What is the most successful diet you have tried?

[applegrove]

[tabbycat31]

1. watching portions and eliminating HFCS

[Populist_Prole]

6. HFCS is poison as far as I'm concerned n/t

[trof]

24. I lost 45 pounds with smaller portions/fewer calories/'mind game'. It takes a while, but it works.

We used smaller plates so there was still a 'full plate'.
And when you finished you had a clean plate, just like mom always commanded.

No food was off limits, just less of it.
Eventually you get used to it and it's just how you eat now.
Many times Miz t. and I will share an entree at restaurants.
Most serve ridiculously huge portions.

I also cut out soft drinks in favor of plain water at meals.
Don't miss the soda at all.

[tabbycat31]

25. For the most part I cut out soda years ago

However, given my line of work, it is not unheard of to work VERY long hours, and when I have those long days, I need the soda just to stay awake (I don't like coffee).

But if I'm not on a campaign, then I don't drink anything but water with the exception of the occasional beer when I am out.

[OriginalGeek]

26. I quit the soda and other sweetened drinks

a couple years ago. No artificial sweeteners either because I hate the taste and I think they are poison...I drink plain tea, black coffee and water at most meals - and occasionally a beer.

but my stupid body must crave the sugar because after I quit sweet drinks I would get almost dizzy with desire for sweet food. For a while there I was scarfing down Snickers like I had been appointed Snicker Eliminator of the Universe. I have that relatively under control now but not a meal goes by I don't wish I had dessert. I save it for special occasions though.


I haven't tried portion control in earnest because I'm too weak to eat and still be hungry. I've been trying to eat much more slowly to trick my head and let it catch up to my belly. Eventually I will talk myself into hating being chubby and start trying much harder...I just hope I don;t wait too long...

[trof]

27. I wasn't really hungry with smaller portions.

'Stuffed' was how I used to feel after a 'satisfying' meal.
I found I was satisfied with just 'enough'.
It took a little getting used to, but I've found I have much less indigestion and sleep better too.
I went from 275 to 235 in about a year.
That's only a bit more than 3 pounds a month.
And the weight has pretty much stayed off, thanks to new eating habits.
I'm up to about 240 now, but I'm working on getting back down.
I credit Thanksgiving and Christmas for that.
Good luck.

[kwassa]

2. my version of the Scarsdale

little to no carbs.

I tried to see how little I could eat without going insane, or screwing up my body.

I lost about 25 pounds. About 2.5 pounds per week, beyond that my body couldn't take it.

[Swede]

3. Same here.

Gary Traubes got some interesting thoughts on this.

http://garytaubes.com/

[Kaleva]

4. Jail food. I lost weight for the week I was in.

[Populist_Prole]

5. I don't have a name for it, but I lost 20+ lbs and kept it off

I'm 50 and suddenly became more aware of my mortality after getting disappointing cholesterol numbers from a physical exam, and diabetes runs in my family so I didn't want to give it any invitations. I read up and changed my diet cold-turkey. Losing weight was actually a pleasant side-effect. Feel more energetic and the summer heat doesn't bother me quite as much. The bloodwork numbers made me pleased as punch too.

Anyway, here it is.

--No saturated fat, NO Trans fat. 3 times a year or so I'll treat myself to a nice medium rare steak.

--Low carbs: ( wheat ) Pasta every couple of weeks. Very rarely bread except whole grain tortillas. Beer only on my weekend. No junk food snacks or fast food. I eat lots beef jerky though ( very lean )

--No eggs, milk, cheese. I might eat pizza 3 times a year, as a special treat.

--Use only Demara sugar, and only with my coffee ( and CoffeeMate )

--No processed foods and only fresh vegetables. Grilled or sauteed in olive oil.

--No soda/coke/pepsi whatever

--I'll eat all the foods with "good fat" ( unsaturated ) I want. Fatty fish, lots of olive oil, almonds, walnuts, avocados.

--Lotsa' fish

--Lotsa' fruit

I always feel well sated after I eat; It's not a starvation diet all, but I've found I feel fuller sooner than I did before I did this.

During vacations or travel I can splurge every now and then and eat whatever.

[Laura PourMeADrink]

41. it all sounds really good ! But coffeemate? Isn't that really "processed"?? nt

[Populist_Prole]

42. It surely must be, but it's but 3 teaspoons a day.

It would represent the tiniest sliver in a pie chart of my overall diet. I'm sure not going to drink my coffee black, and I can't stand the taste of milk.

[Laura PourMeADrink]

43. oh..makes sense. hate black coffee too. have you tried

any of the other kinds of milk like almond milk or soy milk? I haven't

[Populist_Prole]

45. I always wanted to try them out of curiosity

I'm going to do some reading. I like actual cream in coffee; but then it's not exactly the leanest stuff either. ( Sigh )

[Iggo]

7. Eat right and exercise.

My brother does the counting calories thing. No more soda. A beer here and there like at an event or something, but none in the fridge. He's got like an app on his iPhone. He's taking off weight pretty regular and looking good. Slimming down quite nicely, in fact. I think I'll try it.

Or you could do it how I did it 7-ish years ago: Get 17 teeth pulled at one sitting. Dropped a BUNCH of weight! Even considered going down in pants size. Not truly successful, though, because it didn't last. Soon as I got used to my dentures, the weight came right back on (and then some!).

[Doremus]

8. Plant based whole foods, low fat

I gave up all animal protein Feb. 1 and I've lost 26 lbs. so far. Weekly losses are 1-2lbs.

I eat all I want and haven't started a workout plan yet.

My energy level has skyrocketed. My aches and pains are pretty much gone. It's amazing how eating the right things can have such a profound effect on our bodies.

[mythology]

9. Virtually giving up soda, I didn't have any for a month

and vastly lowering my meat intake.

I have allowed myself a coke or two a week when I get a caffeine headache and there's no easily available black tea.

Additionally I'm working on eliminating the rest of the meat. I haven't purchased any meat products at the grocery store in more than two months. But since I grab some version of fast food like Quiznos or Chiptole and I don't do veggie patties, I get some meat there. Also I tend to cook a couple of months ahead, stuff the freezer and eat on that as my evenings are generally taken up with training.

So far, in 6 weeks of little to no soda and limited meat I've lost 7 pounds. It would have been more, but I've been too sick to bike to work and before that, my training schedule was unexpectedly cut.

However I'm sure only being able to tiny amounts since last Thursday, I'm thinking once I weigh myself, pneumonia might be my most effective diet technique. But I really wouldn't recommend it, even if the constant hacking is proving a strong workout to my abs.

[quakerboy]

32. Soda is probably the simplest.

Stop soda. One single, simple change in life. And see what happens over a few months, and decide if thats enough or if more change is needed.

[CBGLuthier]

10. The do not eat too much food diet. Seriously

Make sure you get enough protein and restrict your calories. That is just about it.

Oh and as you lose weight you have to continually reduce your calories. Brutal but it works.

A year ago I weighed 280, now I am just under 230.

I eat very little throughout the day but I do eat something every few hours.

I do this mostly eating Bulgar wheat salads, homemade corn tortillas and refried beans, and great lashings of homemade yogurt with fruit. Once a week we pick up a small pizza and split it.

The only real bread we eat are homemade english muffins. Very versatile.

I still drink ONE soda a day. No diet sodas, that stuff will kill you.

[RebelOne]

11. Starvation. Just not eating. Works all the time. n/t

[Brickbat]

12. Eating whatever I want within a certain daily calorie calculation.

I've eaten bacon cheeseburgers and frosted cupcakes, and drunk lots of beer and wine. I've also eaten a lot of bowls of Grape Nuts and eaten a lot of salad. Keeping under a certain number works for me. I resisted it a long time, but it worked.

[ohiosmith]

13. A program my Dr. Introduced me to. Consists of daily meal replacement shake and cleansing.

Exercise daily. Basically eat what I want without overdoing it. Lost twenty pounds in less than three months. Lowered bad cholesterol. Lowered glucose.

[siligut]

14. The Poor college student diet

Brown rice at every meal. Add an egg for breakfast, add vegetables and sauce for lunch and dinner or make soup. I still do this somewhat, having brown rice for breakfast most days.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

15. Atkins worked fastest.

But it's really bad for you if you stay on it indefinitely. And I got so tired of meat that I can hardly eat it at all now. And I gained the weight back.

Something like Weight Watchers is really better, if you're patient and can stand the meetings.

[nolabear]

34. Soouth Beach is Atkinsy but way healthier.

I know what you mean about meat, but I'm learning that lots of veggies and just enough lean meat works. And nuts and cheese as snacks. Carbs are my enemy, it appears. Dammit. But I feel good.

[Still Blue in PDX]

16. Atkins for long-term, Medifast for quick weight loss.

I'm doing WeightWatchers now because all the weight I lost on Medifast came right back.

Losing it is the easy part, though even that is getting harder now that I'm getting a bit long in the tooth.

[Raven]

17. Pasta salad with every

veggie known to man in it and low fat drssing. I would make a big vat of it on Sunday and eat it all week. I'd add a little tuna or chicken to it for variety. It worked for me.

[mrmpa]

18. Lost 90 lbs. due to stress and a job I hated........

took me 10 months to lose it, I have gained 16 of it back in the 6 years since I lost it.

[Baitball Blogger]

19. Gardening.

[dimbear]

20. giardia. n/t

[cliffordu]

21. 2 hours on a mountain bike 6 days a week.

in the woods. On steep narrow trails.

Eat all you want and never gain an ounce. In fact, I had to start doing protein shakes to keep my weight up.

That was when I was 55. I weighed about 185..... 6'1"

I'm 60 now and don't ride the bike in the woods at all anymore. I weigh 30 lbs more than I did back then.

These days all I have to do is LOOK at food to gain another pound a day, it seems.

Man, I miss me at 55.

Sorry I don't have an answer, although I think I did, a long time ago.

[harmonicon]

22. exercising and not eating too much.

That's all that works, and that's why I'm such a fat-ass.

[Scuba]

23. Eat less, exercise more.

I'm not giving up the things I love to eat!!! But I can eat less. I still eat everything I like. Just in smaller portions, or with less frequency.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

29. That's it, my dear Scuba!

You are doing it exactly right.

So am I.

It works.

[guitar man]

28. Unemployment

[hobbit709]

30. Successful?

[WhoIsNumberNone]

31. Stopped keeping cookies & potato chips in the house

And soda. Soda too. Now I mix club soda with either cranberry juice or lemonade.

Also don't get frozen concentrated fruit drinks. Usually high fructose corn syrup is the second thing on the list of ingredients.

[nolabear]

33. I seem to be doing well on a low carb diet.

No white food. No sugar, refined flour, rice, pasta, etc. and only one serving a day of fruit and grains. South Beach. Slow, steady weight loss. I'm adding a half hour of recumbent biking a day (wonky knee but I'll work it up to more and more variety).

I'm weirded out by the high protein count but am figuring it out. Lean protein, as much non-meat as I can but I'm eating more meat than I have in years. I have never had a colesterol issue so I figure the weight is more of a problem than anything fish and lean meats could do.

I'm a lifer so I've tried everything. This is more comfortable than anything else has been, and oddly enough cured my heartburn.

[quakerboy]

35. I can give you the trends

6 months of giving up soda resulted in 25 lbs of weight loss.

1 year, 6 months of relatively strict low carb eating(meat and plenty of vegitables) resulted in another 65 lbs of weight loss.

3 months of less strict low carb eating with cheating when outside of the house, combined with about 50 miles a week of bike riding resulted in no net weight change(more muscle, less fat, but same weight).

4 months of eating kinda low carb at home, but running wild with eating out multiple times a week, and not biking much because it was raining resulted in 20 lbs of weight gain.

[applegrove]

36. Was it diet or full calorie soda you gave up?

[quakerboy]

37. All soda

Prior to that, I had never dieted at all, in any way. And I refused to drink diet anything. I gave up regular soda, which meant all soda.

I have since started with diet soda. Not sure that that was a good idea. But its difficult when you don't generally like water, tea, coffee, etc. Diet soda still doesn't taste "good", but I sure do swill a lot of it.

[elleng]

38. The 'no bread and potatoes' diet;

I 'invented' it.

[Arugula Latte]

39. Just cutting back a bit on bread, sweets such as cookies and ice cream, wine, butter

I sub fruits and veggies for some of those foods, and have upped the intensity of my workouts. I still indulge a bit, but not as much. I have lost weight slowly (about 17 pounds since last November), which is the way to go. Also, it's good to have accountability, such as weighing in weekly at Weight Watchers.

I was not considered overweight, technically, but I was feeling chubby and was hitting the upper end of the "healthy" range for my height. I just feel better at a reglular-to-slim size.

[MrScorpio]

40. The I'm-so-fucking-depressed-that-I-won't-eat-anything diet

I lost a good 20 pounds on that puppy.

[HappyMe]

44. Smaller portions, more exercise.

[JBoy]

46. Paleo diet, and strength training.

Eat meat, lift heavy, sleep. Repeat.

Meat, eggs, most veggies, moderate amts of fruit. No legumes, grains, dairy, or refined sugars. Exercise focuses on short duration/high intensity rather than cardio.

Was hardcore on the diet for 2 months a couple years ago and dropped the 20 extra pounds I'd been carrying for a few years. I've kept it off since by sticking 90% to the diet. Allow myself a couple non-paleo meals a week (like pizza on Friday night, or pancakes on Sunday morning) which keeps me from feeling deprived or going crazy.

In a lot of ways the paleo diet is just a variant of a low-carb diet, which I think is key to burning fat.

[RhondaGraymond]

47. Dukan weight loss diet

The most successful diet I believe should have a good balance of the right food and exercise. While there are several diets doing the rounds nowadays, one of the more popular ways of dieting is eating low carb and high protein foods. This combination can give you noticeable weight loss results. Have any of you heard of the Dukan weight loss diet? Based on the principle of low carbohydrates and high protein, it works in four stages and allows you to eat as much from a list of over 100 natural foods. The first two stages help you to shed the excess fat and the last two make sure you keep it off.