Anyone got a diet plan that works?

[Brian Elfert]

The best diet is simply eating a just a bit less and doing moderate exercise. 1/2 hour on a treadmill just walking at a moderate pace can burn 200 calories or more. You won't lose weight in a hurry, but you probably won't feel hungry all the time like a 1,200 calorie diet can do to you. Between exercise and reduced food intake it wouldn't be hard to cut calories by 500 a day.

A 10,000 step plan can also help, but 10,000 steps is a lot of walking. I am fairly active, but if I've never made it more than about 6,000 steps with just daily activities.

[Tom Fischer]

Huge thread, but simply, cut down on Carbs.
That will do it.
That will loose weight.

[Joe Stein]

Rich,

Congratulations on quitting smoking from a former smoker. I joined Weight Watchers for the 8th time and this time I am succeeding because both my head and heart are in it. I'm the only guy there but it gives me the opportunity to listen to what is being said by the Team Leader after 18 weeks I have lost 47.2 lbs without starving myself. I have started an exercise program but had to scale back somewhat due to two bad knees. Good luck.

[Gordon Eyre]

My diet started because of an office bet between three of us (which quickly rolled into 15 people joining in with a buy-in of $20!), and most of us used that site for tracking.

Dan, you and I did the very same thing. MyFitnessPal.com and a contest. I did it with the male members of my family and we each put in $100.00. In three and a half months I lost 46 lbs. and blew away the competition winning $600.00. I walked a lot and was soon up to 6 miles per day. I also watched my caloric input and kept it under 1500 calories per day. I just ate normal food and did not do anything radical. I have now kept it off for6 months and I feel great. I am on my way to walking 1500 miles this year.

Rich, I know you can do the same thing if you will just make a commitment to yourself.

[Greg Peterson]

There is no shortcut. Eat less, exercise more.

There is no reason you should be terribly sore the day or two after you exercise. Increase the duration of your exercise gradually. If you do five minutes today, do six minutes tomorrow. And seven minutes the day after.

Once you get to a reasonable duration, start increasing the intensity.

I use the Polar FT-80 heart rate monitor/trainer to manage my training duration and intensity and have had tremendous success with it. It is a very intelligent unit and 'knows' when to push you and when to take the intensity down a little.
.

[Chris Griggs]

I'm late to the party but let me say...(don't laugh) Weight Watchers! I dropped from 230 to 185 in about 6 months doing it a couple years ago. You don't need to buy their special foods and you don't need to attend meetings. Just use the food trackers system. The reason people gain weight is mostly a simple equation of calories in and calories out. Yes, there are differences in how your body process calories from fat, vs sugar, vs protein, and all that is accounted for in the points system, BUT at the end of the day its a really sophisticated easy to use calorie counting system.

If you are willing to reliably track what you eat and how much you exercise it will work. BUT you have to be willing to keep track. The great thing about it is the only rule is that you track and that you stay within your points. If you wanna eat chocolate cake, a McD's cheeseburger, and a martini everyday you can, BUT you'll see it use up your points and you'll probably end up feeling hungry. The great thing about the system is that it inherently reteaches you how to eat. I haven't tracked in two years, but other than the period 5 lb fluctuation in weight during times of stress or the holidays, I haven't gained any back. This is because it reset in my mind what an adequate proportion is, and really gave me a good idea of how much of different foods was too much. It also taught me what foods I can eat a lot of when I want to fill up w/o going over the top in calorie intake.

The tracking system suited me well, because as a data analyst I enjoy tracking and analysis. The effectiveness relies on a willingness to track and hold yourself accountable, but for me it was much easier to hold myself accountable when I had a concrete tracking system (vs just trying to guess and remember how much I had eaten).

Oh and BTW, if you don't want to spend the money on WW there are free (or at least really cheap) tracking apps and other online software that are nearly identical.

[Ole Anderson]

Want to loose weight? All you need to do is find out that you have diabetes. That will scare the bejeebers out of you and then you take eating very seriously. Although I wasn't seriously overweight, maybe 30 pounds or so, as I have a fairly high metabolism, I craved sugar, to the point that I am convinced I simply overloaded my bodies natural ability to balance blood glucose via the liver and pancreas. When I cut out most sugar and white starchy food, and thought "portion control", and started loading up on green veggies I dropped 20 pounds in 4 months. and my A1c went from over eight to 5.3 at my last blood draw. So far no insulin, just metformin and maybe 6 finger pokes a week at home. Reading a few pamphlets on proper eating with diabetes and sitting through an hour seminar by a diabetes nurse on diet control really helped. And read the nutrition info on everything you eat. Even McDonald's is posting calories on the menu board now. Another idea, when you go to a restaurant sub green beans or similar for potatoes, get a box to go at the beginning of the meal and put half aside to take home before you take your first bite. If it is in front of me, it will get eaten, as my willpower sucks.

[Jim Barstow]

At age 58, I was 40 lbs heavier than when I got out of school. I'd tried dieting and even if I lost weight, it came back. The problem is that I love food and a successful diet requires changing your eating habits forever. This just isn't sustainable.

Recently, I heard about the Mosley alternate day fasting approach. My brothers and I all heard about it independently and tried it. We have each lost 20-30 lbs very easily. A couple key points about the approach:

1. You only need to "fast" 2 days a week
2. Those days aren't a true fast since you can eat 500-600 calories
3. On non-fast days you can eat anything
4. The key is that you really don't overeat on non-fast days as compensation. (Research has confirmed this.)
5. There appear to be real improvements in blood chemistry that you get with this approach that you don't get with traditional approaches (e.g., weight watchers)

This is actually a sustainable system because you really don't deny yourself anything; you just delay it. Want a BLT? You can have one but just not on a fast day. My brother is the farthest
one along and he is now transitioning to fasting 1 day a week to maintain his current weight. I've lost 20 lbs and want to lose another 10.

One other interesting thing is the psychological impact of the fast days. I find I pass up that bowl of potato chips on non-fast days since I remember doing without food on the fast days and don't want to waste the sacrifice. No one has done research on this but I wish they would. I suspect it actually contributes to the overall success of the approach.

[Brian Elfert]

I need to lose at least 20 pounds, but I couldn't see how fasting would work for me. If I only ate 600 calories in a day I would be so hungry by the next morning I would probably end up eating a 1,000+ calorie breakfast that morning. My other problem would be on a fast day I would be so hungry by evening that I couldn't do anything in the evening because my brain would only be thinking about food from being so hungry.

How do you not get ravenously hungry if you only eat 600 calories in a day? I figure if I just eat a normal amount of calories for someone my height and age that I'll lose weight slowly because I've been eating more calories than I should. A big part of my problem is eating very large dinners with only a small breakfast. I get really hungry by early afternoon and when I get home I end up eating dinners with 1,500 calories or more. I try not to eat lunch because even if I eat lunch I am still just as hungry when I get home and I still eat my 1,500 calorie dinner.

I probably need to see a nutritionist to help me figure out a meal plan that doesn't include eating huge amounts for dinner.

[Greg Peterson]

Diet is important. But if I had to choose between exercise or diet to maintain a healthy body, I would choose exercise. Our metabolism decreases as we age, mainly because our muscles atrophy from lack of use. Exercise is the only means I know of to maintain muscle mass, and by extension, keep my metabolism rate high. Diet can certainly help you lose weight, but it does nothing about strengthening your body, increasing your flexibility or raising your metabolism rate.

IMO, when you mention diet, people often times think in terms of counting calories. I think of diet as the fuel I provide my body so that I can perform my daily activities. A diet that matches your lifestyle is important. However there is no diet that will compensate for a sedentary lifestyle.

The body was designed to be used. It responds positively to stress. It will react negatively if you over stress it, so you do need to know where the line between positive results and negative results exists. In other words, before trying any new activities you should consult your medical professional to make sure that your body is capable of the exertions you anticipate.

Just make sure you are working hard enough (intensity) and long enough (duration). If you can talk on the phone when doing your cardio, it's likely you are not working hard enough.

[rogers kevin]

Good you stopped smoking heres a diet plan for you ,
Firstly when you get up early in the morning drink lemon tea with added honey with it or with warm water also,Try cutting fatty foods from your entire eating cycle ,eat fruits vegetables and fired chicken during mid-day ,After that try walking for half hour with your sports shoes keep a Water bottle drink a lot of water during the day time,At night Eat brown rices or bread with curry of fish or meat.And avoid drinking at night.

[John Powers]

Smaller portions, no seconds, no eating after dinner. Know your danger foods....eating cheese and triskits standing at the counter. Walk.

[Chris Walls]

Rich
I was having a conversation with a friend and they were telling me about a diet they were on, so I bought the book. I had never bought a diet book before. It's called the S O S diet. Stop Only Sugar . A small easy to read diet book by a Dr. here in the upper peninsula. I've been following it for almost a year and my weight is down about 18 lbs. Feels great to have a diet that not only easy to follow but really works. It's not so much a diet as it is a change in the way you look at food. So much of our diet is composed of foods that are really high in processed sugar. The weight loss is gradual but steady and it really does not feel like it's a struggle to work with the diet. No counting calories or anything like that. Take a look in the book store and I'm sure you could find it. Good luck. Chris