Health Discussions

For me the Atkins/South Beach Diet is the only thing that works.  But for it to be really successful you have to enjoy cooking.

When I was younger, just adding more exercise was enough. But it's not enough anymore!

I lost a lot of weight on the Atkins diet, but I wasn't able to stay on it for the long term. So I'm still experimenting.

Regardless of what diet you choose as long as you view it as a "diet", it's bound to fail in the long term.  Successful weight management requires a fundemental change in your eating habits.

If you're successfully on a diet now and just can't wait until it's over so you can have that Triple Whopper w/Cheese and the Supersized Fries there's a problem.

That doesn't mean you can't cheat from time-to-time and indulge yourself.  But if you can't wait to get back into your old ways, the battle has been lost.

Great point Rudi!  People will usually say - it's not a diet, it's a lifestyle change!  I believe in everything in moderation.  I was not a fan of the Atkins/South Beach diets for 3 reasons.  1) their products were real expensive. 2) I don't eat meat so made it harder and 3) If you give up carbs, you basically gotta give them up for life in order to maintain weight loss.

So I love my carbs - pasta is one of my main meals!  I refuse to give ANYTHING up, but I just eat smaller portions and less of it.  Instead of having the worst thing at Baskin Robbins, I'll get 1 scoop of fat free and 1 scoop of regular.  It tastes the same :)  Instead of passing on the chips and salsa, I just will eat them slowly and make them last!  Basically, instead of giving up, I have been working on strengthening my will power.  I almost never leave a restaurant without a box, and I almost always turn every meal into 2 - sometimes even 3 or 4!

When my husband needed to lose weight we did the body for life program by Bill Phillips. The recipes were great and varied and it really helped us to learn how to eat healthy. It wasn't a diet so much as an eating plan. He lost the 20 pounds he needed too and he has kept it off for 5 years now.

Fortunatly, other than a diet to discover food allergies, I have never followed a weight loss plan. Eating lots of veggies and staying active keep me at a weight I am satisfied with.

I lost a lot of weight on WeightWatchers. I don't measure anything out or count points anymore and I have maintained my weight loss. My strategy is the same as vivasuzi's, except that I eat meat.

I've tried so many diets that it's not funny. The best thing for me was to just run. At the time, I had a 36 inch waist and a 43 inch hip. I just ran for 12 minutes a night. That's it. After awhile, I added in some pilates a few times a week. I decided to remeasure myself about about 6 weeks - I had lost 4 inches off my waist and 3 from the hip. I was shocked. I kept it up and went from a size 16 to a size 10.

For me, the exercising got me into the mindset of being healthy. The more I ran, the less sugar I wanted. The less unhealhty calories I wanted to consume.

Now I do a food journal just to watch what I consume. However, for me it's just about getting motivated and tracking your success. When you can see how far you've come, whether in a picture or on paper, it's easier to stay on task...at least for me.

Nope, I tend to swing the other way.  I've always been pretty active.  I guess I shouldn't mention what my husband just brought home from BK.  Rudi pretty much pegged the menu items.   I've never been on a diet...gimme time. 

My motto is that saying "It's easier to keep it off than to get it off". And that other saying:  "You gotta move it to lose it".

And I'm HYPOthyroid, with 2/3rds of my right one removed 20 years ago.  No meds, just herbals.  

I'm beginning to think more and more it was the padlock my mother always had on the freezer/fridge while we were growing up.  We had to eat when my mom and stepdad ate, and if we were working, at school, etc. and missed it, we didn't get to eat.  That's why I worked at a few restaurants during my day too, along with my career choice.  I was fairly large until 6th grade, and I don't know if my mom was trying to send me a message.  My sisters and I just think she was too strict with food, and mean to boot.

Thankfully, I've never had to worry about weight past 6th grade, just big Texas hair.

Speaking of, this site keeps hairballing today.

What you are saying here may be the most important thing for people to understand. If you exercise your eating habits will naturally change. There is this incredible book called, Younger Next Year which I happen to think everyone should read. The authors are a doctor who created this health plan and his "guinea pig". Many more people have used his methods since. He basically says that when you work out you will naturally see yourself in your mind as being much more healthy. Then you will start living in such a way as to make the physical you match your soulish you. It is an interesting concept but an accurate one I believe.

Jenny Criag worked while i was on it, but it was too expensive to keep up.  Due to medical problems the only exercise I can do is in the pool, thus making it even more difficult for me.  Like my primary doc just told me today, it isn't the execise that will help me lose weight, he said counting calories and what I eat is what is gonna make the difference.  So....I must retrain my brain.  Funny that eating is going to make me lose weight. :) HA!

I do both. I diet. I exercise. 

if I want to loose weight, I have to diet in conjunction with cardio and pilates.  I try to keep my caloric intake around 1,100 calories per day - which isn't easy for me - and workout at least 5 days a week.  For cardio, I run for 20 minutes and walk briskly for 25 minutes with one pound hand weights.  I also attend a one hour pilates class twice a week for strength training.

Weight watchers worked for me.  But I agree with Rudi, you have to see it as a life style change.  Cardio, strength training and healty eating all goes hand in hand.  You combine all three to be sucessful. 

Rudi is right.  No matter what diet you try, it will not work, unless you make a committment to change your overall eating habits.

I know many people will disagree with this, but I actually lost 30 pounds years ago after I read the "Eat to Win" book, by a doctor.  It's a high carbs, low protein diet - which goes totally against the current trend.  But, I went on it approximately 25 years ago, and I still wear a size 6.  My body burned so many calories, that I actually got down to 91 pounds, and I am 5' 7 1/2" tall.  I had to start eating more protein than called for on the diet, because when change the balance between carbs and proteins drastically, your body will burn the calories.  So, be careful to not overdo it.  But, it does work -- whether you exercise or not.

I cut most fats from my diet, stopped buying partially hydrogenated margarines, use hardly any sugar or salt, if I eat meat it's very lean, I eat more grains, fresh fruits and vegetables, and don't eat seconds. This has really worked well for me. I thought I weighed 123 and recently weighed in at 117! Woohoo!!!!

I work out a Curves at least 4 to 5 days a week and I have been walking miles a day for the last 2 months.  The problem that I have is I like to eat.  I am have been making fruit smoothies and a lot of salads but I also eat carbohydrates and starches.  I am trying to monitor my food intake.  I have lost 18 pounds since I started walking but I have a long way to go before I reach my ideal weight.