk food and sweets, snacking on veggies and apples instead of crap, having a salad for a meal once a day, less red meat more chicken, putting less sugar in my coffee, etc. Just normal healthier habits. She says it won't work that well. I don't believe her.

But for those here who have dieted, what worked? For how much weight? Over how long? Let's hear it!

 

[Chaotic42]

I went vegan and started running and biking everywhere back when I was joining the military. No sodas or sugar, lots of beans and tofu. I got down to around 205 from 230 after a few months.

 

[Capt Caveman]

Training for a marathon. Lost 15lbs in ten weeks.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

Need to lose about 10lbs. Girlfriend also needs to lose like 15lbs. She is dead set on the keto diet. I'm not sold. I figured on just cutting out the junk food and sweets, snacking on veggies and apples instead of crap, having a salad for a meal once a day, less red meat more chicken, putting less sugar in my coffee, etc. Just normal healthier habits. She says it won't work that well. I don't believe her.

But for those here who have dieted, what worked? For how much weight? Over how long? Let's hear it!

To just lose a few pounds, and if your weight has been stable for a long time, healthy changes like that should do the trick (cutting out a couple hundred calories here and there, and giving your body better-quality raw materials to work with), but they won't do it quickly. which is why some people do fad diets like Keto - they are attracted to the "I lost 478 pounds in three minutes and twelve seconds with this one easy trick" bullshit.

Exercise helps.

Although, flipside, if you need to only lose a few pounds, the crazy shit will work, and you don't have to keep it up for long. Go ahead and get that feeding tube or a bunch of grapefruit.

 

[MrSquished]

To just lose a few pounds, and if your weight has been stable for a long time, healthy changes like that should do the trick (cutting out a couple hundred calories here and there, and giving your body better-quality raw materials to work with), but they won't do it quickly. which is why some people do fad diets like Keto - they are attracted to the "I lost 478 pounds in three minutes and twelve seconds with this one easy trick" bullshit.

Exercise helps.

Although, flipside, if you need to only lose a few pounds, the crazy shit will work, and you don't have to keep it up for long. Go ahead and get that feeding tube or a bunch of grapefruit.

Yeah my weight's been stable for awhile. I've been 175-185lb for many years now at 5'10".

Funny about grapefruit, I was just talking about healthy snacking to my gf a few minutes before reading this and mentioned I'm gonna pick up some bags of peeled baby carrots and also some grapefruits for snacking purposes because, well, I love them both, especially grapefruit. She said it had a reputation as a good weight loss item.

Girlfriend had a stable weight but then got off the depo birth control shot and gained a bunch of weight in a matter of 6 weeks. Sure goes on easy but comes off harder.

 

[Chaotic42]

My doctor is a big advocate of the Sugar Busters diet, which is exactly what it sounds like. The book costs a little money, but basically avoid simple carbs, cut out all soda and desserts, and exercise regularly. Basically like every other simple diet plan out there. It's all about making sure your blood sugar doesn't spike by watching the glycemic impact of what you eat.

 

[MrSquished]

My doctor is a big advocate of the Sugar Busters diet, which is exactly what it sounds like. The book costs a little money, but basically avoid simple carbs, cut out all soda and desserts, and exercise regularly. Basically like every other simple diet plan out there. It's all about making sure your blood sugar doesn't spike by watching the glycemic impact of what you eat.

What about with sugar from fruits? And the keto diet even says avoid bananas, which is like a top 3 fruit to me along with oranges and grapefruits.

 

[Red Squirrel]

I've never really been on a diet, but I try to watch what I eat... I don't really do a good job of it, but I do try. Everything in moderation. I'm at 140lbs right now, which is actually a bit lower than usual, and think it has to do with reducing my pop intake even more recently. At one point I was drinking like 5+ Pepsis per day, then reduced to 1, and now it's maybe 1 per week. Though I'm heading on night shifts tomorrow... that tends to be when I really crave it. So I'll see how I do.

If I am below 150lbs I'm happy though, when I hit that then I start to try harder at watching what I eat. I do need to start eating healthier in general though. Weight is not the only indicator of health. I'd have to get bloodwork done some time to see where I stand, so I can get an idea of if I need to eat more or less of something.

 

[Kaido]

Need to lose about 10lbs. Girlfriend also needs to lose like 15lbs. She is dead set on the keto diet. I'm not sold. I figured on just cutting out the junk food and sweets, snacking on veggies and apples instead of crap, having a salad for a meal once a day, less red meat more chicken, putting less sugar in my coffee, etc. Just normal healthier habits. She says it won't work that well. I don't believe her.

But for those here who have dieted, what worked? For how much weight? Over how long? Let's hear it!

Depends on how serious you want to get about it. If you want to lose weight without changing your diet, I'd recommend IIFYM. Use the calculator to figure out your macros:

https://www.iifym.com/iifym-calculator/

Then eat whatever you want, as long as it fits your macros for the day. The logic behind it is:

1. You can only eat for three kinds of results: weight loss, weight maintenance (stay where you are now), weight gain. Pick a goal.

2. Your body is unique and has a specific daily power requirement (i.e. how many calories you need to eat/drink per day in order to lose, gain, or maintain your weight, depending on which of the 3 is your goal). Total calories for the day controls whether you lose weight, gain weight, or stay the same. If you eat fewer calories than your body needs over time, you will lose weight. If you eat more calories than your body needs over time, then you will gain weight. Technically, the source of the calories doesn't matter in terms of results (i.e. losing weight).

3. Your body digests 3 macros: protein, fat, carbs. Again, source doesn't matter for results. Those 3 macros add together to create your calories for the day. 1 gram of protein = 4 calories, 1g carbs = 4 calories, 1g fat = 9 calories. The IIFYM calculator will tell you what your numbers are based on your gender, height, age, goals, etc.

4. Use the IIFYM calculator to get your numbers for weight loss. Once you've achieved your target weight, re-run the IIFYM calculator to get your new numbers for weight maintenance. And...that's it.

Counting is annoying when you started out. The more accurate you are, the better your results will be. Get a food scale ($15 on Amazon), get a macros app for your phone, start reading labels. It's not rocket science, but it does take some effort for the first few months. Again, it depends on how serious you are about it. Eating for your body's macros requirements takes some getting used to - not because your diet has to change, but because you have to be conscious about hitting your targets for the day. It's not nearly as easy as just blindly eating whatever you want all day long, but then again, you don't have to change your diet & you don't have to stop eating your favorite foods. You just have to give your body the fuel it needs to meet your goals. It works better than anything else I've ever used or seen anyone else use before, partly because there are no cheat meals or cheat days or negative connotations with food. Also, even when you're eating at a deficit, it's not like you're going to be starving yourself...you'll be surprised at how much you actually need to eat during the day to feed your body properly. Also, meal timing doesn't matter...eat 3 square meals a day, eat one big meal a day, eat within a window if you like intermittent fasting, eat 6 smaller meals a day, doesn't matter, as long as the numbers add up at the end of the day. Here's some stuff to read & watch:

https://nicolecapurso.wordpress.com/2014/08/31/how-donuts-gave-me-abs-an-80kg-snatch/

http://www.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/11/08/twinkie.diet.professor/index.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ji95UYpVsjo & https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ebx7nfa7K1U

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=evcNPfZlrZs

I wish I had learned about IIFYM ~10 years ago when I started my first thread in H&F. I don't regret trying all of the different stuff I went through, but this is so much easier & I can still get a Whopper & eat a Snickers bar and be just fine. And I do recommend eating more natural stuff, obviously - meat, fruits, veggies, grains, seeds, nuts, greens, they're all good for you. IIFYM isn't a free pass to eat junk food all day, although you can do that & still get results just fine, but IIFYM is nice because you don't have to change what you normally eat, so it's not a complete diet change or anything, which is a very hard thing to do for most people.

Anyway, join the Facebook group & look at the progress pictures & before/after pictures that people post. Endless success stories. Again, it depends on how serious you want to get...getting conscious about the macros you're putting into your body is annoying to do when you first start out. Counting is lame, but it gets results & you can still eat the stuff you love. There's no single magic food out there, it's just about getting into the habit of tracking what you eat & making sure you're feeding your body the correct amount of protein, carbs, and fats to reach your goal of weight loss, weight gain, or maintenance. That's it. Easy but annoying at first.

 

[Carson Dyle]

Counting calories, eating a good, balanced diet of natural foods and getting a little more exercise. I try not to overthink it. Pick a calorie level that suits you and that you can sustain for weeks or months at a time.

Record everything, don't get too bent out of shape if you have a bad day. Don't overdue it and think eating 700 calories a day is the quick answer, either. Moderation in all things.

 

[Kaido]

What about with sugar from fruits? And the keto diet even says avoid bananas, which is like a top 3 fruit to me along with oranges and grapefruits.

The way I currently see things goes like this:

1. The bottom line for weight loss/gain/maintenance is CICO...calories in vs. calories out. You figure out what your body needs to calories for the day & then either reduce, meet, or exceed it, depending on which of those 3 is your goal.

2. To get in the best shape (by actually giving your body the macros it needs), you break down the calories into the 3 macros (protein, carbs, fats). That's the IIFYM calculator mentioned above.

3. Pretty much all diets work because they restrict you to eating fewer calories than you burn in some way. Some do it in more interesting ways than others. Intermittent fasting says you can only eat within a certain time window...well, it's hard to binge more calories than you need within the space of a few hours every single day. Keto is all protein & fat, which makes you feel pretty full, which kind of prevents you from over-eating. Paleo & Whole30 are the same way...when you're eating whole, natural foods, those tend to fill you up a lot more. A piece of chicken breast & a baked potato is pretty heavy in the stomach compared to say a smashburger on a fluffy bun & a Twinkie or two. To your body, in terms of weight loss/gain/sameness, what matters is the total number of calories per day, over time. Look at anorexic people...they're not skinny because they're eating the right foods or exercising, they're just heavily calorie-restricting.

4. I think being overweight is one of the worst things you can do to yourself. There are so many downstream risks from being too fat...Type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease, sleep apnea, etc. Did you know that heart disease is pretty much entirely reversible? Entirely through diet, no less. Same for Type 2 diabetes...it's largely reversible & manageable through dietary intervention. Keep your carbs to under 75 grams per day for three days & see what your results are. The single biggest factor for coronary artery disease is insulin resistance, which is responsible for 42% of heart attacks. So I do like the idea of keto because it forces you to either zero out or follow a low-carb diet, and keeping your carbs in line, if you have insulin & sugar issues, is pretty important:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=da1vvigy5tQ

With that said, the more I've studied nutrition, the more I am a fan of being an omnivore & not restricting yourself to certain kinds of food if you don't have to (i.e. other than diabetes, food allergies, religious reequirements, etc.). For example, going vegan means having to properly manage your B-12 intake, and even that has some special requirements:

http://www.doctoryourself.com/nasal.html

With keto & possibly cutting fruit out of your diet, you're missing out on a lot of stuff like phytonutrients & whatnot. That's not to say it's a bad or an impossible thing...I went through a period of my life where I had a very restrictive diet because I was allergic to so many things, and I survived just fine...but I like the idea of balance in a diet, if possible, so having all kinds of good stuff like meat, vegetables, fruits, grains, seeds, nuts, greens, honey, and so on gives you a lot of exposure to different vitamins & minerals and stuff like that. Which is why I like macros for results...eat what you want, but with a focus on powering your body by giving it your body's personal requirements for protein, carbs, and fats. It's not the only way out there, but it is pretty easy to do once you get the hang of it, which is one of the reasons I like it. I'd imagine something like a whole-foods-based low-fodmap macro-tracked diet is probably the best you can do for your body, but cupcakes are awesome & you're going to die at some point anyway, so I don't really see the point of not letting yourself enjoy food responsibly during your time on earth.

One of the things to keep in mind with diets are that diets are inherently, and by design, short-term projects. Which means that you get results in short order, but they don't stick long-term because it is a short-term project and not a lifestyle change. There are a lot of ways to do lifestyle changes by changing your habits, but going back to IIFYM, one of the reasons I like macros is that you're not having to constantly babysit yourself like a lot of people do who try to "have healthy eating habits". I have friends who are skinny through eating whole-foods-based diets & kind of associate stuff like big meals or junk food as "bad", and so certain food or food situations get negative connotations like "oh, I shouldn't eat that" & stuff like that, which I don't really like all that much. I'd rather just track my intake & eat what I want than constantly have that internal dialogue of "no" following me around. I mean, that's not the case for everyone who has good eating habits, but I'm kind of an all-or-nothing person, so it's just easier for me personally to stick with a procedure I can follow in order to be successful at it.

 

[BoomerD]

I'm on the "See Food" diet...when I see food, I eat it...which might explain why my pants seem to be shrinking on the hangers...

Starting the first of the year, (well, I MIGHT wait a week, just because I refuse to do New Year's resolutions...and starting on 1/1 kind of makes it a New Year's resolution...even if it isn't.) I'm gonna start watching my calories and carb intake very closely. My doctor is on my to lose some weight...possibly more than some of you twerps even weigh...I know that if I manage to do it, my knees and back won't hurt as much. It won't fix the damage done to them... but reducing the load will still help.

As for what diet I'll use...I don't know yet. I have an appointment with a dietician next week...hopefully she can get me started in the right direction.
I know that about 15 or so years ago, I had put on quite a bit of weight when I was a union business agent...I spent 10-12 hours per day either sitting at a desk...or driving around in a car, and got very little exercise. When I finally quit that job, I reduced myself to eating only grilled meat, salad, and chopped fruit...with almost no bread, cereals, or other sources of grain...I lost about 50 lbs in 6-8 months. I looked better and I felt great.

 

[Kaido]

When I finally quit that job, I reduced myself to eating only grilled meat, salad, and chopped fruit...with almost no bread, cereals, or other sources of grain...I lost about 50 lbs in 6-8 months. I looked better and I felt great.

I can't remember the article, but there was a great article I read one time that explained why we don't always do or get "the best" for ourselves. It was pretty interesting. Like, we all know that eating better will make us feel & look awesome, and when you actually do it, you feel great & look great and it IS awesome, but when you're out of that loop, I dunno, it's not as real as when you are actually doing it. Psychology is so weird like that...we operate emotionally instead of logically so much of the time. So like, we know what's good for us, and what we really, truly want, but actually doing it is sometimes a problem for us, even though it requires the same amount of effort to do the lesser thing (you still have to eat, whether it's healthy or junk).

On a tangent that is more or less completely unrelated, I knew this guy like ten or twenty years ago who was a complete dating master. The memory of him makes me laugh...he came up with this very basic, defined internal worldview that (1) he would always ask out a girl if he thought she sounded or looked cute, and (2) that he was 100% totally OK with being told "no" when he asked for a date. Like he decided he just didn't care & didn't take it personally whatsoever. He wasn't particularly attractive, definitely wasn't cool, nothing to really make him stand out other than he was willing to ask out every single girl he found attractive. And I'll tell you what, he dated more than anyone on earth I've ever met. Oh my gosh. He went on like three dates a week, it was insane! I remembered that because it loops back into doing the "best" for ourselves...he kept himself in the dating game & got to date pretty much everyone he wanted to and just kept in that flow, while the rest of us were too busy worrying about whether or not we could even work up the nerve to go ask someone out that we hardly ever did it lol. He was a legend. But the point is that he knew what the "best" was in that situation (dating, which was driven by asking girls out) & kept himself in that workflow all the time, I think partly because he knew he'd end up like the rest of us just wishing that he did it instead of actually doing it...which is an idea that applies to dating, to working out, to eating better, etc. Sometimes it's really hard to get over that barrier from dreaming & jump (and stay) into the actual doing part of certain aspects of life.

 

[Ancalagon44]

Counting calories is pointless.

You don't know how many calories you really expend. Those calorie calculators are estimates only. There are several different formulas for them. Perhaps you have a less efficient running style and burn more calories when running? Perhaps you turn the heat up a bit, so your body doesn't shiver as much, and you don't expend as much energy on keeping yourself warm. How many calories do you use when walking around at your job or at home?

You don't know how many calories you really consume. Calorie information is not accurate for all food. Perhaps your almonds have slightly more fat in them than usual? Perhaps your chicken is slightly leaner than the information you are seeing. Perhaps your serving of lean steamed chicken breast is really 210g instead of 200g because your scale is not accurate. Also note that your body does not perfectly absorb everything you eat. Some proteins are easier digested than others, such as whey protein and egg white. Only around 75-80% of meat protein can be digested.

Long story short, your calories out could be 10% higher or lower than you think, and your calories in could be 10% higher or lower than you think. You really have no idea how accurate you are. If your gap between calories in and calories out is 10%, it is quite possible that there is no gap at all. Again, because you have no idea how accurate you are. You might be overeating and not know it.

Just cut out sugar in all of its forms and restrict fruit to one serving per day. No fruit juice at all, no sweetened yoghurt, no soda (not even artificially sweetened soda), no rice. Potatoes are fine but don't over do it and potatoes does not mean potato chips or fries.

 

[VirtualLarry]

I've decided to cut out the sugar sodas, sugar-laden sweet tea (only unsweetened tea), and candy, pies, doughnuts, cheesecake.

I was weighed at 392 at my doctor's office last week. (My own electronic scale stopped giving me readings two weeks ago.)

 

[Carson Dyle]

Counting calories is pointless.

You don't know how many calories you really expend. Those calorie calculators are estimates only. There are several different formulas for them.

Only pointless if you're one of those "I want to lose 20 pounds in 7 weeks, so need to lose 2.86 pounds per week" types. I know that if I'm consuming 1500 calories per day, or if I'm consuming 1800 calories per day, I'm losing weight. The only difference is how quickly.

 

[BoomerD]

I've decided to cut out the sugar sodas, sugar-laden sweet tea (only unsweetened tea), and candy, pies, doughnuts, cheesecake.

I was weighed at 392 at my doctor's office last week. (My own electronic scale stopped giving me readings two weeks ago.)

I'm concerned that I hit 290...

 

[mikeymikec]

Counting calories is pointless.

You don't know how many calories you really expend. Those calorie calculators are estimates only.

Calorie counting helped me reach my target weight, so no, it's not pointless. The only tricky bit is balancing up the diet once you've reached the target weight, because as you say, estimates.

 

[Carson Dyle]

I've decided to cut out the sugar sodas, sugar-laden sweet tea (only unsweetened tea), and candy, pies, doughnuts, cheesecake.

I was weighed at 392 at my doctor's office last week. (My own electronic scale stopped giving me readings two weeks ago.)

I just went back and had a look at the thread you started at the end of August about the blackouts and other heath issues you were having. You weighed 373 at the time. Do you mean that after a wake-up call like that and all the encouragement you received here, you've actually managed to gain another 19 pounds in the 3 months since?

WTF?

 

[BoomerD]

Calorie counting helped me reach my target weight, so no, it's not pointless. The only tricky bit is balancing up the diet once you've reached the target weight, because as you say, estimates.

While counting calories might be inexact, it's better than doing nothing. I use the My Fitness Pal app on my phone. Like all apps, it's probably not 100% accurate for all the reasons Ancalagon listed...but it's pretty close, especially for prepared (store bought) food products.

 

[Ancalagon44]

Calorie counting helped me reach my target weight, so no, it's not pointless. The only tricky bit is balancing up the diet once you've reached the target weight, because as you say, estimates.

It wasn't calorie counting that did, it was becoming aware of what you really ate and how much you really moved every day. Your awareness then allowed you to move towards healthier habits.

But as I said, your numbers for both calories in and calories out were both inaccurate, so how could it have helped?

 

[Red Squirrel]

I've decided to cut out the sugar sodas, sugar-laden sweet tea (only unsweetened tea), and candy, pies, doughnuts, cheesecake.

I was weighed at 392 at my doctor's office last week. (My own electronic scale stopped giving me readings two weeks ago.)

You are almost triple my weight. I think you may need to see a nutritionist if your doctor is not helping enough, something you're doing/eating is not working out for you. I would maybe even explore the possibility that you have some kind of condition like celiac or something in which a certain type of food may be causing you to gain super easily (I think celiac can do that?). I'm no doctor so can't think of anything off the top of my head and I would hope that your doctor did explore this.

Working out may also help, but there may be more to it than that for you as I don't really work out all that much myself and have a sit down job, and don't eat the greatest but still manage to stay at a relatively healthy weight.

The danger with being at your weight is fatal health issues can set in rapidly, such as heart attack. These things can hit without warning.

I had an aunt who was around 400 lbs and she became bed ridden due to her weight. At that point it's almost game over as combine boredom (which makes you want to munch more) with lack of moving and you only gain faster. She passed away a few years ago. She had all sorts of health complications such as diabetes though.

I don't want to scare you or anything, but it's something serious. I kind of followed your other threads and would have hoped you'd be doing better now.

 

[mikeymikec]

It wasn't calorie counting that did, it was becoming aware of what you really ate and how much you really moved every day. Your awareness then allowed you to move towards healthier habits.

But as I said, your numbers for both calories in and calories out were both inaccurate, so how could it have helped?

Of course calorie counting helped me become aware of what I really ate because I looked up the calorific content of everything I ate and calculated a diet accordingly. In approximately 12 months I had reached my target weight. Before I tried calorie counting, I was trying to be "aware of what I ate" (ie. pure guesswork about how much I needed to eat), I spent about ten years at that with no significant progression to my target weight.

One further note: my exercise habits did not change during this period. I didn't radically alter what types of food/drink I was consuming either, I just changed the amounts I was eating.

 

[tynopik]

don't count calories, cut them

i needed something simple and easy and fast. If I didn't get see results I wasn't going to be motivated to keep with it.

don't drink calories (soda, milk, sweet tea, alcohol, fruit juice)
don't snack
skip breakfast
eat whatever you normally do for lunch and dinner, just cut it in half. Save the rest for the next day.

lost something like 80 lbs in less than a year

it's easy because you can literally eat whatever you want. Just less of it. For instance I would have a chocolate donut for lunch. But that's all I would have for lunch.

When you're cutting such massive amounts of calories, there's no need to count them. Whether it's 45% less or 65% less than normal, you're still ahead of the game.

All it takes is willpower. When you get hungry, just acknowledge that the diet is working and move on. Ignore it enough and it stops bothering you. There is this very conditioned response that as soon as we feel any hunger, we reach for food. You really don't have to. Breaking that conditioning is actually very freeing.

 

[MrSquished]

I think I'm going to go the cutting calories and just eating healthier route for now. I'm worried cause I hit close to 195lbs when I've been weighing 185 at the doctor the last bunch of years minus one where I was 175.

I don't drink alcohol or sodas or fruit juices anyways. I'll cut the sugar in my coffee. Snack on veggies and fruits. Skip breakfast, eat a salad for lunch or dinner and stuff like that. Thanks for the interesting responses so far!